Best bets this weekend for the Durango area include the La Plata County Fair and the peak of the Perseid meteor shower.
The 70th annual La Plata County Fair runs through Sunday at the La Plata County Fairgrounds, 2500 Main Ave. Members from La Plata County 4-H will present livestock for judging, and popular events will be offered again this year, including the carnival, demolition derby, livestock auction and rooster-crowing contest.
Friday events include: Judging for rabbits, beef cattle and dairy cattle; a talent contest; and Sundance Head concert.
Saturday events include: Judging for open class beef and dairy cattle; rooster-crowing contest; demolition derby; 4-H marketplace and barbecue; awards presentations; rabbit and poultry costume contests; fair royalty crowning; junior livestock sale; and a family dance.
Sunday events include: A Cowboy Church event in the pavilion and the 4-H and FFA “Catch It” contest.
For more information, call 382-6465.
The Perseid meteor shower will peak this weekend, and late-night star-watchers are encouraged to stay up or set an alarm to view the show Saturday and Sunday nights.
According to space.com, this year’s peak will be particularly spectacular because the moon will be a thin crescent and set early, making for a dark sky. NASA meteor expert Bill Cooke says the shower, at its peak, should feature 60 to 70 meteors per hour – about one meteor every minute.
The Perseid meteor shower gets its name because the meteors appear to come from the constellation Perseus. The phenomenon occurs every summer when Earth comes into contact with the trail of dust and debris caught in the orbit of comet Swift-Tuttle, which passes near Earth once every 133 years as it revolves around the sun. Pieces of debris, most of which are about the size of a grain of sand, travel at 37 miles per second and burn up in the atmosphere, creating the meteor shower. Meteors can range from faint streaks to bright fireballs.
The meteor shower is best viewed after about 2 a.m. when Perseus is high in the sky. The naked eye is preferred instead of using telescopes or binoculars and lets the viewer see more of the sky at once. Find somewhere dark, allow your eyes to adjust, lean back and stare at the widest possible view of the sky.
For more information, visit https://bit.ly/2ngJKfY.
Bear Smart Durango at the Fair, 9 a.m., La Plata County Fairgrounds, 2500 Main Ave., 749-5582.
KSUT Public Radio’s 25th annual members party and silent auction, 5:30 p.m., $25, Ska Brewing Co., 225 Girard St. For more information, visit https://bit.ly/2nievBc.
Scott Enduro Cup by Vittoria, 8 a.m., $175, Purgatory Resort, 1 Skier Place.
Bear Smart Durango at the Fair, 9 a.m., La Plata County Fairgrounds, 2500 Main Ave., 749-5582.
Bacon, 7 p.m., 11th Street Station, 1101 Main Ave.
Scott Enduro Cup by Vittoria, 8 a.m., $175, Purgatory Resort, 1 Skier Place.
Asleep at the Wheel, 7:30 p.m., $27-$37, Fort Lewis College, Community Concert Hall, 1000 Rim Drive.
