The 2026 Durango Rocks business awards will be rebranded as Southwest Colorado Rocks, and will include the Bayfield and Ignacio chambers of commerce for the first time.
Durango Rocks – set to have its inaugural premier as Southwest Colorado Rocks at the Community Concert Hall in February – is “more than a night of pomp and circumstance,” said Durango Chamber of Commerce CEO Jeff Dupont in a Tuesday newsletter. It is a way to honor leadership, values and generosity that define the business community, he said.
The collaboration and title change came from a desire by the chamber’s board of directors to become more supportive of Durango’s regional partners, Dupont said.
“We’re currently the only chamber out of the three that has paid staff members, so we have resources that just allow us to be a little more flexible with how we use our time,” Dupont said. “We see (the rebrand) as an opportunity to elevate the voices of businesses that are doing good work in those communities, that may not have been focused on in the past.”
The name change broadly encompassing all of Southwest Colorado – not just La Plata County – was intentional, Dupont said, as a way to leave the door open for the event to possibly expand further into the region.
“We want the opportunity to grow without having to rebrand it again,” Dupont said. “This year, it’ll be La Plata County. If there’s an opportunity to expand to include other neighbors, like those in Montezuma County, we want to be able to leave that door open for the future.”
The 2026 Southwest Colorado Rocks, much like the prior Durango Rocks, will present community service awards and individual leadership awards in the realm of Citizen of the Year, the Morley Ballantine Women's Leadership Award and Entrepreneur of the Year.
Each community – Durango, Bayfield, and Ignacio – will also be honoring a Business of the Year at the 2026 awards, according to the newsletter, and all existing awards will now be open to Bayfield and Ignacio businesses and business members as well as those located in Durango.
Members of the Bayfield and Ignacio Chambers of Commerce will also be brought in as award judges for 2026, Dupont said.
“(This) will hopefully bring the communities together,” said Brian Lundstrom, dual Bayfield and Durango chamber of commerce board member and director of hospitality at the Ignacio Sky Ute Casino. “There’s been a long division between the communities, and I think what Jeff (Dupont) is trying to do hopefully will bring the communities closer together and form a little more unity.”
Lundstrom is optimistic that the inclusion of Bayfield and Ignacio businesses in the awards will provide more recognition for the outlying communities.
“To now be possibly recognized through the Southwest Colorado Rocks process I think will help us quite a bit, getting more people to recognize we’re even out here,” he said.
Lundstrom is not the only one in the business community feeling good about the rebrand.
“I’m excited to see where Rocks is heading for 2026,” said Ignacio Mayor Clark Craig. “As we all know, there are so many talented leaders, nonprofits and businesses throughout La Plata County and our neighboring communities. Let’s celebrate together.”
Overall, Dupont said the response from the other chambers on the update has been largely positive – but that building trust and camaraderie between the three business communities through the event is going to be key.
“I've been out to both chambers and talked about the idea, and they were very responsive to it – they were excited to be included in the conversation,” Dupont said. “I think there's some skepticism about how it’s going to play out, and if they’ll really feel integrated into the program, so we’re doing what we can to ensure that (they do). Hopefully some of these efforts will lead to building some trust.”
epond@durangoherald.com
