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Demolition derby rivets a sold-out crowd at La Plata County FairDrivers compete at crumpling each other’s rides across full-size, minicar and pickup categories

The annual demolition derby at the La Plata County Fair featured three main events for cars, mini cars and trucks. Although the derby had more entrants than in recent years, only one driver in each weight class could claim “last vehicle standing.” The La Plata County Fair’s 25th Demolition Derby at the fairgrounds drew a sold-out crowd with 1,496 tickets purchased before the event began shortly after noon.Spectators flocked to the fairgrounds to watch 27 drivers across three categories smash and crash into each other’s vehicles in the muddied-up rodeo arena.Kevin and Crystal Black traveled from Aztec to cheer on Stacey Suutherland, who was driving car No. 13. Kevin said Saturday was the first time they’d attended La Plata County Fair’s demolition derby but they’ve been to plenty other derbies in Cortez and Ignacio.They both love derby and racing events. Kevin said he used to be on the pit crew for a family who raced.

Rob and Timi Sachs of Durango said they attended the derby for the fun of it and to spend time with their grandchildren who are 2 and 3 years old.Rob said he wasn’t rooting for any driver in particular but he was looking forward to the day.Lin Dobbins, county fair demolition derby co-superintendent, said the derby has attracted more contestants than in previous years, making the event larger, which she said is a good thing.About 60% of participating drivers were return derby entrants from previous years, she said.Eight drivers entered pickups into the “truck” category, six drivers peeled into the “full size car” category and 13 drivers jumped behind the wheel for the “mini cars” category, she said.The derby’s first round got underway after Freya Underwood of Bayfield sang “The Star-Spangled Banner.”The drivers participated in what Dobbins called “one and dones,” where they’d do a single round and the last driver able to drive a vehicle was named victorious.If a driver went too long without hitting another vehicle ‒ commonly because the vehicle was too damaged to move or was stuck in the mud ‒ the driver would be disqualified.During the minicar derby, the derby emcee had to shout at drivers to stop their vehicles because somebody noticed one driver wasn’t wearing a helmet. No injuries were reported, but the driver was given a helmet and the derby resumed.Jeromy Lanier, No. 290, took first place in the “pickups” category. He said there isn’t much strategy to winning the derby when drivers are hitting each other’s vehicles from all angles. Any one of the drivers could have driven away with a victory under his belt ‒ it mostly comes down to luck, he said.The closest thing to strategy, besides preparing the vehicle as best one can, is driving backward into other cars to protect the engine.“Your heart and soul’s up front so you want to hit it with the back as much as you can,” he said.

Drivers in the pickup derby had to restart the contest because the arena was initially too muddy to be navigated. Lanier said he isn’t sure he would have won if it weren’t for that second start, which all the drivers agreed to prior to the green flag.“Couldn’t have done it without them, my teammates,” he said. “ … Everything was really sloppy and super, super sandy. But there was really no strategy to it, anybody could have done that.“The lord was looking out for me and so was my grandpa,” he said.The first place title came with a prize of $1,450. But Lanier said the derby isn’t about the money.“It’s about making (little kids) smile,” he said.Lanier spent more than a month working on the pickup he entered into the derby. He said the last month of work was the hardest. His pickup was fitted with tractor tires so that he’d have optimal traction in the arena.He said he knew at least one other driver was using fork lift tires on his vehicle.The 2022 fair’s demolition derby is Lanier’s third that he’s competed in. He said he took third place in his second derby and came back to take first place this year.

He said he’s grateful for his employer, C&J Redi Mix, for sponsoring the pickup that got him through the derby.“They take care of us over there, they treat us really well,” he said. “What other company could you work for that sponsors a derby truck?”He said he is a mechanic for C&J and his skills definitely helped him in fixing up his truck for the derby.The full derby results are:

Minicars: First, Gene Felker in car No. 4; prize: $1,575. Second, Dennis Spencer in car No. 157; prize: $945. Third, Joeleen Archuleta in car No. 7, prize $630.

Full-size cars: First, Jim Griffin in car No. 103; prize: $1,400. Second, Tanner Smedstad in car No. 607; prize: $840. Third, Ted Neergaard in car No. 42; prize: $560.

Pickups: First, Jeromy Lanier in car No. 290, prize: $1,450. Second, Ralph Brawley in car No. 86½; prize: $870. Third, Morgan Virag in car No. 86⅛, prize: $580.

cburney@durangoherald.com

Drivers compete at crumpling each other’s rides across full-size, minicar and pickup categories The ...

Search and rescue data shows dangerous patternsMost incidents in Sangre de Cristo Mountains are clustered together

Five spectacular 14,000-foot peaks in Southern Colorado’s Sangre de Cristo Mountains are also perilous. Known as the Crestone group, these peaks regularly claim the lives of climbers and hikers and are the site of dozens of rescue missions.Now, Custer County Search and Rescue – which responds to calls for help in the backcountry of the Wet Mountain Valley near Westcliffe, about an hour west of Pueblo – is using GIS mapping technology to identify dangerous climbing patterns on the five 14’ers: Crestone Needle, Crestone Peak, Kit Carson Mountain, Challenger Point and Humboldt Peak.It’s a project that started last year when Emily Griffith Technical College student Kim Jones Thomas began mapping six years of search and rescue mission data for the Crestone group. The map she created shows where fatalities, lifesaving and other kinds of missions happened and includes other information about each situation – like the number of people in the group and what they were doing on the mountain.She found incidents often clustered in certain areas, usually when climbers were descending from the summit. The number of rescue missions for people who were on their way down was more than double that for those going up.“It's not that these people don't know what they're doing,” Thomas said. “It’s just (that) the terrain definitely leads to being confused, especially at that altitude, and you're tired (and) dehydrated. It's easy to make mistakes up there.”Longtime CCSAR member Cindy Howard said problems often occur when climbers get off route after reaching a summit. Especially if they are alone.

“The best thing to do when you're descending and you realize you’re off route is to regain that elevation,” she said. “A lot of times people don't want to. They're tired, they just want to get down.”People need to remember that getting to the top of a mountain is only half the trip, Thomas said. “So while you celebrate that you made the summit, you still have to get home.”Mapping mission data highlights terrain traps and other critical information that rescue teams can later use, according to Howard.“It helps us with our mission preplanning,” Howard said. “We know where certain things happen.”It also validates some of what they already had observed about the dangers of hiking in these places but had not tracked, Howard said. They knew there were a lot of navigation issues on Kit Carson Peak and Crestone Peak, for instance, and that they often happened when people were coming down a different way than they’d gone up.“We know that there are terrain traps that we look for on missions on any of the peaks, couloirs or cliff bands where people get in trouble,” Howard said. “So by actually plotting them and mapping them, we were able to see patterns where individuals became cliffed out in a certain spot or if they fell, they potentially fell from a spot where others have become cliffed out.”Cliffed-out means to get into terrain that is so technically challenging that a person can neither go up or down from where they are.It’s vital that people understand and consider the risks they are taking as inherent to climbing and mountaineering, according to Thomas. “It's not, just make a call and a helicopter is going to be there to pick you up in half an hour,” she said. It often takes hours for search and rescue teams to reach you and assess the situation, and a helicopter rescue is not always possible depending on multiple factors.

Howard said it’s crucial for backcountry users to have good navigation skills, acclimate to high altitude before they climb, and that they carry survival supplies.Carry these 10 essentials, she said, because it’ll help you stay alive if you get in trouble:Navigation: Map, compass, and GPS system, and know how to use them before you head out.Sun protection: Sunglasses, sunscreen and hat.Insulation: Jacket, hat, gloves, rain shell, and thermal underwear. Also, have an extra layer of clothing that reflects the most extreme conditions you could encounter.Illumination: Headlamp is preferred because it’s hands-free, along with extra batteries.First-aid supplies: Start with a premade kit and modify it to fit your trip and your medical needs. Check the expiration date on all items and replace them as needed. Consider including an emergency guide in case you are faced with an unfamiliar medical emergency.Fire: Matches, preferably waterproof, a lighter and fire starters.Repair kit and tools: Duct tape, knife, screwdriver, and scissors and/or multi-tool.Nutrition: Food, preferably no-cook items that have good nutritional value.Hydration: Water and water treatment supplies.Emergency shelter: Tent, space blanket, tarp, and bivy.

Most incidents in Sangre de Cristo Mountains are clustered together

Michael Bennet launches first TV ad in U.S. Senate raceMajority Leader Mitch McConnell indicates Republicans plan to commit resources Colorado election

U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet began campaigning for re-election in earnest Thursday with the launch of his first 2022 television ad, a reintroduction to Colorado voters touting his work to get big money out of politics. “Washington could learn a lot from Colorado,” Bennet says in the ad, which highlights the Democrat’s efforts to ban members of Congress from becoming lobbyists and from making personal stock trades while in office.The ad also points out that Bennet’s campaign isn’t taking money directly from corporate political action committees.But while the ad, powered by $600,000 in spending over two weeks, may not jump off the screen – it features Bennet hiking alone in the mountains – it comes as Colorado becomes a growing focus for national Republicans hoping to win a congressional majority in November.

The GOP’s chances of unseating Senate Democrats in other states, namely Georgia and Arizona, don’t appear to be as solid as they once were, mainly because of the GOP’s slate of candidates in those places.“Those are races that the Republicans this year should be in a good position to flip,” said J. Miles Coleman, associate editor at Sabato’s Crystal Ball, a nonpartisan election prognosticator at the University of Virginia Center for Politics. “But they’ve nominated very risky candidates.”That means it’s possible more Republican money and effort is placed on trying to oust Bennet, who has been in office since 2009.Bennet this year faces Republican Joe O’Dea, a wealthy first-time candidate who owns a Denver construction company and is trying to position himself as a moderate.

Democrats spent millions of dollars in the GOP primary trying to boost O’Dea’s opponent, state Rep. Ron Hanks, an election denier and hard-line conservative, in an unsuccessful effort to prevent Bennet from facing O’Dea in November.While Sabato’s Crystal Ball and other election analysts still think Bennet’s seat is likely to remain in Democrats’ hands – and O’Dea has dramatically less money in his campaign account compared with Bennet – they say in an election year that’s shaping up to be rough for Democrats it’s possible Bennet could be at risk.“I think it goes back to you really can’t catch a wave without a surfboard,” Coleman said, explaining that Washington is another Democratic state where the GOP is making a concerted effort to win a Senate seat. “If you want to win these races you have to have good candidates.”Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, tossed his full support behind O’Dea on Tuesday night at a fundraiser in Washington, D.C., according to Axios, vowing to be “all in in Colorado.” While McConnell’s embrace of a GOP candidate certainly isn’t surprising, his commitment to help O’Dea in a state whose voters backed Joe Biden over Donald Trump by 13 percentage points in 2020 is notable.“We think we can win this race,” McConnell said, Axios reported, citing an unnamed person who attended the event.National Republicans, however, have yet to commit resources into the Colorado Senate race. And Democrats are now attacking O’Dea’s close link to McConnell as an indication that he’s not actually moderate.Bennet is starting his TV advertising much later than Colorado’s Senate incumbents, including himself, have in past years.Bennet started airing TV ads in April during his 2016 re-election campaign, ultimately spending $9 million on TV. That included about $602,000 worth of ads in July.Restoration PAC aired $609,000 worth of ads in July 2016 supporting Republican Darryl Glenn, who lost to Bennet in 2016. That PAC spent $1.3 million supporting Glenn that year.Incumbent Colorado Sens. Mark Udall, a Democrat, and Cory Gardner, a Republican, began airing TV ads in their failed re-election bids in spring of 2014 and 2020, respectively.Outside groups also advertised earlier in past election cycles. Nonprofit groups that don’t report their donors began airing ads critical of Gardner in fall 2019. Similar groups on the Republican side aired ads critical of former Gov. John Hickenlooper starting in March 2020.Hickenlooper spent more than $16 million on TV advertising in 2020, while Gardner spent $12 million. Outside groups spent nearly $36 million on TV ads that year.While Bennet’s campaign isn’t taking money from companies with their own political action committees, it does take money from PACs operated by business associations, including the National Association of Realtors, the Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers, and the Wine and Beer Wholesalers of America. Union PACs representing teachers, public employees, postal workers and construction trades have also donated to Bennet’s campaign.In fact, the campaign has received nearly $900,000 from PACs, including from leadership PACs, which are run by other lawmakers and that take money from corporate PACs.The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to covering Colorado issues. To learn more, go to coloradosun.com.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell indicates Republicans plan to commit resources Colorado election

A pleasant summer day greeted thousands of people at Cortez parks as they enjoyed Fourth of July festivities and a memorable fireworks show.

Biking beyond bordersZambian cyclist featured in TGR film visits Durango

Teton Gravity Research’s latest mountain bike film, Esperanto, mixes “the rock stars of the sport with a cast of unknown and up-and-coming heroes,” according to TGR. “The film explores how we share our dreams through a universal two-wheeled language no matter what our native tongue may be,” TGR says. “The sacred ritual of the ride might sound different all across the world – whether it’s a full-face getting pulled down to drop into a big jump line or wheeling a beat-up bike out of a mud hut to pedal to school – but it’s a universal process no matter what language we speak.”One of the cyclists featured in the film, Gift Puteho, who is from Zambia, was in Durango recently, working with some Devo riders and attending Fort Lewis College’s cycling camp. His coach on the Kansanshi Cycling Team, Nora Richards, is from Durango and a former Devo, Fort Lewis College and University of Colorado rider. Puteho, who is 17 and has two years of school left, said his part in the film is “mostly joy riding and sharing my story.”“Being on a bike is really cool,” he said. “When you go out riding, you get to feel nice. And if you have stress, you can lose it. … It’s addicting.”Puteho is from Livingstone, Zambia, home of Victoria Falls. He started cycling when he was 10 years old and spent two years training with the Livingstone Cycling Club.When he dominated a race, however, he caught Richards’ eye. “He was really fast,” Richards said. “He won by about 10 minutes.”After the two connected and he learned about the Kansanshi team, Puteho called Richards every week for 15 months until a spot on the team opened up. The Kansanshi copper mine started the team, and Richards raced on it before coaching it. “I knew (Puteho) was serious, and I knew as soon as I recruited him he’d be into it,” Richards said.

The team’s 13 elite riders get their education, housing and travel paid for, as well as a salary and bikes to ride.“It was really exciting,” Puteho said about making the team, adding that it eased some of the struggles he had finding food.The team also coaches roughly 100 community riders from about seven different schools.“It’s a beautiful country, and the culture is really compatible with Colorado and Durango,” Richards said. “It’s outdoor oriented. They have had a bike scene for about 10 years. Since then, it’s grown into one of the most popular sports.” Cross-country mountain biking, she said, has the most opportunities for the Kansanshi team. TGR, meanwhile, heard about Puteho from a friend of a friend of a friend. His film part was shot in Zambia on terrain near Victoria Falls and a nearby national park. Puteho attended the premiere of Esperanto in Salt Lake City. Unfortunately, he broke his wrist while riding bikes in Utah, meaning he was unable to ride for most of his trip. Puteho will head back to Zambia, which is about a 32-hour flight away, on Monday.“Durango is really cool,” Puteho said. “It’s cold, and the altitude is different. It was a great opportunity to come here, but I would love to come back when I can ride my bike.”Before getting injured, however, he got to meet some of the film’s stars and ride with them in Utah, including Carson Storch, Johny Salido and Sophie Gregory.

“It was really fun, until I got into that crash in Salt Lake City,” he said. Brandon Semenuk, Cam Zink and Darren Barrecloth are a few other pros featured in the film. Esperanto will premiere in Durango on July 29 at the Durango Arts Center. In English, the word Esperanto means “one who hopes.” Today, Esperanto might remain elusive, TGR said, but the dream of a shared language spoken worldwide still flourishes. And biking is a shared language.

Zambian cyclist featured in TGR film visits Durango

Why the millions of dollars Democrats spent in Colorado’s Republican primaries didn’t workAll of the more extreme GOP candidates Democrats wanted to see win on Tuesday lost

Democrats have little to show for the millions of dollars they spent over the past month on TV ads, mailers and text messages seeking to influence the outcome of Colorado’s Republican primaries for U.S. Senate, governor and in the hotly contested new 8th Congressional District.All of the more extreme GOP candidates Democrats wanted to see win on Tuesday lost, most by significant margins.The spending strategy has worked before in Colorado for Democrats, and it was successful for the party in Illinois, where they were able to help a far-right Republican gubernatorial candidate win his primary over a more moderate opponent backed by the GOP establishment. So what happened in Colorado this year that made all that spending and the deluge of messaging it paid for so ineffective?“The messages were confusing to me,” said Ted Trimpa, a longtime Democratic lobbyist and strategist in Colorado who worked on a successful Democratic effort to affect the outcome of the state’s 2010 Republican gubernatorial primary. “And I don’t think (the spending) took into account unaffiliateds voting in this primary.He added: “We’ve got to give voters credit. They’re smarter than you think. Trying to manipulate only goes so far.”In 2010, Trimpa was among a group of Democrats who ran TV ads to block former-U.S. Rep. Scott McInnis from securing the GOP gubernatorial nomination. The plan worked, as voters advanced tea party Republican and entrepreneur Dan Maes to the general election, where he lost to Democrat John Hickenlooper.“Playing in a primary like that is a one-trick pony,” Trimpa told The Colorado Sun. “We did it to Scott McInnis and it worked. One, it was new. Two, it went to a character issue. Our message in that primary was really, really simple. You could have had an eye popped out and an ear missing and you would understand what the message was.”The ads run against McInnis criticized him over plagiarism allegations.

The ads run by Democrats in this year’s Republican primaries mostly sought to boost the name ID of further right and more controversial GOP candidates, including state Rep. Ron Hanks in the U.S. Senate race, former Parker Mayor Greg Lopez in the gubernatorial contest and Weld County Commissioner Lori Saine in the 8th District. All three fell well short of winning.Democrats signaled that they thought Hanks, Lopez and Saine would be easier to beat in the general election because of their more conservative views. Hanks and Lopez, for instance, claimed that Donald Trump was the true winner of the 2020 presidential election, a claim that’s unfounded.One difference between the Democratic spending in Republican primaries in 2010 and 2022 was that in 2010 Democrats were simply amplifying an existing story about McInnis rather than trying to shape voter opinion. The ads run this year tried to make the case that Hanks, Lopez and Saine were “too conservative” as a way to make them more attractive to Republican primary voters.

Alan Salazar, who worked on Hickenlooper’s 2010 campaign, said there had been a big lead-up, including intense media coverage, to the Democrats ads criticizing McInnis, now a Mesa County commissioner, in the GOP primary.“It was a thing,” said Salazar, who is now Denver Mayor Michael Hancock’s chief of staff. “This was a problem for him. I think it worked in large part because it was based on a real problem.”A lot has also changed in Colorado’s voting system since 2010.Voters, each of whom are now sent a ballot in the mail, can now cast their votes early, and unaffiliated voters can decide whether they want to vote in the Democratic or Republican primary for just the third election cycle.With so few primary races on the Democratic side, many more unaffiliated voters opted to cast GOP primary ballots this year than in 2018 and 2022.Where the money was spent, and how much of itMost of the Democratic spending in the GOP primaries this year was in the U.S. Senate race, where Democrats made it clear that they didn’t want to face first-time candidate Joe O’Dea, a moderate Republican who owns a Denver construction company.Federal political action committee Democratic Colorado spent $4.1 million on TV ads trying to raise Hanks’ profile and attacking O’Dea. Other Democratic groups spent thousands on mailers with the same intent.

O’Dea, who spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to counter the Democrats’ strategy, crushed Hanks in the primary. He was winning by 10 percentage points as of Wednesday afternoon.Republican consultant Tyler Sandberg said the Democratic strategy may have backfired.“Yes, they trolled some people into voting for” Hanks, he said. “But they also lit up moderate and liberal unaffiliated voters to choose a Republican ballot and vote against him.”

Alvina Vasquez, a spokeswoman for Democratic Colorado, defended the group’s spending.“We know that Democratic Colorado’s efforts to educate voters on O’Dea’s record and expose his hypocrisy have laid the groundwork to defeat him in November,” she said.O’Dea will run against Democratic U.S. Sen Michael Bennet in November.In the governor’s race, Colorado Information Network, a state-level super PAC funded primarily by the Democratic Governors Association, spent $1.5 million on ads benefiting Lopez. A group affiliated with the liberal nonprofit ProgressNow Colorado spent another $467,000 on mailers contrasting Lopez with Democratic Gov. Jared Polis, painting Lopez as ultraconservative.But University of Colorado Regent Heidi Ganahl was beating Lopez by 6 percentage points on Wednesday afternoon.

Democratic interests also appear to be behind mailers in the new 8th District contrasting Saine with Democratic nominee Yadira Caraveo, a state representative, painting Saine as highly conservative. Additionally, national Democratic super PACs, including one affiliated with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, spent nearly $300,000 on TV and digital ads in the 8th District promoting Saine and attacking her opponent, state Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer.Kirkmeyer won the GOP nomination in the district by a wide margin.Kristi Burton Brown, chairwoman of the Colorado GOP, trolled Democrats in a tweet she posted Wednesday morning featuring a gif of a man dropping cash into a fire.She joked that the gif was “live footage” of Colorado Democrats.Republican outside groups, plus better-funded candidates, winO’Dea, Lopez and Kirkmeyer also outraised their Republican primary opponents and benefited from significant spending by GOP outside groups.American Policy Fund, a super PAC funded by several Colorado contractors, spent $1.1 million supporting O’Dea, much of it on TV ads. O’Dea’s wife, Celeste, gave a shout-out to “the contractors association that also made this possible” during the couple’s victory speech Tuesday night.O’Dea’s campaign significantly outspent Hanks’ campaign, dropping at least $618,000 on TV ads alone. As for Hanks, his entire campaign’s overhead through June 8 was just 17% of the amount O’Dea spent on TV airtime, according to Federal Election Commission filings.Kirkmeyer received support from Americans for Prosperity Action and Let America Work, including canvassing, TV ads and mailers. Her campaign also outspent Saine’s campaign by a significant margin, $276,00 to $183,000, through June 8.Ganahl benefited from spending by state-level super PACs Defend Colorado and Make Colorado Affordable Again. And her campaign spent $1.1 million through June 22, compared to Lopez’s $135,000 in spending during that period.The Republican primary in Colorado’s 7th Congressional District was one race where the candidate whose campaign raised and spent the most money didn’t win.Erik Aadland, an Army veteran from Pine, won the contest despite being outspent by multimillionaire economist Tim Reichert, of Golden.But Aadland also was aided by For Colorado’s Future, a federal super PAC that supported him with nearly three times as much money as Reichert received from a federal super PAC that supported him, Conservative Leadership for Colorado.Mainstream GOP, progressive Democratic candidates prevail with outside helpMore than $2.7 million was spent by outside groups in Colorado’s legislative primaries, almost evenly split between Republican and Democratic races.

Ready Colorado Action, which is run by Sandberg, the GOP political operative, was the top spender on the Republican side, dropping $530,000 on contests. The group was followed by Make Colorado Affordable Again, which spent nearly $200,000 trying to influence the outcome of contests.Both of those conservative super PACs were funded primarily by nonprofit Ready Colorado, which advocates for conservative education policies.On the Democratic side, liberal super PACs backed by labor unions spent more money than in past election cycles and were successful in several contests.The top-spending progressive group was Colorado Labor Action, which was funded by the Service Employees International Union. The group spent about $530,000 on primary contests this year, including in the House District 42 Democratic primary in Aurora, where their candidate – Rep. Mandy Lindsay – won.Colorado Labor Action also successfully backed Thornton City Councilwoman Jenny Willford in her House District 34 Democratic primary in the northern Denver suburbs.Colorado Working Families Party’s state-level super PAC, which was also funded by the Service Employees International Union, was the third top Democratic spender. It supported criminal justice activist Elisabeth Epps in her House District 6 Democratic primary against Katie March, a former legislative aide. The race was still too close to call Wednesday.National nonprofit Education Reform Now Advocacy was the primary funder of a state-level super PAC called Raising Colorado. Raising Colorado gave money to another state-level super PAC, We Mean Business, which gave money to another group that backed March and opposed Epps in the House District 6 primary.The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to covering Colorado issues. To learn more, go to coloradosun.com.

All of the more extreme GOP candidates Democrats wanted to see win on Tuesday lost

Photos: BurroFest in Mancos

Fun times at the Ute Mountain Roundup rodeo in Cortez

TEMPE, Ariz. – Three Tempe police officers are under non-disciplinary administrative paid leave afte...

133rd annual Ute Mountain Ute Bear Dance starts FridayAnnual dance celebrates renewal of life, spirit of the bearThe Ute Mountain Ute Tribe will hold its 133rd annual Bear Dance Friday through Monday in Towaoc.The Bear Dance kicks off an eventful weekend at 10:30 a.m. Friday.The dance is a yearly tradition of the tribe that dates to the 15th century. Held in spring, the dance shows respect for the spirit, celebrates the renewal of live, and relieves tension after the cold of winter.Traditionally, when the first thunder of spring was heard, it was time for the Bear Dance to commence.

The event was closed to nontribal members last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but parts of the dance will be open to the public this year. Observers are asked to adhere to the tribe’s COVID guidelines. A vaccination card or negative COVID test is required for entrance. Masks are optional.While nontribal members are invited to join the festivities, photography and videos are prohibited unless there is permission from the chief.Bear Dance chiefs are Terry Knight Sr., Mark Wing, Austin Jacket, Farley Ketchum Sr., and Terry Knight Jr.

In addition to the Bear Dance Friday morning, the tribe plans an open hand game tournament and a co-ed softball tournament. A powwow wraps up the day’s activities at 7 p.m. Registration for the softball tournament has closed.Saturday, the co-ed softball tournament starts at 8 a.m. The Bear Dance and powwow takes place all day. A Bear Dance walk is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Saturday; and a parade, for 10 a.m. Registration for the walk is at 8 a.m. in front of the recreation center in Towaoc.Registration for the hand game tournament is noon to 2 p.m. at the Bear Dance grounds, about 11½ miles south of Cortez off U.S. Highway 160/491. The tournament begins at 2:30 p.m. sharp.Sunday and Monday, the Bear Dance again takes place all day. A feast at 6 p.m. Monday concludes the events.

Annual dance celebrates renewal of life, spirit of the bear

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