For decades, from the 1880s to the 1960s, agriculture was a constant and stabilizing force in La Plata County. While mining in the San Juans came and went, the Silverton train ran infrequently under D&RGW ownership, and Fort Lewis College was at Hesperus with a couple of hundred students, it was ranchers and farmers – Anglo and Ute – who patronized city and county retailers for their needs. Hardware and clothing stores, bars and cafes, livestock auctions and grain elevators were where the jobs were and goods and money changed hands.
When they were not tending cattle, cutting hay or irrigating, the ranchers and farmers were building school systems, lobbying for highway money and helping expand town centers.
Fiesta Days, in mid-summer, celebrated that rural life with a mix of horse racing, rodeos, a parade with several marching bands and plenty of eating and drinking.
City dwellers were shamed into dressing western style for a week, and at least one year, businesses paid their employees in silver dollars.
Fiesta Days was the single, large summer event prior to the county fair. Now, the enthusiasm and support that made that event so successful has been spread among a dozen food and music one-day events, and the popular Cowboy Poetry gathering in the fall. Fiesta Days, through no fault of its organizers, has dwindled in popularity.
Given so much that takes place in Durango during the summer, and how busy merchants already are with tourists, we do not see anything changing. Fiesta Days will only limp along, at best.
What to do?
One idea is to schedule a Fiesta Day, just one day, perhaps, at the beginning of the county fair. That would make for a stronger week or almost a week of events, with the two complementing one another. Fiesta Day, with its downtown events that included a strong parade, the fair at the fairgrounds, both with joint marketing and fundraising efforts.
The two events are now two weeks apart.
Those who have lived in the county for some time know the county’s rural history and want to retain it, and most new arrivals want to know more about their new home. The ingredients of Fiesta Days impart a good deal of that.
We are not suggesting the two be combined, but that the organizers of each explore the possibilities of creating a four or five day succession of activities that would allow Fiesta Days to retain its identity but would produce a more diverse and stronger schedule for participants and attendees at both events.
A stronger Fiesta Days, if briefer and less stand-alone, might have great appeal.
