By Derek Kutzer
Staff Writer
On May 23, the Pagosa Springs Town Council approved town staff’s recommendation to move the town’s annual Fourth of July Parade off of U.S 160 to the staff’s preferred route, taking the parade along Hot Springs Boulevard.
Administrative Services Manager Kathy Harker explained that the initial conversation about moving the parade centered around the Colorado Department of Transportation’s (CDOT’s) plan to reconstruct U.S. 160 through the downtown during the summers of 2024 and 2025.
But even though CDOT has since revealed that the project will not be happening this summer due to its contractor applicant coming in over bid for the project, town staff still believes that moving the route is the best option going forward, Harker added.
“Staff has looked at different routes,” she said, “and we have brought two back” for the council’s consideration.
Route 1 would leave the parade on the highway, she explained, but the council would need to consider the “pros and cons” of this route before a decision is made.
Route 2 would move the parade to Hot Springs Boulevard and then go “down South 5th Street, running a good portion down by Yamaguchi Park,” she said.
“In our analysis of this, in comparison of the two routes,” she said that town staff prefers Route 2, adding that it would “shrink the area and number of roads that we’d need to do traffic control on.”
She added that the U.S. 160 option would require “a significant increase in the required staff just to run the traffic control portion of the parade.”
She added, “Our big primary focus is for safety, and that’s safety for everyone — staff, those involved in the parade, those driving our highway, and those attending.”
She explained that the Hot Springs Boulevard option is “an opportunity for us to test a new route … to take a test run on that to see how it works.”
Overall, she explained that pulling the parade off of U.S. 160 would require “a little bit less number of volunteers and staff … and we’d have more control over the road,” adding that it would alleviate the impacts to traffic on the highway during the parade.
Parks and Recreation Director Darren Lewis said, “The safety factor of this really needs to be considered … Yes, in the past, we know, it was wonderful having our parade coming down main street.”
However, Lewis said that it“literally has become dangerous” to “divert highway traffic onto residential streets … There’s no traffic control in the middle of these streets. These are neighborhoods … there’s kids out there and here comes an 18-wheeler.”
He added that the old route was “stressful to staff” because “we don’t want to see anyone get hurt and it’s almost not if it’s gonna happen, it’s when it’s gonna happen if this continues.”
The traditional route on the highway would require volunteers, “and we’re asking for kid’s camp counselors to come out and help. Sixteen-year-olds trying to prevent people from crossing and doing things they shouldn’t do,” he said.
This should be a “law enforcement issue,” he added, but “we don’t have enough law enforcement to deal with it.”
He expressed to the council to know that “by no means is staff trying to say that we don’t want a parade, but at the end of the day … it’s a very stressful event for us … We want to do this, but it’s gotten to the point where it’s too much, especially on the highway.”
He added he thinks it is a good idea to “try out a new location” that would require less staff and volunteers to put the parade on.
“It will be less stressful. It will also give us … a test run, in regards to knowing that, in the next two years, we’re going to have to do something different anyway” due to CDOT’s main street reconstruction project.
Mayor Shari Pierce asked how many staff members and volunteers the traditional parade route typically requires.
Harker answered that it requires “about 45 to 46 staff members and volunteers to actually man different entrance points as well as manage traffic and manage the diversion.”
She added that the new route would only require “about 25 people who are working traffic and that allows us to actually utilize [police] officers more along the parade route.”
She added, “Really what we’re looking at is having enough staff to comfortably manage a parade, because we know that the parade is important to the community, so we’re trying to come up with a parade that’s sustainable and safe so we can provide a more enjoyable experience.”
Council member Leonard Martinez expressed agreement that the parade is very important for the community and that it should be part of the town’s “cultural preservation” effort.
But he expressed that he is open to the new route, citing that the town would need to change the route anyway once the CDOT construction begins.
He wanted to make sure, however, that “parking for the elderly” and some temporary bleachers are provided for attendees.
Harker explained that parking would be an issue that the town would need to work on, since they’d be losing up to 288 spots along main street.
She then went through a list of potential parking areas that could be utilized for Route 2.
Pierce expressed worry about the impact to downtown businesses if the parade is moved off of main street, saying that she “grew up with the parade.”
But the council had reached a general consensus, which included Pierce, that it is time to move the parade off of main street to try out the new route.
Town Manager David Harris said that he had met with “community members, Chamber of Commerce, sheriff’s office, the school district and county, and we all came up with the general consensus that it’s now time to take it off main street.”
When a motion was made by council member Mat deGraaf “to select Route 2 for the 2024 Fourth of July Parade,” it was carried unanimously by the council.
derek@pagosasun.com
