{"id":21573,"date":"2025-07-04T18:44:57","date_gmt":"2025-07-04T18:44:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-unveils-winning-logo-to-mark-anniversaries-in-2026\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T04:07:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:07:22","slug":"cortez-unveils-winning-logo-to-mark-anniversaries-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-unveils-winning-logo-to-mark-anniversaries-in-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Cortez unveils winning logo to mark anniversaries in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The
The winner of Cortez\u2019s commemorative logo competition for historical celebrations across the country, state and city next year. This logo was created by Nicholas Arbogast. (Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

The city of Cortez has selected a commemorative logo ahead of 2026, when the United States, Colorado, Cortez and Mesa Verde celebrate anniversaries.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe logo is purely commemorative,\u201d said Helen West, the city\u2019s community and economic development specialist. \u201cIt will not replace any official city logos or brands.\u201d<\/p>\n

It will be used \u201cin promotional materials\u201d next year when the United States turns 250 years old; Colorado, 150; Cortez, 140; Mesa Verde National Park, 120.<\/p>\n

Ten artists submitted their work<\/a> for the contest, and a committee of city employees chose three winners. Nicholas Arbogast came in first place and won $500; Sylis Eckhart was second and won $200, and Michael Grove was third and won $100.<\/p>\n

\"The
The second-place winner of Cortez\u2019s logo competition, created by Sylis Eckhart. (Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The
The third-place winner of Cortez\u2019s logo contest, created by Michael Grove. (Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

All artists will be recognized at the City Council meeting on July 8 at 7:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was surprised to hear I won,\u201d said first-place winner Arbogast. \u201cI knew I made a good design, but you never know if it\u2019s the style the judges are looking for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arbogast, 25, featured Ute Mountain in the background, Mesa Verde in the foreground and a bit of the red walls of McElmo Canyon.<\/p>\n

\u201cI enjoy the outdoors and wanted to highlight the diverse landscape of Montezuma County while creating the logo,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The square shape of the logo conveys the rough shape of the state, and the yellow, orange and purple were inspired by sunsets of Southwest Colorado.<\/p>\n

Judges were looking for a striking, easily recognized design that worked on large and small platforms, a city news release said, to be used in marketing for the 140th celebration.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s free to download on the city\u2019s website<\/a>, and residents and businesses are encouraged to use it. All other city logos are protected by copyright law.<\/p>\n

Looking ahead at 250-150<\/div>\n

The Colorado Commission has created \u201c250-150\u201d regions to organize anniversary celebrations next year, and Montezuma County is one of seven in the southwest r<\/a>egion.<\/p>\n

The theme, \u201cThe View From Here,\u201d is meant to offer the opportunity to \u201cconsider our shared past, celebrate the present, and chart the course for Colorado\u2019s next chapter,\u201d according to a news release<\/a> from the 250-150 Commission.<\/p>\n

The goal is to \u201cinspire connection, community engagement and statewide pride across all 64 counties,\u201d the news release said.<\/p>\n

A Digital Passport Program will allow travelers and locals track their exploration of Colorado. It will launch this summer and run through 2026 online at Colorado.com or on the MyColorado app.<\/p>\n

Tourism is an economic driver in Southwest Colorado, and West said she hopes to draw tourists to the area. There\u2019s also talk of film festivals across the state, a 14er climb and revitalization of historic roadside signs. She also touted the city\u2019s Third Thursdays events.<\/p>\n

Any local organizations that plans to host events is encouraged to add them to History Colorado\u2019s event calendar<\/a> online, contact Colorado 150 Southwest<\/a> and West at hwest@cortezco.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Some funding is available across the state for the events, and getting the word out about events in Cortez might help boost tourism.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to help highlight Cortez as an important place in Colorado,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

winners were chosen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21574,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[21,28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-21573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-cortez","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21573","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=21573"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21573\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77367,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21573\/revisions\/77367"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21573"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=21573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}