By Mac Neely

Thanks to all of you who donated items for sale and to all of you who came to buy – we made over $4,000 for the Mancos Creative District. Thank you!

In the raffle, Betsy Harrison won the raft, donated by the Alpaca Raft Co. Linda Simmons won the horse sculpture donated by Veryl Goodnight, and the Navajo rug donated by Kelly Chilcott went to Lisa Moore. Enjoy your winnings! Those who have not picked up their purchased item have been notified. Items may be picked up at the at the Visitor Center.

Thank you all again for your generosity.

The new officers for the Creative District are president Rena Wilson, vice-president Kelly Chilcott, secretary Linda Simmons and part-time administrator Joy Horvach Imel. The choice for treasurer hasn’t been accepted yet. Imel’s main duties will be grant-writing and administrative duties.

The Browns Country Store, 42448 U.S. Highway 160 just past the bridge on U.S. 160 East, is owned and run by Nina and Roy Brown, daughter Keeley, and dog Phoenix. They have their own greenhouse where they raise tomatoes and squash. They also raise their own USDA lamb and mutton, goats and chickens. And they will soon be raising Aussiedoodles puppies.

The grand-opening celebration runs from 10 a.m. through 6 p.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 5-7. It’s open seven days a week. At the open house, you can sample chile and other goodies and buy Olathe corn and Palisade peaches. The store plans to be open seven days a week. Nina and Roy are fun folk, and is a retired teacher from the Montezuma County district. You might know him!

Good luck and welcome to Mancos.

I spent Sunday at the gymkhana at the Tumbling T’s Stable. It was well attended and lots of fun. I’d thought I’d try the Rescue Run, but found out it was a race – and wow, what a race! The horse pulls a hide carrying the “rescued” person as fast as the horse can run up and around a keg and back. The rescued person keeps his or her head down and eyes and mouth closed tightly, and the dust flies! Times varied between 15 and 22 seconds.

Another fun race was the stick horse races, divisions for ages 3-5, 6-9, and 10-13. Of course, adults had to ride their stick horses too, and what a sight that was.

There was a lot of roping and riding. One man said to his son, “Come on,” and as he rode off, the boy tried to rope his horse. He missed, but had fun trying.

Soft ball, horse shoes, volleyball, tug of war, arm wrestling and music all day long. These Guys, a group from Cortez and Dolores, were great. They were followed by the Cliff Dwellers, one of whom is now a real cliff dweller, a park ranger at Mesa Verde.

And, oh, the vendors. Our own lemonade stand, gyros, food of all kinds – ice cream, snow cones, popcorn, all the good stuff we expect to find at Mancos Days.

There was square dancing – two squares – with Richard Berry, an excellent caller from Durango and Cortez. And lots of twirling skirts and tripping toes.

I know you all want to know who won the Queens Quilt – it was Sherri Wright, who then generously gave it to this year’s queen, Joy Wilkerson. That quilt is big, looking larger than a king-size bed. And, with all the fancy dresses from the past, there are now two queens who wore slacks. Times, they are a changing.

Sunday afternoon was a nice, peaceful time in the park, with good music by Sweetwater Station. The softball games wound up with the Lady Canes of Farmington winning the women’s title; and MWS of Cortez winning the men’s.

It was a really fun weekend, over all too soon. But it will be coming back next year, bigger and better than ever. We promise!