On June 4 in Trinidad, Gov. Jared Polis recognized KSUT Four Corners Public Radio Executive Director Tami Graham with a Governor's Creative Leadership Award, honoring individuals who use the arts to create meaningful change in their communities.
Over a 42-year career, Graham has helped shape Southwest Colorado's cultural landscape. She brought emerging musicians to Durango long before they became household names, helped restore the historic Mancos Times-Tribune building into a thriving arts space, and has championed public media, local storytelling and Indigenous voices. Through KSUT, she continues strengthening the connections that bind communities across the Four Corners.
Just weeks earlier, Silverton Creative District Executive Director Lisa Branner received the Colorado Business Committee for the Arts' Next Wave Leadership Award. Her work has connected artists with businesses, schools, nonprofits and local government while growing events that draw visitors, support local commerce and strengthen Silverton's creative economy.
Both honors are well deserved. They also shine a light on the artists, entrepreneurs, volunteers, nonprofit leaders and community builders whose work often happens quietly, but whose influence can be seen across Southwest Colorado.
In rural communities, where resources are often limited, the arts become even more vital. Canadian painter Ken Danby once observed, “In scarcity, art is a necessity.”
Southwest Colorado understands that. Here, the arts do more than entertain; they create gathering places, strengthen local economies and tell community stories.
From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, June 20, Mancos will host BurroFest, one of the region's most original celebrations. Artists, burros, musicians, vendors and families will gather for an event that could only happen here. Twelve artists will create original works inspired by live burro models, blending creativity, history and rural heritage into something distinctly Southwest Colorado.
This year's festival also marks the debut of the Book Burro, a vintage Airstream transformed into a traveling library by Maria's Literary Foundation. Built by Animas High School students, local artist Jenn Rawling and community volunteers, it will bring free books and literary programming to communities throughout the Four Corners.
Tuesday's Local First Be Local Bash celebrated the people, partnerships and purpose behind La Plata County's independent business community. Local business owners don't simply compete; they encourage one another, share ideas and help make dreams come true.
Increasingly, stewards of some of Durango's hallmark businesses are passing the torch to a new generation of homegrown entrepreneurs. Maria's Bookshop, which celebrated its 40th anniversary last year, is now led by Evan Schertz, son of longtime owners Peter Schertz and Andrea Avantaggio. Claire and Colin Carver carry forward the legacy of Carver Brewing Co., Colorado's second-oldest brewpub and the first on the Western Slope. Earlier this year, Durango native, Animas High School graduate and former Durango Devo rider Elliott Saslow purchased Mountain Bike Specialists, continuing the legacy of a 58-year-old Durango institution built by Ed and Patti Zink.
Collectively, their efforts are behind the murals that brighten downtown alleys, the public art that transforms gathering spaces, the festivals that draw visitors and strengthen local economies, and the institutions that endure across generations – the things that give a community its character.
Which brings us to Buckley Park.
Buckley is more than a park. It is Durango's Central Park – a civic commons where community life unfolds through concerts, festivals, demonstrations, winter sledding and countless everyday moments of connection.
During a recent City Council discussion about parking for the future Civic Campus, Councilor Gilda Yazzie floated the possibility of taking land from Buckley Park for parking. The suggestion was met with roughly 10 seconds of silence from her fellow councilors.
Sometimes silence says enough.
Joni Mitchell warned about paving paradise and putting up a parking lot.
Durango purchased Buckley Park to preserve it as a park. The city should honor that commitment and consider permanently protecting the park's future, including its sledding hill, heritage trees and large open lawn.
Residents can help shape that future at the city's Buckley Park Master Plan workshop from 4 to 6 p.m. Monday, June 15, at Buckley Park.
Show up. Share your ideas.
The people who make places matter are ultimately stewards. As the old proverb dictates, a society grows great when its citizens plant trees in whose shade they will never sit.
