{"id":66060,"date":"2020-03-04T18:25:16","date_gmt":"2020-03-05T01:25:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/sarah-syverson-chosen-as-mancos-citizen-of-the-year\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T05:33:43","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T11:33:43","slug":"sarah-syverson-chosen-as-mancos-citizen-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/sarah-syverson-chosen-as-mancos-citizen-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Sarah Syverson chosen as Mancos Citizen of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Syverson\"
Syverson<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

An artistic leader is Mancos\u2019 Citizen of the Year.<\/p>\n

Sarah Syverson was given the honor for her creative endeavors and productions, along with her years with the Montezuma School to Farm program.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel really honored and humbled,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd honestly, my first reaction was that there are so many other potential people to be Citizen of the Year. \u2026 Anything I\u2019ve done takes a whole horde of people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The winner is selected by a committee led by the previous year\u2019s Citizen of the Year, who was Pastor Craig Paschal.<\/p>\n

\u201cSarah puts her heart and soul into every job and project she participates in,\u201d Paschal said. \u201cShe makes Mancos a better, more united place to live. Her art projects draw people together in spirit and conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Syverson moved to Mancos about 11 years ago. She served for a number of years as executive director of the Montezuma School to Farm Project, a nonprofit offering hands-on gardening classes to schools, then continued to help guide the organization as a volunteer on its advisory board. She later became co-director of the Mancos Creative District, which led to collaborative storytelling displays and productions like the \u201cWe All Belong\u201d project.<\/p>\n

She stepped down in 2018<\/a> but has since been instrumental in artistic productions including the popular Raven Narratives<\/a> storytelling series and the Purple Fox Conundrum<\/a>, an outdoor theatrical and art installation.<\/p>\n

Syverson said she has seen Mancos change as farmers and artists in their 20s and 30s moved to the area, presenting opportunities for cross-generational mingling and mentorship.<\/p>\n

\u201cPaired with the older generation of farmers and ranchers and artists that have been mentoring and connecting and welcoming those younger artists and farmers and ranchers in the community,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s been a powerful change I think in a really good way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Sarah
Sarah Syverson has taken part in a variety of shows and artistic endeavors in the area. This fall, she starred in Merely Players\u2019 production of \u201cEvery Brilliant Thing,\u201d which aimed to promote discussion on suicide through humor.<\/span>Photo courtesy of Merely Players<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Projects like the reinvigoration of the Mancos Common Press and the Mancos Opera House also have been strong community builders, she said.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s also seen the creative district grow and find a stronghold in Mancos.<\/p>\n

The recent production of the Purple Fox Conundrum \u2013 she was one of four co-producers \u2013 saw a combination of agriculture and arts, which Syverson said have a strong relationship.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the natural ebb and flow of agriculture can allow for that creative space to happen,\u201d Syverson said.<\/p>\n

Looking forward, she plans to work on a land-based theater immersion, one-woman show and the Raven Narratives. But she hopes to take the coming year a \u201cgestation\u201d period to allow ideas to \u201cpercolate.\u201d<\/p>\n

The awards ceremony is March 12 from 6-7:30 p.m. at the Mancos Valley Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center, 101 E. Bauer Ave.<\/p>\n

Syverson said the event is a chance to thank her mentors and fellow creatives for their contributions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t happen in a silo, but it happens in a community of people that are willing to help each other,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s the biggest gift.\u201d<\/p>\n

ealvero@the-journal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

selected for honor<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":66061,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,83,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-66060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-mancos","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66060","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=66060"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66060\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":90263,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66060\/revisions\/90263"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66060"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=66060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}