Recent nights have come with freeze warnings. Roofs and windshields have been lightly frosted. Just last week, warnings across the Four Corners sent temperatures into the teens. Whether fruit trees already in bloom were damaged remains to be seen.
Was it just weeks ago that temperatures climbed into the 80s? Students sprawled in the sun, convertible tops dropped and buds arrived early – weeks ahead of normal, horticulturalists said.
Extremes.
That’s what makes the city of Durango’s firm decision (Herald, April 15) to cancel Fourth of July fireworks feel premature. Yes, it is dry. La Plata County is in severe to exceptional drought and snowpack is hovering around 13%. Durango Fire Protection District Chief Randy Black did not mince words: “The numbers are just horrible all around us.”
He’s not wrong. Fire risk is real, and across Colorado, communities are weighing whether fireworks are worth it as resources strain.
But July 4 is still 10 weeks away.
This is Southwest Colorado. Conditions change, sometimes dramatically. Last fall, a few days delivered three to four inches of rain, helping refill Lemon and Vallecito reservoirs after a poor winter.
To declare “no” now, with such certainty, removes flexibility when it’s exactly what this moment calls for.
Officials say they want a celebration that is “predictable, sustainable and evolving with our community.” No one, as Black put it, wants to “burn our town down for celebration.”
Still, the choice does not need to be made in April.
Durango has managed fireworks sparingly in recent years – just two shows since 2019 – because conditions vary. The city successfully held a show in 2024 from Smelter Mountain. It can prepare again, with a clear go/no-go decision closer to the date, when conditions are more certain.
If the answer is no, Durango should aim higher with its alternative.
The city says it is not considering a drone show this year, likely influenced by past attempts in 2022 and 2023 that left spectators unimpressed. Fair enough. Not all drone shows are equal.
But this winter proved something important: They can be.
At Snowdown, a 500-drone performance closed the Light Parade with what was, by all accounts, the most ambitious aerial display Durango has seen. Launched near Smelter Mountain and synchronized to music, the 14-minute show traced Colorado history as part of the state’s 150th anniversary “Stories in the Sky” series. It was large, coordinated and impressive.
That show didn’t happen by accident. It was made possible through partnerships – including History Colorado and key sponsors – and through Music in the Mountains, which donated its state-provided drone show to Snowdown.
If Durango is going to pivot away from fireworks, it should pursue that level of quality again – not settle for a lesser substitute.
Music is already in place for the Fourth. The Dirty Dozen Brass Band will headline the street dance at Buckley Park, secured through a partnership with KSUT Public Radio, part of a slate of races, rodeos, parades and community events.
City officials have framed the shift as a matter of priorities – investing in a headline act rather than spending on fireworks or a drone show, a “bigger bang for the buck.”
But music and fireworks are not interchangeable.
Fireworks carry a symbolic weight, especially this year. July 4, 2026, marks the nation’s 250th anniversary. There will be more red, white and blue than usual, and rightly so. Fireworks have long been part of how Americans mark that moment.
Durango should try to keep that tradition alive – safely, responsibly and with contingency plans in place.
Make the call in June. Prepare for both. And if conditions truly won’t allow it, deliver an alternative that rises to the occasion, not one that merely fills space.
Ten weeks is a long time in Southwest Colorado. There is still time to get this right.
