{"id":13684,"date":"2026-02-03T00:35:39","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T07:35:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/annual-permit-party-returns-friday-to-support-dolores-river\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T21:39:55","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:39:55","slug":"annual-permit-party-returns-friday-to-support-dolores-river","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/annual-permit-party-returns-friday-to-support-dolores-river\/","title":{"rendered":"Annual Permit Party returns Friday to support Dolores River"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The
The Permit Party serves as the Dolores River Boating Advocates main fundraising event. The organization provides yearlong river advocacy, including education for users and stewardship through its partnerships with land management agencies. (Courtesy of Jay Loschert)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

The longstanding community celebration for the Dolores River returns this week as Dolores River Boating Advocates hosts the 13th annual Permit Party on Friday evening. The fundraiser grew from a boating workshop into one of the larger winter gatherings in Montezuma County.<\/p>\n

Jay Loschert, outreach director for Dolores River Boating Advocates, said the family-friendly event celebrates the river and typically serves as the organization\u2019s largest fundraiser of the year.<\/p>\n

Sales from tickets, a silent auction and other event proceeds support the group\u2019s yearlong river advocacy, stewardship and educational programs.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur whole community relies on water from the Dolores River for drinking, municipal and industrial use, agriculture, and for recreation,\u201d Loschert said. \u201cIt\u2019s our attempt to celebrate and show gratitude for all the wonderful things the Dolores River provides for our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

With attendance ranging from 200 to 300 people, Friday\u2019s event will be held at the Dolores Community Center from 6 to 10 p.m. Tickets cost $12 in advance or $15 at the door. Children age 12 or younger may attend for free.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s celebration includes live music from local group the Moetones; kids\u2019 activities such as arts and crafts; dancing, socializing, a photo booth and an online silent auction that ends at 8 p.m. Food will be available from Kelly\u2019s Kitchen, and local beverages will be offered by Dolores River Brewery, WildEdge Brewing Collective, Mancos Brewing Company, Ska Brewing Company, Fenceline Cider and Telluride Brewing Company, along with wines and nonalcoholic drinks for purchase.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really about the social connections and building community,\u201d Loschert said. \u201cIt\u2019s not just people who are rafters, canoers or packrafters. It\u2019s everybody in the community has some connection to the Dolores River, and it\u2019s just fun to connect, see old friends and get together.\u201d<\/p>\n

How the celebration evolved over 13 years<\/div>\n

The Permit Party began as an informational gathering to help river users understand how to apply for permits required for multi-day trips on many Western rivers, including the Dolores.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe found, in the recent years, that people can find out that information on their own, and they often answer their own questions about the process,\u201d Loschert said. \u201cSo, the permit party became less and less about actually giving out permit information and more about just connecting with friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

The deadline to apply for a river permit each year is Jan. 31. Loschert said the Permit Party was scheduled for early February this year to avoid conflicts with Snowdown in Durango.<\/p>\n

The silent auction features more than 200 donated items. Bidding opened Jan. 23 and will close during the event at 8 p.m. Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust a quick note about our sponsors. You know, we\u2019re super grateful to all the folks who\u2019ve sent us items for the auction,\u201d Loschert said.<\/p>\n

The auction is open to in-person and remote bidders, and attendees do not need to be present to participate or win. Most items can be shipped, though larger items may require local pickup.<\/p>\n

The event also includes a partnership with School Community Youth Collaborative, which focuses on education around impaired driving and safe decision-making. Through the partnership, the group is offering free rides to and from the event to help attendees plan ahead and get home safely. More information is available at doloresriverboating.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Food, live music and silent auction are Friday\u2019s scheduled activities<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13685,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-13684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13684"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13684\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19107,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13684\/revisions\/19107"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13684"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=13684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}