{"id":31343,"date":"2023-09-30T19:39:47","date_gmt":"2023-10-01T01:39:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/thousands-turn-out-for-durango-cowboy-gathering-parade-saturday\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T01:39:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T07:39:26","slug":"thousands-turn-out-for-durango-cowboy-gathering-parade-saturday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/thousands-turn-out-for-durango-cowboy-gathering-parade-saturday\/","title":{"rendered":"Thousands turn out for Durango Cowboy Gathering parade Saturday"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Between
Between 1,500 and 2,000 people attended the 35th anniversary Durango Cowboy Gathering parade on Saturday, which had 35 entries and about 300 participants. (Christian Burney\/Durango Herald)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The Durango Cowboy Gathering, known as \u201cthe largest nonmotorized parade in Colorado,\u201d brought all it\u2019s got on Saturday morning on Main Avenue where hundreds of residents and visitors filled the sidewalks to keep memories of the Old West alive.<\/p>\n

Celebrating the Durango Cowboy Gathering\u2019s 35th anniversary, people dressed in their best cowboy and cowgirl outfits to fit the Western theme. About 300 people and 70 horses (and ponies) trotted down Main Avenue, guided by representatives of various area organizations, including but not limited to The Western Roundup, The Bayfield Belles, Four Corners Backcountry Horsemen, Four Corners 4-H Club and the Girl Scouts of Colorado.<\/p>\n

Durango community events administrator Ellen Babers said there were 34 parade entries in total, and between 1,500 and 2,000 people attended the parade. Spectators coalesced on both sides of Main Avenue to root and holler for parade participants.<\/p>\n

Plenty of the wagons and trailers parading downtown played classic country and Western-themed songs, including \u201cYou Are My Sunshine\u201d and Hank Williams\u2019 \u201cI Saw the Light.\u201d<\/p>\n

The music was a big draw for many attendees. Santa Fe resident Buck Kashiwa said the music and poetry reciting at other Cowboy Gathering events this week is why he shows up almost every year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the clean humor, the love stories and the stories of the Old West\u201d that keeps him involved, he said.<\/p>\n

Kashiwa attends Cowboy Gatherings every year across the country. He said the biggest gathering to his knowledge is the event in Elko, Nevada, but other notable gathering spots are Alpine, Texas, and Cimarron, New Mexico.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just love the way that the folks are coming out and supporting the poets,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of a preservationist thing. Keeping old, good stuff alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teri Ryan and Suzanne Eckstin of Durango said they love the \u201cauthenticity of stepping back in time,\u201d noting the Western period costumes and nonmotorized parade.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just love the history of Durango. And I think it\u2019s cool that so many people come out to see and care about it,\u201d Eckstin said. \u201cI have friends (who) raise cattle. \u2026 I think it\u2019s a hugely respected profession and I\u2019m grateful that we have access to all the ranchers and cattle producers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ryan said it\u2019s \u201cprecious\u201d that cattle ranchers today have kept their traditional livelihoods alive and she respects them.<\/p>\n

\"Karen
Karen Trimble and her husband, left, were joined by Michael and Elaine Morvan at the Durango Cowboy Gathering parade on Main Avenue on Saturday. They attend the annual Cowboy Gathering events to enjoy good music and to hear stories about the Old West. (Christian Burney\/Durango Herald)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Michael Morvan, a retired lieutenant of the United States Navy, said \u201cthe music and the colorful history\u201d of Southwest Colorado and Durango are what brought him out on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Elaine Morvan, Michael\u2019s wife, said they attended a poetry reading at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4031 on Friday evening and the music at the event was \u201cfabulous.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey had a lot of emotional songs. Some of the people in the audience were actually tearful,\u201d Michael said. \u201cTomorrow, we are going to do a two-hour horseback ride up at the Bears Ranch with our whole family and 11-year-old daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Babers said the Cowboy Gathering organizers, led by Pam Jacobs, aimed to make the parade and other events bigger and better than ever before in order to keep the memory and tradition of Old West lifestyles alive.<\/p>\n

\u201cReally inclusive for townsfolk and ranch folks,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

cburney@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

festivities celebrate Old West lifestyle and tradition<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31344,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[731,364,950,1980,510,28,475,1408],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-31343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-bayfield","tag-community","tag-durango","tag-durango-cowboy-gathering","tag-festive-event-including-carnival","tag-headlines","tag-la-plata-county-colorado","tag-parade"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31343","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=31343"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31343\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81408,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31343\/revisions\/81408"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31343"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=31343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}