Columnists - The Durango Herald

Trump’s stunning foreign policy reversal is an overdue wake up call

WASHINGTON – The world is agog at Donald Trump’s head-snapping foreign policy reversal. He runs on a platform of America First. He renounces the role of world policeman. He excoriates parasi...

DATE: Apr 17, 2017 | CATEGORY: From our Congressman

J. Paul and Debbie Brown are Cattlemen of the Year

By Ann Butler Neighbors columnist It’s a busy time of year in the agricultural community, between cows calving, sheep lambing, crops to be planted, ditches to be cleare...

DATE: Apr 16, 2017 | CATEGORY: Neighbors

4-H partnerships help connect kids to community

Youth engagement is vital to overall community health. Programs that seek the input of young people benefit by being able to better plan and organize their services. Organizations with posit...

DATE: Apr 16, 2017 | CATEGORY: From the Extension Office

Rule to disclose all airline fees suffers setback

The U.S. Transportation Department surprised the travel world last month by suspending the creation of an important new consumer-protection regulation. At issue was a Supplemental...

DATE: Apr 16, 2017 | CATEGORY: The Travel Troubleshooter

Dear Abby: Give everyone chance to taste teachers’ potluck specialties

DEAR ABBY: I have been a teacher for many years, and several times a year I encounter a dilemma I hope you can finally solve for me. When staff members get together for a potluck meal, i...

DATE: Apr 15, 2017 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

High school is hardest after being accepted to college

As the spring season rolls around at Durango High School and college acceptance letters are arriving at students’ doorsteps, seniors are facing the most challenging part of their high school...

DATE: Apr 15, 2017 | CATEGORY: Students on Point

Publicity stunts do not add up to sound policy

Does anyone still remember the Carrier deal? Back in December, President-elect Donald Trump announced, triumphantly, that he had reached a deal with the air-conditioner manufactu...

DATE: Apr 15, 2017 | CATEGORY: From our Congressman

Why the natural gas industry opposes the BLM’s new “methane rule.”

At the end of 2016, the Bureau of Land Management adopted a controversial new rule, “Waste Prevention, Production Subject to Royalties, and Resource Conservation,” also known as the “methane...

DATE: Apr 15, 2017 | CATEGORY: From our Congressman

Treat testing season like a marathon, not a sprint

For school-age students, it’s that time of year again ... testing season. Seemingly every other week in the spring, high-schoolers in Durango and across the country are sitting down for anot...

DATE: Apr 15, 2017 | CATEGORY: On Education

Children should expect to have clean water at school

Lead can seriously change the trajectory of a child’s life. Studies show that lead is never safe in a child’s body. Exposure can seriously affect a child’s IQ, attention span and create nume...

DATE: Apr 15, 2017 | CATEGORY: From the State House

Disabilities services in Colorado facing a perfect storm

The idea of a “perfect storm” is that in rare circumstances, a combination of independent factors comes together in such a way to create a calamity far worse than the sum of its parts. In fa...

DATE: Apr 14, 2017 | CATEGORY: Creating Community

Showing up is what gets the work done

This being the last column I have the privilege to write for The Durango Herald, there’s a certain pressure I feel to pen a magnum opus of sorts. Let me pour some cold water on th...

DATE: Apr 14, 2017 | CATEGORY: Thinking Green

Colorado history gets weird, wild, wacky at Fashion Do’s and Don’tsAnnual Snowdown event has become so popular, auditions are now required

Cowboys. Fancy ladies. Gold miners. Even-toed ungulates that some in Durango might consider more like rats.Where can you find a runway show that takes you on a whirlwind tour through the weird, wacky and wildly exaggerated 150 years of Colorado history? Only at Durango’s annual Fashion Do’s and Don’ts, held Wednesday, where models and audience members wore costumes celebrating Colorado’s sesquicentennial – the theme of this year’s two-week Snowdown celebration.Standout acts included the Ghosts of Durango, which featured four of Durango’s most famous ghosts: a Rochester hotel ghost in a Victorian get-up of a more “modern” variation; the Strater Hotel’s head of housekeeping, also head of more discreet services; a young girl haunting El Rancho’s bathroom; and Sheriff Bob Thompson, killed in a 1906 gunfight. according to emcee Suzan Lane. A Another act was the Secret Circus Society, featuring Rubi Starr, Jeni Gross, Tabatha Joy Bettin, Adrienne Young and Ethan Deffenbaugh dressed as a car and the roadside pests better known as deer. Group members said the inspiration for the costume came from lived experiences driving Durango roads. The two-person Cantine Couture act starred Leslie Ponce and Tyler Frakes in an homage to the plentiful variety of Mexican restaurants found in any Colorado town. Ponce, dressed in comically large Mexican pointy cowboy boots, ambled down the runway as if taking a stroll under the hot, dusty, high-altitude sun, while Frakes flitted about the stage in a bright yellow salsa dress. Ponce said this year’s costume had been tough to decide, but the final decision was inspired by TikTok videos of Mexican cowboys in pointy boots. This was the duo’s third year strutting down the runway. Why they keep coming back for more, Frakes said laughing, was, “for the fame, the glory and the attention.”

Fashion Do’s and Don’ts has been one of the most highly anticipated Snowdown events since its inception in the 1990s. It has more than doubled in size over the past several decades. Last year, there were a record number of models, and in order to keep the event at a manageable size, this year’s fashion show was the first one to require the acts to audition. But many of the models were unfazed by the change. “It was actually easy,” said Jodi Zuber, one part of the two-person duo that made up the 1950s Texas Invader Ski Couple. Her partner-in-costume, Danny Jaques, said they had been doing this for several years, and it’s good with everything going on in the world to “get some levity and let your hair down.” The performers were not the only ones in costume. Audience members also dressed in a wide variety of unique takes on what makes Colorado, Colorado. JonBenet Ramsey made a miraculous appearance, being played by an 82-year-old woman, as did Casa Bonita, an ensemble that included a taco, sopaipilla and gorilla in chains – to name some of the characters. By the end of the show, people were in high spirits, as usual. “It was just delightful,” said a first-time audience member. If blessed with the chance to get the much coveted tickets – he said he would jump on it. jbowman@durangoherald.com

Annual Snowdown event has become so popular, auditions are now required

Photos: Snowdown 2026 Fashion Do’s and Don’ts

Photos: Durango High School basketball teams lose to Montrose High School

Photos: Local girls high school wrestling at La Plata TriDurango girls wrestling went 2-0 to win Tri on Thursday night at Bayfield

Durango girls wrestling went 2-0 to win Tri on Thursday night at Bayfield

Photos: Fort Lewis College women’s and men’s basketball take on Westminster UniversityBoth Skyhawks teams were victorious on Saturday afternoon

Both Skyhawks teams were victorious on Saturday afternoon

Photos: An afternoon in 2004 with the late Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell as he works on Capitol HillDurango Herald Photo Editor Jerry McBride had the chance to spend an afternoon with the late Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell in 2004, photographing him during meetings and around the Capitol.

Durango Herald Photo Editor Jerry McBride had the chance to spend an afternoon with the late Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell in 2004, photographing him during meetings and around the Capitol.

Photos and video: ICE protests return to DurangoAbout a dozen protesters tried to block federal agents from leaving with a detainee on Thursday

About a dozen protesters tried to block federal agents from leaving with a detainee on Thursday

The Durango Herald’s year in photos 2025

Photos: Chapman Hill fires up the snow guns

Trump’s stunning foreign policy reversal is an overdue wake up call

J. Paul and Debbie Brown are Cattlemen of the Year

4-H partnerships help connect kids to community

Rule to disclose all airline fees suffers setback

Dear Abby: Give everyone chance to taste teachers’ potluck specialties

High school is hardest after being accepted to college

Publicity stunts do not add up to sound policy

Why the natural gas industry opposes the BLM’s new “methane rule.”

Treat testing season like a marathon, not a sprint

Children should expect to have clean water at school

Disabilities services in Colorado facing a perfect storm

Showing up is what gets the work done

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