Southwest Life - The Durango Herald

The Switzerland Trail in Boulder County has a storied past in mining

If you go along Switzerland Trail in Boulder County today, you’ll see hikers and bikers. Along the trail are beautiful creeks where you could see some people fishing in them. The trail is ve...

DATE: Apr 16, 2025 | CATEGORY: Southwest Life

And the West is History: Fishing on the Animas – ca. 1899

DATE: Apr 14, 2025 | CATEGORY: And the West is History

Senior Center Calendar

Durango/La Plata Senior Center 2424 Main Ave., 382-6445 Monday 9:30 a.m.: Intermediate Tai-Chi. 10:30 a.m.: Neo Delphi Meeting, Watch Your Step – Marvel, Chair Yoga. 12:30 p.m.: ...

DATE: Apr 10, 2025 | CATEGORY: Community

DHS Class of 1995 to hold reunion

Durango High School Class of 1995 will hold its 30 year reunion July 25 and 26 in Durango. Friday, July 25: Meet in downtown Durango for drinks (time and location TBD). Saturday, Jul...

DATE: Apr 10, 2025 | CATEGORY: Community

Local student wins Steve Westhoff Scholarship

SGM, a multidisciplinary engineering, consulting and surveying firm headquartered in Glenwood Springs, with additional offices in Meeker, Gunnison, Grand Junction, Salida, Durango and Aspen,...

DATE: Apr 10, 2025 | CATEGORY: Community

Program looking for homeowners

The La Plata County Healthy Homes program is actively seeking homeowners to provide opportunities to improve the health of their house, condo or mobile home and provide $350 worth of free su...

DATE: Apr 10, 2025 | CATEGORY: Community

Faith leaders to host climate change panel

A panel of local faith leaders will address how faith-based groups are addressing climate change at 7 p.m. April 25 at Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 419 San Juan Drive. The event will f...

DATE: Apr 10, 2025 | CATEGORY: Community

Councilor Dave Woodruff to hold office hours

Durango City Councilor Dave Woodruff will hold council office hours from 10 to 11 a.m. Tuesday at Durango Public Library, 1900 East Third Ave. Residents can stop by and have an informal chat...

DATE: Apr 10, 2025 | CATEGORY: Community

Bridge scores

Durango Bridge Club online and in-person play – all pairs received 50+ percent April 4 – Open Pairs First: W. Caplan/D. Squires Second: W. Rosenberger/B. Gantner Third:...

DATE: Apr 10, 2025 | CATEGORY: Community

A day on the motorbike

Madre de Dios Region in the Western Amazon of Peru

DATE: Apr 9, 2025 | CATEGORY: Travel

Las Cienegas: Where cowboys bunked in Southern Arizona

In the open savannah grasslands of southern Arizona near Sonoita, Walter Vail and Herbert Hislop bought 160 acres, a quarter section of land, in 1876 to begin the Empire Ranch along Cienega ...

DATE: Apr 9, 2025 | CATEGORY: Southwest Life

Catholic Daughters announces scholarships

DATE: Apr 8, 2025 | CATEGORY: Community

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