The Cortez Historic Preservation Board has received a grant that will fund a series of history-themed podcasts that it has been planning for months.
During a meeting on last week, board Vice President Linda Towle announced the state-funded Certified Local Governments program has agreed to award a roughly $7,000 grant for the podcast series. Since the “Ancient Voices” podcast that Mesa Verde Country released last year, Towle and other members of the board have discussed creating their own audio guide to Cortez’s historic buildings since the fall. Towle said the city likely won’t receive the money for a few more months, but she hopes to be ready to release the podcast series sometime this summer.
The podcasts will essentially be a digital version of the brochures the city has offered in the past for walking tours of the downtown area. Towle said they will focus on historic buildings on or near Montezuma Avenue, Ash and First streets.
June Head and Ginger Graham, local historians who contributed to the original brochures, have volunteered to “be the voices” on the podcast, Towle said. But they likely won’t begin recording for a while.
“Last time we got a grant, it took three months for History Colorado to get the city the contract to sign,” she said.
On Tuesday, the City Council will vote on whether to accept the grant once it receives the contract. Towle said the city will also request proposals for contractors to help record, upload and market the podcasts.
The Mesa Verde Country Visitor Information Bureau launched a series of three podcasts in July 2017, with the help of a $25,000 grant from the Colorado Tourism Office. Each podcast provides an audio tour of historic sites in the Four Corners region, from Canyons of the Ancients to Lowry Pueblo and Hovenweep, complete with stories from each place’s past.
