business and finance - The Durango Herald

In a sign of broader ambitions, Facebook opens hardware lab

MENLO PARK, Calif. – Facebook built its fortune on the internet, that non-physical space where people share updates and digital videos with friends. But deep inside its Silicon Valley headqu...

DATE: Aug 9, 2016 | CATEGORY: Business

Delta still in ‘recovery mode’

Airline cancels hundreds more flights on Tuesday

DATE: Aug 9, 2016 | CATEGORY: Business

Business Briefs

LPEA announces new appointments The Operations Department of La Plata Electric Association has a new journeyman lineman, new electronic specialists and a new fleet mechanic. Journ...

DATE: Aug 9, 2016 | CATEGORY: Business

Tourism and others approaching a fork in the road

The accepted model for tourism funding is to pass state or local legislation that creates a low percentage room tax with revenues dedicated to market the community. It works like...

DATE: Aug 9, 2016 | CATEGORY: A Take on Tourism

Lone Spur Cafe opens in Francisco’s building

Cowboy Cafe to offer dinner hours in September

DATE: Aug 9, 2016 | CATEGORY: Business

Designers, suppliers offer some tips for using your outdoors space

Businesses can take advantage of outdoor space

DATE: Aug 6, 2016 | CATEGORY: Business

Housing is the market for credit elites after financial crisis

The U.S. mortgage finance market today is all about credit for the best, with little left over for the rest. Take a look at first-quarter numbers from the Federal Reserve Bank of ...

DATE: Aug 6, 2016 | CATEGORY: Business

U.S. construction spending tumbles

WASHINGTON â€“ U.S. construction spending fell for a third straight month in June, with spending on nonresidential construction dropping by the largest amount in six months. Const...

DATE: Aug 6, 2016 | CATEGORY: Business

Agrihoods are taking root across America

New communities offer residents rural life, fresh produce

DATE: Aug 6, 2016 | CATEGORY: Business

Business Briefs

First National announces new hires First National Bank of Durango recently hired two employees. Amoretta Pringle is a teller at the main office. She is originally from Arizona but...

DATE: Aug 2, 2016 | CATEGORY: Business

Zika’s cloud of fear threatens Florida’s tourism way of life

Mike Rigelsky, a lawyer in Ohio, last fall planned the Disney World vacation of a lifetime: a week of theme parks in the Orlando, Florida, sun, including a planned family photo shoot during ...

DATE: Aug 2, 2016 | CATEGORY: Business

Cash crunch: When customers pay late, businesses juggle

NEW YORK – Small business owners are contending with a calendar problem that becomes a cash flow problem – they’re waiting longer to get paid. Some customers, whether they’re cons...

DATE: Aug 2, 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 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

In a sign of broader ambitions, Facebook opens hardware lab

Delta still in ‘recovery mode’

Business Briefs

Tourism and others approaching a fork in the road

Lone Spur Cafe opens in Francisco’s building

Designers, suppliers offer some tips for using your outdoors space

Housing is the market for credit elites after financial crisis

U.S. construction spending tumbles

Agrihoods are taking root across America

Business Briefs

Zika’s cloud of fear threatens Florida’s tourism way of life

Cash crunch: When customers pay late, businesses juggle

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