STAR-STUDDED CAST: Jennaye Derge, Allen Best, Stephen Sellers, Lainie Maxson, Jesse Anderson, Rob Brezsny & Clint Reid
The Durango Telegraph publishes every Thursday, come hell, high water, tacky singletrack or mon-
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The sound of style DJ Pearly on fashion and creating spaces where everyone can dance by Stephen Sellers
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On the cover
Fat bees get busy on one of the last remaining blooming lavender plants at Mesa Verde Lavender Farm this week./
ADDRESS: P.O. Box 332 Durango, CO 81302 LAND LINE: 970-259-0133
DELIVERY AND SUBSCRIPTIONS:
Ear to the ground:
“I prefer the cocaine version of her.” – We can’t recall who this is referencing but only hope it’s Sharon Stone
Trout 911
Other than recent rains, a little more good news has come out of the Gold Mountain Fire, near Ouray. With just a narrow window, Colorado Parks and Wildlife made a daring rescue of a rare species of native trout from the burn zone last week before looming rains and ash flows potentially wiped them out.
Escorted into the burn area by firefighters July 15, 10 CPW employees rescued 103 Uncompahgre cutthroat trout from Nate Creek, a tributary of the Uncompahgre River. The fish, which possess unique genetics found nowhere else in the world, were transported about 160 miles to the Rifle Falls Fish Hatchery, where they will remain until the threat to their habitat has passed.
The rescue came after weeks of uncertainty as the Gold Mountain Fire, which has burned more than 38,000 acres in Ouray, Montrose and Gunnison counties since igniting June 27, continued spreading toward the creek.
“We knew that we needed to get into Nate Creek before any large-scale rain events,” CPW aquatic biologist Eric Gardunio, who led the effort, said. “I am happy with the number of fish we were able to rescue.”
The team had until early afternoon to complete the operation before changing weather conditions made work too dangerous. After hiking through burned forest, crews used electrofishing equipment to temporarily stun the trout, allowing them to be netted and placed into 5-gallon buckets.
Biologists intentionally left many fish in the creek, hoping the remaining population survives if post-fire flooding is less severe than expected. Heavy monsoons can send ash, sediment and burned debris into streams, degrading water quality, smothering spawning habitat and suffocating fish.
The Nate Creek population is especially valuable because it contains a rare genetic marker known as the “Nate Creek Haplotype,” making it the only known surviving remnant of the native cutthroat trout that once occupied the upper Uncompahgre River basin.
“These beautiful fish represent a living part of the history of this place,” Gardunio said.
The rescue required coordination among CPW, the U.S. Forest Service and the Gold Mountain Fire Incident Management Team.
ster powder days. We are wholly independently
the Durango Telegraph LLC and dis-
For now, the trout are being housed in isolated tanks at the Rifle Falls Fish Hatchery while biologists evaluate whether they can eventually return to Nate Creek or be used to establish another protected population elsewhere.
Photo by Missy Votel
LaVidaLocal
Slut for jobs
I was standing in my bra and underwear in a bathroom at a local grocery store a few weeks ago, humming Meatloaf’s “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That).” But instead of “love,” I mentally sang “job.” And instead of “I won’t do that” I meant, “I would do that.”
I’d just ridden my bike 7 miles for a job interview and needed to change out of my cutoff jean shorts and T-shirt before I sat down with my interviewers.
I brought a nice dress and shoes, some “freshening” wipes, deodorant and makeup, and I was in the bathroom hopping around on one foot, trying to aim my other foot into a gray-suede wedge. My dress was slung over my head, hanging off my shoulders, and the door handle was jiggling from someone wanting to know what was taking so long in there. All the while, I was thinking, I could totally do this: ride my bike 14 miles round trip, every day, and change in public bathrooms if it meant I could stop the hellscape that is applying for jobs.
I started my job journey a couple years ago, but back then I was lackadaisical. I didn’t need a job; I had steady part-time and freelance work, and lived within my means. I still had the freedom to do things on my own time, and I only wanted a job if it meant I could grow in my career.
I got more serious about job hunting this spring when my landlords raised my rent around the same time my part-time job hours got cut. I was having a harder time finding freelance gigs because of “The Job Market” and the fact that my expertise, bikes and writing, are oversaturated, dying industries.
to SFO when I received an email from a decently prestigious bike advocacy organization. “We’re already late in the interview process, but I’d like to take the chance to speak with you anyway. Are you available for an interview around 11 a.m.?” I looked at the clock on the train that said 10 a.m. and looked at my flight details that said my flight was at 2:15 p.m. and thought, “I would do anything for this job.” So I emailed back and said, “I can do that.”
We agreed to a phone call at noon, and at 12 noon sharp, my phone started buzzing – while I was standing in security having my bag searched. My underwear was splayed out on the counter when my phone stopped buzzing without even a message. After the security guard threw out my favorite Leatherman tool, I raced to pull my phone out and call back. No answer.
The Job Market only got worse as time went on, and things became slightly more dire this summer while I was on a trip in California. I didn’t expect to dump so much money into planes and trains, but alas, there I was, paying the transportation piper. So, while I was staying at my friend’s house in Oakland, I spent mornings sitting at her kitchen table, drinking coffee and applying for jobs. I carefully curated my resume and cover letters and spent time meticulously typing out how much of an asset I would be. I pulled all my persuasive tricks out of my bag and laid it on thick. By the time I pressed “submit,” I would think, “There’s no way I won’t get at least an interview.” And then I’d never hear anything back.
I got my first bite the day I was leaving California. I was on the BART on my way
Thanks to recent rains, the Ferris Fire, near Dolores which has burned nearly 65,000 acres since June 27, was 94% contained as of Wednesday.
Despite major setbacks to the state’s wolf reintroduction efforts, the state’s fourth wolf pack, the Piney Ridge Pack, near Eagle, was confirmed this week, with four to six pups.
A piece of good news coming out of the Gold Mountain Fire, with CPW making a daring rescue and relocation of rare, native trout from the burn area ahead of potential ash and debris flows. The fish will be kept safe until they can return home or find a new one.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t available for your call,” I said in my voicemail. “I was stuck in security.”
She sent me a text back that we could schedule another interview when I returned to Colorado. Later that evening, as I sat on the tarmac at the Durango airport, an email pinged in. She had decided to go with another candidate. Probably one who remembered to take their Leatherman out of their bag before going through security.
I spent the next few weeks applying for more jobs. Everything in my life fell to the wayside while I wrote cover letter after cover letter about my work experience and skills, and why I would be the perfect employee. I received many of the same post-interview emails, thanking me and apologizing for choosing someone else. I knew their decisions were razor thin and probably based on something small. Maybe I smiled less in the interview. Maybe I didn’t have a certification that someone else had. Maybe they hired in-house.
I felt burnt out. And then one day, my dream job popped up. One I specifically checked for every couple months. I was beyond qualified, but I also wasn’t dumb. I knew my chances were low. Then again, I had nothing to lose.
“I know applying for this job is a Hail Mary, but I have to try,” I typed in my cover letter. “I love you. This is my life’s dream, and I’d be amazing at it,” I went on. “What does a girl have to do to get hired around here???? I’d do anything for this job.”
I deleted it all and then spent another beautiful Saturday morning in front of my computer meticulously writing out another well-thought-out cover letter. And then I mentally signed it off with, “And I can totally do that.”
– Jennaye Derge
In classic Trump fashion, he is blaming Canada for the wildfire smoke blanketing parts of the Midwest and the East, which is a little like punching someone in the face and then blaming them for hurting your hand.
Remember last winter? It’s easy to forget, but according to new studies, it may be a sign of the new normal as climate change fuels warmer temperatures. Something called the Pacific Decadal Oscillation is to blame. Maybe Trump could put tariffs on that, too?
A possibly impaired truck driver took out the Tuesday night ride in Durango, sending a rider to the hospital with serious injuries. Hey, truck driver, you know they have Uber in Durango, now, don’t you?
Last week, a satirical TikTok account posted a meme claiming that eating a sleeve of Oreos prior to a workout can increase your deadlift by 22%, and now, tons of stupid people think cookies give you superpowers. The post referenced a fake study purportedly done by the Cleavland Clinic, and the name lent so much gravitas to the meme that gym-bro influencers started reposting it and saying that it works because a “sleeve” has 800 calories, and that type of bump can totally make you stronger. But as we all know, it’s fake news, because the only real way to get power from an Oreo is to name it after one of your enemies and then hold it under milk until the bubbles stop. SignoftheDownfall:
Yeah, I’m into fitness… fittin’ this stack of cookies in my mouth
BigPivots
El Niño to the rescue?
Don’t count on it, as shifting ocean patterns have changed the
by Allen Best
Twenty years ago, some might have hoped that drought in the Colorado River Basin would diminish or disappear altogether. Hope remains but of a distinctly diminished variety. Will El Niño deliver a rare deluge, bringing the water levels of Lake Powell back from the brink of deadpool?
Two books have been written in the last few years with “deadpool” in their titles, indicating how close to the edge we are. If not for a very big snow year in 2022-23, we might well have been there in 2023. Now, we’re in the same place or worse. It’s very possible that Lake Powell will have too little water by September to generate electricity. That is called minimum power pool. Deadpool lies just a few steps below.
Unlike 20 years ago, nobody seems to harbor delusions that this problem will be solved by a turn of nature. As for El Niño, it may help, but Brad Udall, a scientist and scholar affiliated with Colorado State University, advised against too much hope hedging.
Speaking at the Colorado River Conference at the University of Colorado in June, Udall explained that El Niño increases the odds of large impacts as it did in 1983. That year Glen Canyon Dam almost broke with the runoff of 24 million acre-feet. Another big year was 1997 with 19 million acre-feet. And then 2016 produced 13.4 million. Those years aside, El Niño can be sort of a bust, said Udall.
The evidence continues to strengthen that the warming climate – caused by greenhouse gas emissions – will continue to rob the river of water. And, as in the past few decades, warm temperatures will filch water at larger volumes.
Udall had been tasked with summarizing what the 2026 water year that ends in September could be in the context of long-term trends and shortterm impacts.
Colorado River’s future
NOAA’s Colorado River Basin Forecast Center had predicted 13% of average runoff flows, just 800,000 acre-feet, compared to the more average 6 million. “It’s below even 2002, which was the lowest year on record,” said Udall.
As is now widely understood, those who met in Santa Fe in November 1922 to create a framework for sharing the Colorado River had assumed river flows from the upper basin states would be plentiful, 17.5 to 18 million acre-feet. They erred grievously on the side of optimism. The 20th century average was 15.2 million acre-feet, and this century bent downward even more. Since 2019, the average has been 10.2 million acre-feet.
Realizing how climate change models have been both comforting and chilling, consider a chapter by the late John Opie, the author of several books about the Ogallala Aquifer. In the concluding chapter in his 1998 callbook, “Sense of the American West,” he mentioned pre-
dictions that global temperatures would rise 1.5 degrees C by 2030. So far, we’re at 1.2 to 1.35 degrees C. In the American Southwest, things are heating more rapidly, about 3.5 degrees C per century, according to a paper issued by the Rhodium Group.
We had a sharp taste of that in March. Temperatures across the Colorado River Basin averaged 9 degrees F above the 20th century average. In Colorado, Fort Collins had a new record for the first day above 90 degrees in records going back to 1895. The previous earliest was in May.
What will increased heat mean in terms of precipitation? The short answer is that it increases evaporation and transpiration. So, of the snow or rain that falls, less emerges as water in downstream reservoirs or, for that matter, in transmountain diversions.
Taking a more global perspective, Udall pointed to a natural phenomenon
that became apparent to scientists only in 1997, called the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. It alters jet streams and storm tracks in the American West. Like El Niño and La Nina, it has different phases. The negative phase of the Pacific Decadal Oscillator pushes storm tracks north, meaning drier conditions in the Colorado River Basin.
Now it seems stuck, according to a paper issued by scientists in 2025. The scientists claim this trend is largely driven by human emissions of aerosols. They cooled the planet, but as we cease their emissions, the effect is to warm the planet. The takeaway from that paper is as long as greenhouse gas emission trends continue, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation will remain stuck, producing drought in the Southwestern states.
Another recent paper examined the North Pacific Ocean and the response to changes in the atmosphere over the last 6,000 years. The takeaway is that the models had under-appreciated the effect of warming, which causes 20% reductions in precipitation.
“And I’ll note a 20% decline in precipitation is probably like a 50% decline in river flow,” said Udall.
In other words, 90% of the heat caused by greenhouse gases in the atmosphere goes into the ocean, and scientists are still piecing together how that heat in the ocean affects the climate for the Colorado River Basin. Even if we reduced greenhouse gas emissions immediately, the heat will remain for hundreds, even thousands of years.
Think we might see a return to even the 15.2 million acre-feet of the 20th century at Lee Ferry? Forget about it. We might get lucky with an El Niño, but then again, said Udall, the evidence doesn’t support much optimism. The more grounded hope is that the meager snowfall and extraordinary warmth of the last year does not come with an echo this coming winter. ■
The Colorado River, as it flows downstream from Glen Canyon Dam into Marble Canyon./ Telegraph file photo
SoapBox
Planning complaints deserve more scrutiny
The July 14 Board of County Commissioners meeting was an encouraging step for La Plata County. I commend all three commissioners for ensuring that everyone who wished to speak had an opportunity to do so. Equally important, the commissioners engaged in dialogue with many speakers rather than simply listening in silence. That openness should continue.
What stood out, however, was the consistency of the testimony. Speaker after speaker described experiences they attributed not to planning staff but to the county attorney’s office. Business owners, property owners, utilities and other stakeholders shared concerns about legal interpretations, unnecessary procedural hurdles, excessive costs and what they viewed as legal overreach. Many even praised planning staff while expressing frustration with the legal process.
Yet the discussion largely moved past that common thread. If dozens of independent speakers point to the same
source of concern, it deserves careful examination rather than dismissal.
Good government requires the willingness to ask difficult questions, even when the answers may be uncomfortable. Ignoring repeated concerns does not make them disappear. They cannot simply be written off as a personal attack
History teaches us that excessive influence, bureaucratic overreach and behind-the-scenes decision-making are not unique to Washington, D.C, or the Colorado Capitol. They can develop anywhere that power becomes concentrated and goes unquestioned. There is no reason to automatically assume they cannot exist in our local government.
– Russ Smith, Durango
No Secret Police in Durango aftermath
The City of Durango said the City of Durango vs. No Secret Police Initiative Committee through Ted Wright and Michael Souder court case was not adversarial. The city attorney told me that the city did not “win” the court case against the citizen’s initiative. It used a declaratory
judgement court filing because City Council could not ascertain the nature of the ordinance as legislative or administrative. A city news release on the matter said that the city was not suing residents.
Let’s start with the title of the court action: “Vs.” means "against" or "in opposition to." Despite claims to the contrary, the lack of being able to decide an issue led the city to name a defunct committee and its organizers as respondents of a lawsuit.
As far as whether the city won by not having the special election, that should be obvious. Throughout the petitioning and submission process, City Council members described problems that passing the ordinance would cause with federal funds and grants. Residents wanted this initiative to go forward and signed it anyway. A councilor derided the effort, as only 1,700 of the 20,000 people in Durango signed the petition.
The initiative committee who collected the signatures for the visible ID / no masks for law enforcement to be enacted by City Council or go to the voters didn’t get what they wanted; they lost. The City prevailed and, therefore, won.
The City’s message on neutrality is muddled, as it has told the public that the court action can be appealed. If the opinion was neutral, why would it be appealed? If there is no adversarial relationship, who would appeal it? (Not the ad hoc citizen’s initiative committee, which no longer exists).
I rewatched April 21 City Council meeting debate on filing the lawsuit and appreciate that City Council spent the time to work through whether or not to file a court case. However, I believe filing the court action
was a choice City Council made, not a requirement in determining the elusive “administrative vs. legislative” distinction. In fact, one of the documents they received from advising Denver-based law firm Holland & Hart included a warning about making such a choice. In a similar case, Colorado Chief Justice Coats dissented, ruling that the court’s reasoning was “little more than a license to judicially nullify popularly initiated measures.”
And that’s the real effect here, intentional or not. The 50 or so people who gathered at the Rec Center on a January night and committed to getting 1,100 signatures were set up for steeling themselves against a vindictive federal government and talking to neighbors and strangers to get the job done. They were not set up nor had the resources for a legal battle of an appeal.
But now a precedent has been set. More important than the No Mask/Visible ID ordinance not getting to the voters is that the Durango City Council is able to apply the same roadblock to any citizen’s initiative. City of Durango vs. No Secret Police is only one of a few cases anywhere that took a citizen’s initiative to court like this, but to be fair to our petitioners, they will need to do it every time until clear guidelines are put in place.
No longer is it enough that voters organize neighbors and community members for a petition. Now, a citizen’s initiative has to lawyer up as well. It’s not just the federal government chipping away at our democratic processes. Our own city is doing it.
– Mick Souder, Durango
Editor’s note: According to the City of Durango, federal grant requirements stipulate that the City of Durango must not interfere with federal immigration law enforcement lest it be subject to having its federal funding frozen or revoked. Federal funding goes to things such as public transit, airport infrastructure and improvements, and housing and community development.
According to the City, good-faith efforts were made to work with initiative organizers to develop language that would be legally defensible and consistent with existing state and federal law. Those efforts were declined.
Therefore, due to unresolved legal issues with the proposed “No Masks” ordinance, the City said judicial review was necessary. The City maintains that it was “between a rock and a hard place,” and that proceeding with the election in the absence of judicial review would be irresponsible and expose it to potential costly litigation and loss of federal funds.
We’ll print damned near anything
The Telegraph welcomes healthy civil discourse in 750 words or less. Writers must include their (real) name and place of residence. Personal attacks, hate speech or libelous content are not welcome. Please email your profundities to: telegraph@durangotele graph.com
Lavender fields forever
Mesa Verde Lavender Farm a haven for pollinators, artists and anyone seeking a little calm
by Missy Votel
If John Lennon ever visited Katie Terrell Ramos’ farm outside Mancos, his song “Strawberry Fields” could easily have been “Lavender Fields.” Wandering among the fragrant purple mounds in the height of summer under a Colorado sky, the effect is much the same. The outside world fades, time slows, and for a little while, there really is nothing to get hung about – a sense of calm that lingers long after you’ve headed home.
Indeed, after zigging and zagging the hot, dusty backroads of Montezuma County in the July heat, arriving at Katie’s Mesa Verde Lavender Farm is like stepping into a mirage straight out of Provence. Katie herself, who has run the farm for the last five years with the help of husband, Travis, and her in-laws, is the epitome of farm charm in flowy linen pants and long-sleeved shirt, straw hat and long, dark braid. (She is wearing Bedrock river sandals, too – this is the Southwest, after all.)
As we wander the grounds, a breeze wafts the relaxing scent of lavender through the air. Even the Sleeping Ute, off in the distance, seems to be under its spell.
“I think a lot of the community needs calm. We’re very dysregulated, especially when we’re having stuff like wildfires and the economic and political climate,” Katie said during a visit this week. “Having a safe place where you can come and relax and connect back to nature is something so many people need right now. When people come here, you can just see their shoulders start to relax.”
But don’t be fooled. A lot of hard work went into creating this “sanctuary for calm,” as Katie describes it. And a lot of dreaming.
Planting the seeds
A former music teacher, Katie left her career during the pandemic, in search of something new. At the time, she was channeling her creative energies into children’s books, which she illustrated with her hand-carved prints. However, this work entailed a lot of time sitting in front of a computer. Her father-in-law, Clay – whom she and Travis were living with temporarily in Texas –began to have fatherly concerns.
“He was worried I was spending too much time inside, and he thought I needed to be outside more,” she recalled.
When she did go outside, she would gather small bouquets of lavender from the family’s gardens, bundle them and leave them in different spots throughout the house.
“I was obsessed with these lavender plants,” she laughed.
Taking note, Clay quipped that she should become a lavender farmer. Katie laughed it off; Clay didn’t. The next day, buoyed by some internet homework, he declared that not only was lavender farming a thing, but “a good thing.”
So, as these “things” often go, the seeds were planted. The family began searching for land for a family home-
stead in Southwest Colorado, where Katie and Travis were itching to get back to.
Unfortunately, their search coincided with the height of the pandemic migration frenzy. Often, land would get snatched up, sight-unseen by cash buyers before they even had a chance to look at it. Then, one day in the winter of 2020, a listing came up that seemed perfect: 50 acres with water, smack dab between Mancos, Dolores and Cortez.
Katie and Travis, who were living back in Durango at the time, booked a showing the next day, and the inlaws jumped into their car and began driving from Texas. The four met at the property, and as soon as they stood on the cliff overlooking the canyon that ran through it, they knew they were home. (Fun fact: that
canyon is Stinking Springs, the same one that eventually winds its way to Phil’s World.)
As luck would have it, their offer was accepted, and the family soon moved into what came to be known as “Canyonside.”
And then the real fun began.
“It did not look like this when we moved in,” said Katie, surveying the pastoral fields, restored barn and corrugated-metal sided house where the four live while Katie and Travis build their own abode next door.
For starters, the land, which they believe had been used as a dairy farm, was overgrown with weeds. Fields had to be cleared and leveled, and irrigation put in.
“Travis and I used our life savings to buy a tractor,” said Katie, now a devoted John Deere fan.
Katie Terrell Ramos at her Mesa Verde Lavender Farm.
Photo by Missy Votel
The barn appeared to be supported by one post and had to be reinforced and lifted so a foundation could be poured. The good news was the dirt floor was covered in aged manure – black gold for farmers – which they put on the fields.
As for their “house” – an old hunting cabin – it was a gut job. Fortunately, Clay happened to be handy with the tools (speaking of which, somebody needs to give this guy his own HGTV show), and with the tenacity of Swiss Family Robinson, they got to work.
By the spring of 2021, they had planted their first field of lavender. Katie said they have several “cultivars,” or varietals, but they fall into one of two categories: culinary, for use in cooking, or aromatics, for use in essential oils and body products.
A tough row to hoe
Despite the family’s gung-”hoe” attitude, it was not all sachets and eye pillows that first year. For starters, lavender, although tough and drought tolerant, takes three years to mature and produce enough flowers to harvest. Then there’s the fact that, as Katie openly admits, “I didn’t know what I was doing.” Sixty percent of the first plants, inevitably, failed. As one can imagine, there was some soulsearching in those early days on the farm.
“When I was in school, if you failed at something, they just told you that you weren’t good at it and to move on and try something else,” Katie said. “The nice thing here is that I had in-laws and a husband saying, ‘You got it. You’re going to have losses the first year, because you don’t know what the crud you’re doing. It’s going to be OK.’”
So – because she had already bought the farm (and the tractor), so to speak –she stuck with it. And today’s well-oiled and -scented operation is a testament to this stick withitness. In addition to her main field of lavender, which is in its second season of production, there is an adolescent field that should start producing in a year or so. The family also grows lavender on another satellite plot in Cortez. In addition, they invested in a copper still from Portugal – which looks a little like something out of “Willy Wonka” – so all products can be made on-site. And, they use farm-raised and/or local ingredients as much as possible. (Fun fact No. 2: it takes 40 bouquets of lavender to make just 4 ounces of essential oil.)
Today, Mesa Verde Lavender transforms its harvest into essential oils, hydrosols, salves, culinary lavender and other products sold throughout Southwest Colorado, from farmers markets to James Ranch, Dancing Willow Herbs and Revival Goods. Cream Bean Berry even uses the farm’s lavender in its ice cream.
Katie touts her lavender, which is Lavandula X intermedia – a cold-hardy hybrid of English (Lavandula angustifolia) and Portuguese (Lavandula latifolia) – as being a higher grade than the basic grocery store variety, which is often angustifolia. “Ours has higher camphor, so it smells better and is way stronger and more potent. You don’t have to use as much,” she said.
(By the way, she noted it is not always safe to put essential oil directly onto skin as it can burn, irritate or mess up your microbiome. So, it’s good to have it in a carrier oil or use the hydrosol.)
Flourishing
Perhaps the best progress of all is that Katie now has a little help driving the tractor, with one full-time employee and a crew of temporary seasonal workers. Every summer, the farm also has a
“WOOFER” (worker associated with worldwide opportunities on organic farms), who helps out in exchange for room, board and meals. This summer, it so happens to be Katie’s dear friend, local artist Heather Martinez, who lives in her casita on the property.
Speaking of artists, this place is an artist’s haven. In addition to artistic flourishes throughout, thanks to Katie and Clay’s craftsmanship, the farm hosts plein air painters groups as well as artist workshops and presentations. Tewa/Hopi artist and musician Ed Kabotie has been doing a residency here, hosting storytelling sessions on the canyon’s rim. His reggae band, The Yoties, is recording a new album in the barn.
But if you’re not an artist and just want to come and enjoy the farm, that’s OK, too. Katie hosts tours on Sunday mornings
and rents out a renovated “wagon” on Hipcamp. Renters can also rent out the wood-burning sauna, also built by handy man Clay. (He also built a lot of the furniture on the farm. See what we mean?)
And for those who actually want to come and get their hands dirty while soaking in the serenity, there are options for that, too. Katie relies heavily on volunteers, especially during the three-week harvest season in July, which just passed. All you need are some dungarees, a sun hat and good work gloves (oh, and maybe an EpiPen if you’re super allergic to bees. This place is literally swarming with the fuzzy pollinators, although for the most part, they just go about their bee-siness.)
Safe to say, there’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes into creating a peaceful oasis in the high desert. But for Katie, who, perhaps by osmosis exudes as much calm as the lavender plants themselves, it’s all part of what she signed up for. When asked when she’ll get a day off, she said it will come on Christmas, the day after her last holiday market.
“It’s just game on right now. The farm doesn’t wait for you. You have to wake up and be ready for the farm,” she said. “Once it goes dormant, that’s when I can start relaxing. I follow the seasons. Just like nature, when it goes dormant, then I can.” ■
Clockwise from upper left: Rows of adolescent lavender that will bloom in a year or two; the drying room, where harvested lavender is sent before processing; and Katie Terrell Ramos overlooking Stinking Springs, which runs through the property./
Photos by Missy Votel
Tina Miely Real Estate
BetweentheBeats
Feeling lucky
DJ Pearly talks thrift-store style, Hollywood and dance parties
by Stephen Sellers
Greetings, dear readers! This week, I sat down with local DJ – and, if I do say so myself, fashion icon – Alanna Pearl, better known behind the decks as DJ Pearly. As many of you have observed, Durango has a unique dress code with twenty- and thirtysomethings: sun-faded five-panel hats, adventure sandals designed for three separate activities in a single day, and enough technical fabric to survive an unexpected change in weather. Pearly, however, stands in a world entirely her own. For the past several years, she has brought a muchneeded element of fashion, theatricality and self-expression to the parties she attends and plays. I caught up with Alanna ahead of her show this Friday at the Black Heron, where she’ll share the decks with fellow local favorite Baby Del.
SS: You were born and raised in Durango?
AP: Yeah. Born in the old Mercy Hospital, somewhere around where the library is now.
SS: Durango has an unspoken dress code with the youth – and I’ve never really seen you in it. When did style become such a big part of your life?
AP: Probably in high school. My mom has an antiques store now, but back then it was just my single mom, and we weren’t super well off, so we lived at the thrift store. That’s where my love for clothing started.
SS: And eventually that carried you to Los Angeles?
AP: Not directly. I moved to Dallas for six months when I was 21, for a boy. That lasted about a month.
SS: As someone who grew up in the suburbs of Dallas, congratulations on your escape!
AP: By March it was already so hot. I was like, ‘I’m not built for this.’ So I moved to Los Angeles.
SS: What did life look like out there?
AP: Surreal. I loved the work I did. I was doing wardrobe styling, and that helped me develop my personal style. That was also when I got into clothing design.
SS: Was music already part of that world?
Alanna Pearl
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AP: Definitely. A lot of my friends were in bands or were producers. In my early twenties, I recorded a couple rap songs, which is actually so embarrassing.
SS: Please tell me they still exist.
AP: I know where one is. I don’t know where the others are. They’re genuinely really funny. A few years later, I started a DJ duo with a friend. That was how I learned.
SS: What were you playing?
AP: A lot of rap and dance music plus tracks our friends were making. We were playing clubs in Hollywood, so we had to create that kind of vibe.
SS: Then COVID brought you back to Durango?
AP: I came back for two weeks. Now it’s been six years.
SS: How have you kept a creative life going?
AP: I still do styling, design and creative direction remotely, but it’s harder from a distance. Social media has become a tool for expression, too. I love doing silly outfits, photos or weird commercials for events.
SS: What advice would you give someone using social media creatively?
AP: Resist an algorithm. Resist whatever seems to be fed to you. There are ways to be more radical in how you use the tools you’re given.
SS: You’ve also become a recognizable part of Durango’s DJ community. What do you enjoy about playing here?
AP: I love the community that has almost burst in Durango with the DJs. I love getting dressed up and going out, obviously. Any time I can help create that environment, I want to do it. It’s fun to have a dance party to look forward to.
SS: What should we expect from a DJ Pearly set?
AP: It’s definitely for the girlies. I do it for the girls and the gays and the theys. I play dance, house and disco, and sometimes more aggressive techno.
SS: Tell me about Friday’s party.
AP: I always love playing with Baby Del. She is the queen of the Durango underground. She brings the best vibes and always throws down. We’re just going to have fun. I’m secretly celebrating my birthday, too, so I’m creating a party where I get to hear the music I want to dance to.
SS: That is when you know you’ve become a real DJ. What would make it a perfect birthday?
AP: People dancing in their sluttiest little outfits. An extrafilthy martini. And the Mew Mew 2017 cowboy boots.
SS: Anything else on your mind lately?
AP: I’ve been feeling lucky. I think everyone should believe in feeling lucky, and then they’ll be lucky.
DJ Pearly and Baby Del play Friday at 10 p.m. Consider this your invitation to dress up, feel lucky and dance. See you on the dance floor. ■
State has fourth pack
CPW confirms Piney Ridge Pack, lethal removal of elusive Copper Creek male
by Jennifer Brown / Colorado Sun & Telegraph Staff
Colorado has another official wolf pack, bringing the number of packs that have successfully reproduced this year to four.
The latest confirmed family group is in Eagle County and has been named the Piney Ridge Pack, Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials said Wednesday.
The other packs, with an average litter size of four to six pups, are: One Ear in Jackson County; Three Creeks in Rio Blanco County; and Copper Creek, the first pack to form in the state after wolves were reintroduced in 2023. Members of that pack killed livestock in Grand County. Most of the pack was captured and relocated to Pitkin County.
The agency’s wolf program manager, Eric Odell, said in a news release that CPW is continuing to monitor the four packs and attempting to count the pups. The information, including a minimum count of the state’s entire wolf population, will come out in CPW’s annual report in the spring, he said.
“Detection of pups in late spring or early summer is inherently challenging, because of their use of remote habitats in dense cover, secretive nature of very young animals, and time potentially underground,” Odell said.
Confirmation of another pack is good news for the wolf program in Colorado because studies have found that established packs have higher survival rates compared with lone wolves.
Pack formation also leads to wolves es-
tablishing a territory instead of roaming around the state, Odell said. After packs form territories, wildlife managers can prioritize where to focus conflict mitigation efforts to protect livestock, such as scare devices and fladry on fencelines.
“We are still working from a modest amount of data in Colorado – due to the relatively new nature of our wolf population as well as its small size – but so far, we are seeing a clear pattern of wolves in packs surviving longer than wolves that
are not in packs,” Brenna Cassidy, CPW’s wolf monitoring and data coordinator said in a news release.
Of the 10 wolves that died between April 1, 2025 and March 30, 2026, seven were “dispersed,” and three were part of packs, she said.
CPW also reported July 13 that another, uncollared male wolf was lethally removed June 12 in Routt County. The wolf, which DNA testing confirmed to be the fifth Copper Creek yearling who
escaped capture in 2024, had a history of depredation in Rio Blanco County. Since the summer of 2025, the wolf was implicated in 10 depredation events involving 22 sheep. The latest of these were two depredations in Routt County on June 10 -11. These events occurred despite the producer pursuing substantial non-lethal conflict minimization efforts, according to CPW.
“The decision to pursue lethal actions is never an easy one, but the circumstances around this wolf’s repeated depredation history made this a difficult but necessary decision,” CPW Director Laura Clellan said.
CPW had been tracking the wolf, who was known by a limp in his front leg, for a year, however, he proved elusive. Eventually, after multiple failed attempts, on the evening of June 12, CPW was able to lure the wolf in using an electronic call.
A complete report on the lethal removal is available on CPW’s website: tiny url.com/zahudh6f.
Wildlife officials encourage people who believe they’ve seen a wolf to submit a report on CPW’s website. Such reports “will become increasingly important as the population of uncollared wolves grows through successful reproduction and natural immigration,” the agency said.
This story was edited by Telegraph staff to include information about the CPW wolf killing June 12 in Routt County.
The Colorado Sun is a nonprofit, awardwinning news outlet covering Colorado. Sign up for their newsletters, and follow them on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Bluesky. ■
A gray wolf pup born in the spring of 2025 to the King Mountain Pack in Routt County was photographed June 22, 2025, by a CPW trail camera.
San Ignacio Fiesta and Parade, 10 a.m., Goddard Ave., Ignacio
Ignacio Roots & Remembrance Ice Cream Social, 10 a.m., Dancing Spirit Center for the Arts, 465 Goddard Ave.
Get Ready to Rally Workshop, 11 a.m.-12 noon, Durango Harley-Davidson, 750 S Camino Del Rio
Wook Wizard plays, 12 noon-3 p.m., 11th St. Station, 1101 Main Ave.
Yarn Meetup, 1-3 p.m., Durango Public Library, 1900 E. 3rd Ave.
Sunnyside Garden Tour and Potluck, 1:305:30 p.m., Sunnyside Library, 75 CR 218
Dave Osborn plays, 5-8 p.m., Serious Texas BBQ South, 650 S. Camino Del Rio
KSUT 21st Anniversary Party in the Park featuring MarchFourth and Cha Wa, 5-11 p.m., Buckley Park
Charmaine Stewart plays, 5:30-10 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Nina Sasaki Band plays, 6-8 p.m., Lola’s Place, 725 E. 2nd Ave.
Adult Disco Roller Skating, 6-8 p.m., Chapman Hill Rink
Mark Dennison plays, 6-9 p.m., Union Social House, 3062 Main Ave.
Matt Rupnow plays, 6-9 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.
Jamie and the Dreamers play, 6-9 p.m., 11th St. Station, 1101 Main Ave.
True Western Roundup Pro Rodeo, 6:30-9 p.m., La Plata County Fairgrounds
“Dancing Queens” Music in the Mountains Pops Orchestra Concert, 7 p.m., Community Concert Hall at FLC
“The Shining” screening, 7 p.m., Durango Arts Center, 802 E. 2nd Ave.
“The White Chip,” staged play reading, 7-9 p.m., Merely Players Underground, 789 Tech Center Dr.
Liver Down the River plays, 8 p.m., The Subterrain, 900 Main Ave., Ste. F
Bikini Trill w/ DJ JahMek, 8 p.m., Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Dr.
Sunday26
Sunday Record Brunch Club, 12 noon-3 p.m., 11th St. Station, 1101 Main Ave.
“The White Chip,” staged play reading, 2-4 p.m., Merely Players Underground, 789 Tech Center Dr.
Beethoven’s Eroica: Music in the Mountains Orchestra Concert, 5 p.m., Community Concert Hall at FLC
Pete Giuliani plays, 5-7:30 p.m., Clubhouse at Dalton Ranch, 589 CR 252
Ben Gibson plays, 6-9 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.
Blue Moon Ramblers play, 6-9 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Monday27
Death Cafe, 4-5:30 p.m., Durango Public Library, 1900 E. 3rd Ave.
AskRachel AI can’t, pumpkins in July and kitty chin chins
Interesting fact: I was researching facts about cat zits (because we all need more info) but I keep seeing it referred to as a “cosmetic disease.” Language like that is why I’m glad I was in middle school before the age of social media.
Dear Rachel, AI is garbage, and I hate it. All the people I know who talk about it say they would never use it. But clearly that’s not true. Everyone is using it. For emails. For event flyers. I wish we could scrap it all and go back to Xeroxing at work. How do you feel about it? Promise you’ll never let AI write your responses?
– No Soul
Dear Art Critic, I, for one, would rather every event flier have an iPhone photo or a couple of stick figures on it than AI slop. Give me amateur messes. Give me something my pre-kindergarten niece could make, over something soulless from a janky six-fingered plagiarism machine. (I stole that description from somewhere, I forget where, speaking of plagiarism machines.) You will never see an AI response from ol’ Rachel. Unless I’m dead in the hospital and trying to fool the governor.
– Unprompted, Rachel
Happy Hour Yoga, 5:30 p.m., Ska Brewing, 225 Girard St.
Darryl Kuntz plays, 5:30-10 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Terry Rickard plays, 6-9 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.
Songwriters Workshop with Jesse Ogle, 7-8:30 p.m., iAM Music, 1315 Main Ave.
Jazz Church, 7:30-9:30 p.m., 11th St. Station, 1101 Main Ave.
Tuesday28
Cowboy Tuesdays, 12 noon-3 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
“From Viking Fjords to the Rockies” photography by David Yarrow, opening reception, 58 p.m., Sorrel Sky Gallery, 828 Main Ave.
Nina & the Boys play, 5-9 p.m., LePlatt’s Pond, 311A CR 501, Bayfield
Twin Buttes Tuesday weekly group mountain bike ride, 5:30-7:30 p.m., Twin Buttes Trailhead
Darryl Kuntz plays, 5:30-10 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Dear Rachel,
I was trying to find some cheap plastic sand pails for table decorations. It’s July. Peak summer season. But summer was already cleared out of the stores. It’s all Halloween all the time. I like fall as much as the next pumpkin-spice girlie, but this is too much. I can’t live my life planning impulse purchases a full season ahead. What do I do?
– Out of Stock
Dear Bucket Brain, Eventually we will lap ourselves. The shelves will be Christmas at Christmastime, and pumpkins at Halloweentime, and all will feel right with the world. Except we will be a full year ahead. It will be Valentine’s Day 2032 but with Valentine’s Day 2033 merch. It will feel like when you’re at a stop light and your blinker syncs up with the blinker in front of you for just a moment. Then it all falls apart again.
– Turn turn turn, Rachel
Dear Rachel,
Did you know cats get zits? I didn’t know cats get zits. This is what happens when you let a crazy cat lady into your life. I have no other deep question. That’s all.
– Ready to Pop
Rotary Club of Durango 9R’s SOIL outdoor learning lab, 6 p.m., Strater Hotel, 699 Main Ave.
Cookbook Club: Secret Family Recipes, 6-7:30 p.m., Durango Public Library, 1900 East 3rd Ave.
Music in the Plaza with Dave Mensch, 6-8 p.m., Three Springs, 175 Mercado St.
Tuesday Trivia, 6-8:30 p.m., 11th St. Station, 1101 Main Ave.
Rob Webster plays, 6-9 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.
Adult Disco Roller Skating, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Chapman Hill Roller Rink
Wednesday29
Daybreak Rotary discusses Alzheimer’s Disease, 7-8 a.m., La Plata County Fairgrounds
Share Your Garden, 10-11:30 a.m., Animas Valley Grange, 7271 CR 203
Ora plays Community Concert Series benefiting San Juan Citizens Alliance, 5:30-8 p.m., The Powerhouse, 1333 Camino del Rio
Email Rachel at
Dear Main Squeeze, Black cat, blackheads, makes sense to me. Consider cat zits proof that the cat is not AI generated. Cat collectors of the future will deem such blemishes proof of authenticity. What? You think the janky plagiarism machines can fabricate chin zits? I’m sure they can; I’m not going to be the one to test it. All I know is, senatorial proof-of-life images lack chin zits, and maybe that’s all the information America needs. – Chin up, Rachel
Leah Orlikowski plays, 6-9 p.m., The Oxford, 119 W. 8th St.
Darryl Kuntz plays, 6-9 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Devin Scott plays, 6-9 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.
Community Story Circle, 6:30-8 p.m., Durango Public Library, 1900 E. 3rd Ave.
True Western Roundup Pro Rodeo New Mexico Rodeo Association, 6:30-9 p.m., La Plata County Fairgrounds
Preparing the Next Generation of Agriculture Summer Speaker Series, 7-8 p.m., Pine River Library, 395 Bayfield Center Dr., Bayfield
Upcoming
Green Drinks featuring Durango Trails, Bears Smart Durango and Sierra Club SWCO, Thurs., July 30, 5-7 p.m., 11th St. Station, 1101 Main Ave.
“Stories Written in Stone: A Life in Paleontology,” Thurs., July 30, 6-7:30 p.m., Durango Public Library, 1900 E. 3rd Ave.
Natalie Brooke with HorseShirt plays, Thurs., July 30, 8 p.m., Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Dr.
FreeWillAstrology
by Rob Brezsny
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Authentic love songs are rare. Much of contemporary music leans toward infatuation, sex, heartbreak and fury. Few artists seem interested in singing unabashedly about unique expressions of tenderness and devotion. In the months ahead, your inner life will be gloriously out of step with that trend. Your heart is poised to wake up in surprising ways. Even if you’re not a trained vocalist, you may feel regular urges to express your passion and adoration in song. If I could give you a gift, it might be a curated playlist packed with the most radiant love songs of the last 60 years, so you’d have a soundtrack worthy of the lush emotions that I suspect will bloom in you.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Nobel Prizewinning Taurus physicist Richard Feynman kept a notebook titled “Things I Don’t Know About.” When he came across a question he couldn’t answer, he added it to the collection. I recommend a similar discipline for you, but with a twist. Keep a log of “Beautiful Mysteries I Don’t Really Need to Solve.” Rejoice that not every paradox and puzzle needs resolution. Savor the fun fact that some riddles enrich your life precisely because they remain open-ended. Hooray for not knowing! My theory is that some of your finest qualities will flourish in the presence of productive uncertainty.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): In the early days of radio, people sometimes spoke of “tuning the receiver.” Even when a station was transmitting clearly, a listener might hear static until their radio dial was adjusted to exactly the right frequency. The message was present and clear; the challenge was homing in on it. There’s a similar phenomenon going on in your life. Useful information, inspiration and interesting possibilities may be in your vicinity. But you will need to adjust your attention so you can receive them. To bring the signals into focus, listen differently, pose alternate questions or pay attention to sources you don’t usually notice.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Neuroscientists have found that remembering the past and imagining the future rely on many of the same brain networks. That helps explain why vivid visualization may influence our emotions and behavior. When we repeatedly simulate alarming scenarios about what could conceivably happen, our brains treat them much like memories. This makes us prone to spotting “threats” in places that may be relatively safe. The good news is that the coming months will be an excellent time to retrain this habit.
More than ever, your imagination can be used to recalibrate yourself away from fear and toward possibility. Fantasize about wonderful possibilities with the same intensity that you have dwelled on scary speculations.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Oak trees produce far more acorns than could ever grow into trees. Squirrels bury thousands and forget many of them, preparing the way for the next generation of forest. The trees succeed through strategic overproduction. I invite you to adopt their method, Leo. In the coming weeks, overproduce. Make more than you can track. Release more than you can manage. You don’t need to be perfect, just abundant. PS: This expansive capacity is yours to explore with delight and confidence, I guarantee it.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): In the 19th century, Virgo naturalist Alexander von Humboldt helped launch the modern science of ecology. While exploring South America, he came to a revolutionary conclusion that’s obvious to us now: Nature isn’t a collection of separate objects but an intricate web of relationships. Mountains shape the weather. The plants and pollinators rely on each other. Underground mycelial networks perform services for the trees. Channel your inner Humboldt. Shift your focus from isolated problems to the larger systems. Solutions may be elusive when you’re bound to a narrow view but strikingly clear when you perceive the wider pattern.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): The coming months will be a favorable time to triple your devotion to the art of rowdy fun. I urge you to attend more revels and celebrations than usual, and always be ready to energize social functions with infusions of festive wit and gleeful conviviality. You will also have extra power to inject buoyant amusements into your intimate liaisons. Therefore, dear Libra, I designate you to be the Party Maestro of the Zodiac. I hope you will carry out your role with maximum exuberance, ingenuity and joy.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): What if I told you that your most personal and potent dream can come true—but only through months of persistence, disciplined sacrifice, and stretches of bewildering but fascinating uncertainty? Would you reorder your priorities to chase it with every ounce of creativity you have? Or would you set it aside in favor of a safer and easier possibility? Between now and the end of October, I predict the moment will arrive to choose one path or the other.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): On some occasions, you just don’t have the power to act with impeccable integrity and do the totally right thing. Doing the partially right thing may, however, be a useful and compassionate option. I bet this will soon be helpful advice for you. Blunt truth: There are moments when the “perfect” ethical, emotional, or practical choice simply isn’t available: The timing is off, resources are thin, or someone else’s limits block the ideal outcome. In those situations, waiting around for the flawless solution is a kind of paralysis that keeps you stuck in guilt or indecision. Instead, you can aim for the best available good.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): In botany and gardening, there is a practice called “companion planting.” Certain plants thrive when grown near each other because they share nutrients, repel or distract pests, or improve soil and microclimate. Here’s an example: Indigenous peoples of the Americas planted the “Three Sisters” together: Corn gave beans a living trellis, beans added nitrogen to the soil, and squash shaded the ground to hold moisture and deter weeds. This principle may be useful to you now. The people, tools and influences you place near one another will influence your productivity and well-being. By blending complementary energies, your efforts will flourish.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Author Alain de Botton observed that “the person we marry is always far more remarkable, frightening, and complex than we quite realized when we first declared our love.” Rather than feeling alarmed by this revelation, I invite you to find it thrilling as you apply it to your best allies. The fact that they contain mysteries you haven’t yet plumbed means the relationships aren’t likely to grow stale. There are undiscovered depths in those you may think you know completely. My advice: Approach even your most familiar intimacies as ongoing discoveries.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Do you ever fear or distrust your own desires? Are you suspicious of achieving “too much” success? Do you ever feel starved for hope, but belittle yourself for wanting it? Do you go emotionally blank in the face of possibilities that should thrill you? If so, the coming weeks could bring healing and a breakthrough. You will have a chance to perform a rare kind of exorcism—not of garish demons or foolish ghosts, but of the quiet defeatism and lack of faith that dull your brilliance. Seize this moment, dear Pisces! Purge the automatic doubts that the world has trained you to mistake for wisdom
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Announcements
Adult Roller Skating
Check out the Chapman Hill Rink schedule. We have added adult skating on Tuesday nights 6:30-8:30pm and DJ parties 1 Saturday each month 8:1510:15pm. Durango Rollerskaters will be there to help you get rolling! Todd 970799-0139
Classes/Workshops
Parenting Classes-Storybook Gardens 970-403-3347
HelpWanted
Apple Tech Help Wanted
Seeking help setting up my new Mac Air and learning more about my new iPhone. Been a PC/ Android user mostly and require some guidance, probably several 2-3 hour sessions. Hours flexible, pay negotiable. Contact Rebecca at 970-903-9812
Amaya Natural Therapeutics is hiring massage therapists. Drop résumé by or email to TriciaGourley13@ gmail.com
Time to refresh your indoor and outdoor space. Rolling wooden bar, nightstands, mirrors, lamps, cool artwork and lots more! Also looking to consign smaller furniture pieces. 572 E. 6th Ave. Open Mon.-Sat. 385-7336.
Lost/Found
Found: Money Clip in Downtown Durango on 7/10. Please text 970.403.7765 and describe the clip in detail if it belongs to you.
Serving Durango over 30 years. Brad, 970-759-2869. Master Plbg Lic #179917
Wanted
Books Wanted at White Rabbit
Donate/Trade/Sell 970 259-2213
BodyWork
Massage by Meg Bush
30, 60 & 90 min Meg Bush, LMT 970759-0199
Lymphatic Drainage Massage Intentional full body fluid movement. Meg Bush, LMT 970-759-0199
Free
Free Wood
Help me clean my front yard. 604 Hocker Drive.
Free Depth Hypnosis Sessions
Looking for clarity, healing or personal growth? Former local attorney training as depth hypnosis practitioner seeks practice clients. Sessions are free and confidential. TallgrassCollective.org.
CommunityService
Open Studio Tour – Call for Artists
Registration for the 2026 Durango Open Studio Tour is open Aug. 6-21. The Open Studio Tour takes place Oct. 17–18 and there is an Opening Art Exhibition Oct. 2 at the Durango Creative District. The Durango Open Studio Tour is a free, annual event that invites the public into the working studios of emerging and professional artists. Whether you're an established artist or just beginning, you'll join about 25 fellow artists in a collaborative celebration of creativity while benefiting from coordinated marketing. Register at: www.durangoopenstudiotour.com
and
Chocolate Fantasia Contestants
Volunteers of America is seeking dessert artisans to compete in Chocolate Fantasia, a fundraising event benefiting the Durango Community Shelter and Southwest Safehouse, on Sept. 17 at the La Plata County Fairgrounds. Applications accepted thru July 31. For info., contact Jen Simon Rummery, 970-2591021 or JRummery@voacolorado.org
Dog Fosters Needed
Parker’s Animas Rescue urgently needs foster families to provide temporary homes for rescued dogs. We supply all necessary items, including crates, food, leashes, toys and behavioral support, and cover veterinary visits. You provide the love and guidance. Apply today by visiting: parkersanimalres cue.com.
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