When Dawn Staten stepped on stage for the first time to perform at the Snowdown Follies, it was a 30-second skit that her husband described as a groaner.

“It got some laughs, but mostly groans ,” John Staten recalled.

At the time in 2000, John was an experienced performer, but Dawn described herself as a bit on the shy side, before the two performed an off-color version of Little Red Riding Hood.

“Now, I can’t get her get off the stage. She’s a hambone, and that’s great. She has really grown a lot since we got together,” John said.

John expects she would have eventually found her way to the stage even without his help.

“I found that being laughed at and laughed with is addicting,” she said.

The couple has performed many times at the Follies, together and separately. This year, Dawn is going to model at the Fashion Dos and Don’ts, one of the most popular Snowdown events.

Years before Dawn’s debut, Snowdown brought the two together.

They met for the first time at a Follies cast party in 1996, while John was visiting from Houston.

“We danced a little; we talked a little, found out we had a couple of things in common,” Dawn Staten said.

When John left to go back home, they exchanged addresses and wrote each other letters.

John moved to Durango a year-and-half later. It has been 21 years since they, met and they are still together and partaking in Snowdown silliness. They are two of the many unpaid volunteers who make Snowdown happen.

Dawn has on the board of directors since 2005, and she has been a volunteer, Follies performer and event organizer.

Board members plan all year for Snowdown. It can be an involved process that includes approving and scheduling the events. Although, it is rare for the board to turn a proposal down, she said.

“They have to be legal and moral; we would like them to be fun,” she said.

This year, 150 events will be offered during Snowdown, ranging from the Atari Galactic Games to Kayak Pool Slalom.

Winter is a tough time for some Durango businesses, and many depend on the Snowdown to make it through the first quarter of the year, Dawn said.

“I think keeping that goal in mind makes me want to come back year after year,” she said.

She plans to observe some kids events this year because she is not performing in the Follies.

Snowdown has a strong association with alcohol, but the board has encouraged more family-friendly events in recent years.

Recruiting young volunteers is also important to the board to preserve the future of Snowdown, now in its 39th year. It has a good mix of ages, ranging from volunteers in their 20s to those in their 70s, she said.

John is the director of this year’s Follies, and he helped review 43 proposals during auditions and select 16 of them. The Follies are heavily dependent on the skits people develop for tryouts, and John feels good about this year.

It’s an all-volunteer effort, and everyone is in it for the fun, but it’s also a key financial engine that keeps Snowdown alive.

“The Follies is the heart of Snowdown,” he said.

After performing and directing through the years, his favorite act is still the 30-second skit he performed with Dawn.

“That was our first year together, and everything was fresh and new,” he said.

mshinn@durangoherald.com