Photo: Fiesta Parade pageantry

Two horseback riders take part in the 1956 Spanish Trails Fiesta parade. The parade is proceeding north to south in front of the old U.S. Postal Service office on Main Avenue. Not long after this, the parade changed the route to proceed from south to north, as is the common route for Durango parades today. These riders represent Red Ryder and Little Beaver from “Red Ryder,” a very popular newspaper comic strip at the time. The comic strip ran from 1938 to 1964 and was drawn by Pagosa Springs resident Fred Harman. In the 1983 movie “A Christmas Story,” set in the early 1940s, Ralphie longs for a Red Ryder BB gun. Pagosa Springs is home to the Fred Harman Art Museum, and still holds the Red Ryder Roundup Rodeo each year. Read more local history at durangoherald.com/westishistory.<br><br>Ed Horvat for The Animas Museum, edhorvat@animasmuseum.org