business and finance - The Durango Herald

Mantell-Hecathorn receives U.S. DOE award

The U.S. Department of Energy has given Mantell-Hecathorn Builders a 2016 Housing Innovation Award. The awards recognize builders working toward Zero Energy Ready Homes, which ar...

DATE: Sep 20, 2016 | CATEGORY: Business

DEF announces Fellows directory service

The Durango Education Foundation has a new DEF Fellows directory, a service to connect volunteers with educators in Durango School District 9-R. The directory allows teachers to...

DATE: Sep 20, 2016 | CATEGORY: Business

Lunch & Learn on advertising psychology

The Durango Chamber of Commerce will hold a Lunch & Learn featuring 360durango.com owner Paul Eckenrode’s presentation of “How Psychology is the Catalyst for Ad Conversion” at 12 p.m. Sept. ...

DATE: Sep 20, 2016 | CATEGORY: Business

Jennifer Boykin joins Alpine Bank

Jennifer Boykin has joined the Alpine Bank mortgage team. She has 33 years of mortgage industry experience and serves on the Regional Housing Alliance loan committee. She also te...

DATE: Sep 20, 2016 | CATEGORY: Business

Shelley Mauch joins FredrickZink

Shelley Mauch has joined FredrickZink & Associates, an accounting, tax and business consulting firm in Durango. She will concentrate in the areas of audit and accounting services. ...

DATE: Sep 20, 2016 | CATEGORY: Business

City delays decision on business license fees

Some councilors feel it will send the wrong message

DATE: Sep 20, 2016 | CATEGORY: Local News

Tennessee-based company buys Freenotes Harmony Park

Buyer PlayCore Holdings owns 17 other companies

DATE: Sep 20, 2016 | CATEGORY: Business

U.S. home construction slumped in August

WASHINGTON – Homebuilders pulled back on construction in the South, causing the pace of August housing starts nationwide to fall to their lowest level in three months. Despite the...

DATE: Sep 20, 2016 | CATEGORY: Business

What does it take to buy a home?

Mortgage rates are still low, making it a seemingly great time to buy a home. But aspiring home buyers still need to overcome one major obstacle before they lay eyes on their drea...

DATE: Sep 17, 2016 | CATEGORY: Business

Here’s a few bright ideas to lighten up your home

Emily Clark writes a design blog, emilyaclark.com, about how to create simple, affordable home interiors. She says that no room in her home is complete until she adds one or more...

DATE: Sep 17, 2016 | CATEGORY: Business

A savvy buyer’s guide to buying residential property

Buyers purchasing vacant land may take more risk than buyers of residential properties because there may be some significant surprises that could affect their future use or building costs. ...

DATE: Sep 17, 2016 | CATEGORY: On Real Estate

13th Parade of Homes set for Sept. 23-25

Homebuilders set to show off latest trends

DATE: Sep 17, 2016 | CATEGORY: Business

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 donned 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 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 the 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 years 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 it’s 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 years fashion show was the first one to require the acts to audition. But many of the models were unphased 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

Mantell-Hecathorn receives U.S. DOE award

DEF announces Fellows directory service

Lunch & Learn on advertising psychology

Jennifer Boykin joins Alpine Bank

Shelley Mauch joins FredrickZink

City delays decision on business license fees

Tennessee-based company buys Freenotes Harmony Park

U.S. home construction slumped in August

What does it take to buy a home?

Here’s a few bright ideas to lighten up your home

A savvy buyer’s guide to buying residential property

13th Parade of Homes set for Sept. 23-25

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