In the last century, Durango’s city streets have gone from dirt to pavement and from shootouts to protests. Downtown has seen its share of changes over the years.
People now dine out in the street, like its normal, with cars and exhaust blazing by, like a modern-day smoke seasoning the campfire at dinner, but somehow less appealing.
For someone like me, who has grown up here, it appears that the city has become more concerned with what it can be than what it is because of what it was. I suppose that’s the difference between visionaries and historians. The outlaws that once roamed our streets have become the in-laws we tolerate at the holiday table when we married the old with the new.
Bump outs, curb extensions and Avant Guard artwork on the asphalt in front of historic buildings have become what the city deems is the dichotomy future of our once little Western mountain community. But for a brief time, earlier this month, downtown was transformed into what it once was in its glory days, the wild west, and it was glorious indeed!
Durango just celebrated the 37th Annual Cowboy Gathering and what a turnout it was.
Several thousand people lined the street to watch cowboys and cowgirls jingle by in their spurs, Ute Mountain Ute and Southern Ute Tribal dancers as well as Ballet Folklorico danced in an artful display of Native American and Hispanic culture and colors more relevant and vibrant than any modern-day commissioned mural painted on our historic buildings or streets. Saloon girls sauntered by on horseback with feathers in their hair, while cowboys tipped their hats. Reenactment shootouts separated the good from the bad and the ugly and chuckwagons traveled down the middle of the street, taking everyone with them on a journey back in time.
My family has attended and participated in parades in Durango for generations, some of whom rode their horses here when the streets were still dirt. This year, I watched my daughter, Reese, and her friend, Paisley Cundiff, lead the parade, carrying the American and Colorado flags on horseback down Main Street.
These cowgirls, Paisley, a sixth-generation local and my daughter, Reese, a fourth, proudly put their heritage on display and exhibited excellent horsemanship skills as they navigated crowds, smiled and held their respective flags proud and high. It was the ultimate display of country and western, a moment where history and heritage came together and made a memory that they will too pass on to their own children one day and as a mother and multigenerational member of this community, I have never been more proud of watching these two girls take on the honor.
As soon as the parade was here, it was gone and like our heritage, it’s up to us all to keep it going.
There was a time when you could tie your horse downtown and patronize the local feed store, saddlery and saloon. Now, people who attempt to drive their horse trailers downtown on their way to the fairgrounds are patronized.
It’s as much up to those of us who are on horseback in the parade as to those members of our community who were there cheering us on. For history to become heritage, there is no room for any of us to be spectators, we need to embrace our community's Western roots and boots for it to thrive.
Up the creek without a paddle has become the modern-day up Main street without a horse. Events like the cowboy parade and rodeo bring the community together and they are what makes Durango, well, Durango.
So many little girls dreamed of being Reese and Paisley in that shiny moment when they glittered by, tall on their horses under the glory of their flags and that is the thing about living in a community rooted in agricultural heritage, you still can.
You have the opportunity to keep events like rodeo, parades, 4H and FFA still going. You have the opportunity to grow up and carry a flag in the parade. You have the opportunity to celebrate the West year-round, to keep the parade going for generations to come. It’s not about how the West was won, it’s how we all win when we celebrate the West.
Jenny Johnston is a fourth-generation Durango local, part-time rodeo announcer and full-time wrangler to two lil’ buckaroos.
