By Mary Jo Coulehan
Pagosa Springs Area
Chamber of Commerce
Tickets for many of the 2021 ColorFest activities to be held from Sept. 17 to the 19 are now on sale. Tickets for the Chamber events, Passport to Pagosa Wine and Food Tasting on Sept. 17 and the Bands and Brews on Sept. 18, are now available for sale online.
Both of these events will take place in the big tent in the athletic field in Town Park — rain or shine. There are a number of various packages for the weekend as well as just individual event sales.
First off, the Passport to Pagosa event: Currently, reserved seating tickets for this Friday-night event are sold out. General admission tickets are still available. If you are not partaking of the wine portion of the evening, there is no price discount. All tickets offer a set amount of wine and food tasting tickets for the evening. A wide array of wines from around the world and food from many of Pagosa’s restaurants, caterers and mobile food trucks will be on hand.
Live music will also round out the evening. The coveted Golden Whisk Awards to the food participants will be handed out as well as the popular People’s Choice award.
On Sept. 18, Bands and Brews will fill the park with craft brewers from around the state and northern New Mexico. This extremely popular event will highlight some new breweries this year as well as some regular favorites. There will also be two bands offering an array of live music you can listen or dance to.
If you are not a beer consumer but would still like to attend the event, general admission tickets are available and wine by the glass and nonalcoholic beverages will be sold. There is no reserved seating to Bands and Brews. There is plenty of seating, plus attendees like to be near the breweries. There are only beer tasting and general admission tickets for this Saturday event.
Bring the kids as we will have a bounce house, delicious food vendors and lots of area to roam around. Beginning at dusk, around 7 p.m., we will begin the balloon glow. This magical scene, created by our wonderful participating hot air balloon pilots, lights up tethered balloons as silhouettes of the balloon envelopes come alive. It is truly a sight to be seen and attendees to the event have “front row” vantage points.
On Sept. 18 and Sept. 19, more than 35 hot air balloons will take to the morning skies. On Saturday, the balloons will mass ascend from the downtown area off of Hot Springs Boulevard. Please find a place to park and watch the event other than Hot Springs Boulevard, as we need to keep this street open for regular traffic. On Sunday, the balloons will ascend from the west side of town in areas around the PLPOA Recreation Center and nearby lots. The balloons begin inflating around 7:30 a.m. with ascension happening around 8 a.m.
If sports activities are more to your liking, Aspen House Services will be hosting the ColorFest Color Run/Walk also on Saturday morning at about 8 a.m. Walk or run while watching the balloons ascend and while getting doused with lots of color at their “refresh” stations. Information and registration for this event will be released soon.
ColorFest is a fun and busy weekend in Pagosa. Remember that you can choose from individual event tickets to packaged tickets which would include both the wine tasting and the beer tasting or beer general admission. We hope we have something for everyone.
Questions can be directed to the Chamber at (970) 264-2360. Purchase your tickets online at www.pagosachamber.com. Scroll down the homepage to the ColorFest graphic under Chamber and Community News and click on the graphic to take you to the ticket site. Tickets are going fast for the wine festival, so purchase yours soon.
QuickBooks class booked
We want to thank the businesses for their support of the free QuickBooks training sessions that the Chamber is offering for Aug. 24 in conjunction with the Small Business Development Center. Those sessions have already booked up. If you are still interested in being a part of a future QuickBooks session, please let the Chamber know so that we can gauge the interest.
Upcoming event
reminders
While tickets to attend Dancing with the Pagosa Stars in person are sold out, you can still attend virtually. Visit www.growingseeds.org/purchase-tickets to purchase a ticket and livestream the event from the comfort of your home and with your friends.
The Four Corners Folk Festival is still taking place. However, they have put some COVID precautions in place. Attendees will need to provide proof of full vaccination or a negative COVID test within 48 hours of festival entry. They have implemented this requirement in light of the climbing cases of the Delta COVID threat. Refunds will be granted as a result of this new health screening policy until Aug. 23. Refund requests may be directed to festivaldirector@ksut.org.
A day and time to remember: Sept. 11. This year will commemorate the 20th anniversary of the attack on the various locations in the United States on this date. In honor of the fallen, first responder agencies in Archuleta County will host a remembrance ceremony after the free Run To Remember 5K. Registration for the run opens at 7 a.m. on Sept. 11 at the Pagosa Fire Protection District headquarters at 165 N. Pagosa Blvd. There will also be complimentary coffee and donuts. The run/walk will begin at 8 a.m.
