{"id":30412,"date":"2022-12-04T03:09:59","date_gmt":"2022-12-04T10:09:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/parade-of-lights-glitters-along-main-street-cortez\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T01:19:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T07:19:26","slug":"parade-of-lights-glitters-along-main-street-cortez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/parade-of-lights-glitters-along-main-street-cortez\/","title":{"rendered":"Parade of Lights glitters along Main Street Cortez"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The
The Ute Mountain Ute Casino float featured a gingerbread family in the Four Corners Board of Realtor Parade of Lights Saturday night in Cortez. (Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

The Parade of Lights kicked off the holiday season in Cortez Saturday with Santa Claus arriving on a Classic Air helicopter that landed on Main Street.<\/p>\n

Santa boarded a vintage red firetruck, and a procession of 70 shimmering floats made their way downtown as part of the 33rd annual event organized by the Four Corners Board of Realtors.<\/p>\n

The theme of Family First was reflected in the crowds that lined the streets and sidewalks to enjoy the show with loved ones and friends.<\/p>\n

The Pi\u00f1on Project Family Resource Center is the grand marshal of the parade.<\/p>\n

\"Santa
Santa Claus rides a vintage firetruck after arriving on a Classic Air helicopter. (Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A
A Classic Air helicopter landed on Main Street to deliver Santa Claus to the 2022 Four Corners Board of Realtors Parade of Lights in Cortez. (Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"More
More than 70 floats were in the 2022 Parade of Lights in Cortez Saturday. (Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The
The Parade of Lights was enjoyed by more than 1,000 happy spectators. (Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"This
This float drew a lot of laughs from the crowd. (Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"These
These kids had a creative snow sledding float. (Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"This
This mechanical reindeer had people from the crowd thinking it was real. (Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Kids
Kids dressed up in costumes and handed out candy at the parade. (Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Kids
Kids had a blast riding on the floats in the 2022 Parade of Lights. (Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The
The Grinch was in a jail cell in the back of a Cortez Police truck during the parade. (Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Karen
Karen House and the crew build the gingerbread family town for the Ute Mountain Casino float in the Parade of Lights. (Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Stone
Stone Age Construction put together a float for the parade for the first time. \"I thought it would be fun for the crew and families to participate,\" said owner Johnnie Samora. \"It's nice to see everyone come together.\"<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The
The Ute Mountain Rodeo Team has restarted the tradition of participating in the parade. The club is making it easier to join the team. Members are no longer required to pay the state and national fees to participate, just the club fees. \"We're trying to grow the club like it was back in the day,\" said sponsor Erin Gordanier. Check out their Facebook page for more information.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cIt is such a tradition in Cortez. We are all about supporting families, so it\u2019s a real honor to lead the parade,\u201d said Executive Director Kellie Willis. \u201cIt is really fun event for the whole community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Staff and families teamed up to build the float, she said, and handed out candy to the crowd.<\/p>\n

Unseasonably warm weather, with temperatures in the lower 40s, greeted parade watchers as they took in the festive scene of creative floats decked out in an extraordinary amount of colorful lights and holiday decorations. Businesses and individuals built floats from trucks, trailers and classic cars.<\/p>\n

Lewis-Arriola Elementary entered a float in the parade for the first time. It features a principal reading to students and their families sitting around a campfire and Christmas decorations.<\/p>\n

The students created decorations and artwork for the float, said Riah Head, a sixth grade student. Students from the school were invited to ride along on the float.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like the how creative people are with their floats,\u201d Head said.<\/p>\n

Community members were thrilled about the parade.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means the whole world to have this many people all in one place being happy and fun loving,\u201d said Sherrie Blackmer. \u201cIt\u2019s just wonderful to have so much happiness and love. I\u2019ve been here all my life, and I love it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dwayne Randle, of Four Corners Dance, was moving his feet to the music.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to be square-dancing all the way down Main Street,\u201d he said. \u201cYou ought to be joining us then. We need men! The square dance club is the place to find a woman.\u201d<\/p>\n

Randle said the parade is all about tradition and fun. The club\u2019s float represented an old schoolhouse with the bell tower and porch lights.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, we blew the roof off, we\u2019ve been dancing so hard,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The Ute Mountain Casino participates every year, said Craig Welch, of the marketing department.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe created a gingerbread family as part of the Family First parade theme,\u201d he said. \u201cStaff and families pitched in, and we\u2019re having fun doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said they have been planning for the float for the past three weeks.<\/p>\n

Rick Sheer, of the Ute Mountain Casino, said they were giving away merchandise, including long-sleeve T-shirts in commemoration of the casino\u2019s 30-year anniversary.<\/p>\n

This is Ute Mountain\u2019s way of giving back to the community the best we can,\u201c he said. \u201dWe just want to say, coming out of COVID, we just want to thank all the community who comes out to support us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Montezuma County Patriots built a float filled with all the classic Christmas decorations. A giant sleigh with reindeer taking off from a rooftop was flown by Draven Wheeler dressed as Santa Claus.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all about family and the kids,\u201c Jeff Coulon. \u201dWhen you ride the float and see all those smiling faces it gets to you.\u201c<\/p>\n

Tiffany Alexander, of the Cortez Middle School cheerleader team, was in the parade.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the first year they are an official sport at the middle school,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s great team building for these girls, and they had a ball building this float. I provided the materials, and they built it themselves!\u201d<\/p>\n

The cheerleaders\u2019 names were on stockings hanging on the float.<\/p>\n

John Stone, dressed as Santa Claus, said the parade means \u201cfamily, community and togetherness.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Mikkel Walkman, the parade is a Christmas tradition that warms the heart.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, it\u2019s an opportunity to be with family and do something reminds me of my childhood,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s full of familiar faces of people in our community who put a lot of time, effort and love into their floats. I find that pretty special. It really begins the holiday season.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one of the nicest events that Cortez has, it\u2019s so well attended, everyone enjoys it. There\u2019s over 1,000 people,\u201d said a couple from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.<\/p>\n

Judges this year are representatives of longtime families in Montezuma and Dolores counties. They are Joyce Humiston, Terry Cox, Jerry Cohoe, Kennan Ertel and Wes Wilson.<\/p>\n

The parade is a Cortez tradition and gets people in the mood for the holidays, said Terry McCabe, chairwoman of the Four Corners Board of Realtors Parade of Lights.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone gathers downtown, it\u2019s festive, and the floats are always impressive,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Categories for floats are \u201ccommercial,\u201d \u201cnonprofit\u201d and \u201cother.\u201d The latter is typically composed of groups, churches and schools. The judges\u2019 table was set up at Market and Main streets to evaluate each float.<\/p>\n

Floats were judged on the criteria of music and lights, creativity, theme development and workmanship.<\/p>\n

Parade of Lights results<\/div>\n

Commercial category:<\/strong> First Place Dan Glenn Trucking & New Gen Ed Consulting; Second Place Ute Mountain Farm & Ranch Bow & Arrow Brand; Third Place Colorado Title and Closing Services.<\/p>\n

Non-profit category:<\/strong> First Place Pinon Project; Second Place Battle Rock Charter School; Third Place Girl Scouts of Colorado, Unit 206.<\/p>\n

Other Category: <\/strong>First Place Ute Mountain Child Development; Second Place Cortez FFA; Third Place Lewis-Arriola Elementary School.<\/p>\n

Honorable Mention<\/strong> went to Lighthouse Baptist Church. The judges also noted that the Escalante Shrine Club had the best candy.<\/p>\n

It was a challenge for the judges to decide, said volunteer Michelle Morris.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were judging them very close,\u201d she said. \u201cYou could tell a lot of work were put into these floats.\u201d<\/p>\n

There were 72 floats in the parade, a record.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is becoming more popular because we really love our community,\u201d Morris said. \u201cIt\u2019s all about having enjoying a great parade and telling everyone Merry Christmas. We live in a rural area, so we have to have fun!\u201d<\/p>\n

Cash prizes are awarded for first, second and third places in each category. The parade continues to grow.<\/p>\n

\"2022
2022 Parade of Lights Judges were Terry Cox, Joyce Humiston, Jerry Cohoe, Keenan Ertel, and Wes Wilson. (Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

arrives via a Classic Air helicopter, a new holiday tradition<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30413,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[21,28,445],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-30412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-cortez","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter-lead"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30412","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=30412"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30412\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81076,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30412\/revisions\/81076"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30412"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=30412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}