{"id":91387,"date":"2019-12-08T03:53:58","date_gmt":"2019-12-08T03:53:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/parade-of-lights-lights-up-patriotic-spirit\/"},"modified":"2019-12-08T03:53:58","modified_gmt":"2019-12-08T03:53:58","slug":"parade-of-lights-lights-up-patriotic-spirit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/parade-of-lights-lights-up-patriotic-spirit\/","title":{"rendered":"Parade of Lights lights up patriotic spirit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n


\n <\/p>\n

The combined forces of military pride and holiday cheer shone through for the Four Corners Board of Realtors Parade of Lights in Cortez Saturday night.<\/p>\n

The parade theme this year was \u201cA Salute to Hometown Heroes.\u201d The theme honors veterans, active-duty armed service members and fallen service members.<\/p>\n

Sixty brightly lit floats with creative holiday and military designs cruised Main Street as thousands of spectators lined the sidewalks taking in the spectacular scene.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a fitting tribute to all veterans, active service members and their families,\u201d said Rick Torres, director of Montezuma County Veterans Affairs. \u201cThere is a rich history in the community for serving our country that dates back to the Civil War. \u201cPeople here love their veterans, and you can really feel that tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Montezuma County lost two men this year in service to the country, Marine Gunnery Sgt. Scott A. Koppenhafer of Mancos and Army Green Beret Sgt. 1st Class Will Lindsay of Cortez. In 2005, the community lost George Geer, a Montezuma County soldier who died in Iraq.<\/p>\n

Jason Larson of Tuffy Security Products just south of town said the parade is part of the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all have families, and we all just want to be a part of it,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is just a nice, annual thing that we can do to be a part of the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tuffy got behind this year\u2019s theme in their float decoration too, saluting hometown heroes of all kinds.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the theme being \u2018Salute to Hometown Heroes\u2019 this year, we really wanted to put the focus on law enforcement, armed services, our teachers, our fire department, our doctors, our nurses, medical services,\u201d Larson said. \u201cWe really wanted to extend it to everybody who is helping this community grow and better itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"This
This year\u2019s theme was \u201cA Salute to Hometown Heroes,\u201d in particular honoring Marine Gunnery Sgt. Scott A. Koppenhafer of Mancos and Army Green Beret Sgt. 1st Class Will Lindsay of Cortez, who both died in service this year.<\/span>Erika Alvero\/The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Groups came from all around the Four Corners to celebrate the holidays, and parade their floats. Sonya John was named Miss Blue Mountain Unity at San Juan High School over in Blanding, Utah, and she was there with her family and runner-up attendants.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust representing the school and getting her recognized,\u201d said her mom, Cecilia. Blue Mountain Unity is a Native American club at the high school, she added.<\/p>\n

Local radio station KRTZ emceed the event, and it was streamed live by the Cortez Area Chamber of Commerce. Five marching bands from area schools participated as well.<\/p>\n

Veteran Bob Sanders said the local pride for military service is heartwarming and represents the patriotic values of rural America. He served in the Air Force, including three tours in Vietnam, and in Desert Storm, all as a flight mechanic.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe flew in bullets and meals, and shipped out the wounded, then turned around and did it again,\u201d he said. \u201cThe tougher moments were the rockets firing at us, the wounded and those who died in action. The highlights were getting the mission done, I\u2019d do it again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sanders is the commander for the local Disabled American Veterans group. They recently renamed their Chapter 44 to the \u201cLindsay-Geer\u201d Chapter in honor of two of the many local soldiers who died in action.<\/p>\n

\"Saluting
Saluting those who serve in military and civilian jobs is the theme of this year\u2019s Parade of Lights in Cortez.<\/span>Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The parade theme of Hometown Heroes is not only for military service, said members of the Ute Mountain Ute Casino float. Their float showed artwork depicting military soldiers on one side, and civilian community providers such as nurses, teachers, firefighters and EMTs on the other.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re showcasing all our community heroes,\u201d said Brad Waltman, of the Ute Mountain Casino. \u201cRecognizing people who step up to serve the needs others is the concept of our float.\u201d<\/p>\n

The larger-than-life parade has become a badge of honor for Cortez and attracts viewers from all over the region.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis parade is impressive and is a lot larger than I was expecting,\u201d said Jennifer Wade, who moved to Cortez last year. \u201cI will participate again next year for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"This
This massive crane, owned by Tucker Transportation, entered the parade for the first time this year.<\/span>Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A whopper of a float was the massive crane brought in by Tucker Transportation Inc. of Cortez. The 275T Grove Hydraulic can pick up 275 tons, and cost $1.5 million.<\/p>\n

Owners Morgan and Bronson Tucker said this is the first time they entered the parade, and they were inspired by the military theme.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been in business here for a while and want to participate more in community events,\u201d said Bronson Tucker. \u201cWe are proud to be a part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The crane, which has a 225-foot boom, was outfitted with military flags, wrapped presents, lights, classic rock music and a Christmas tree.<\/p>\n

Judges name top floats<\/div>\n

The five women judges of the parade are all military veterans. They are Michele McCabe, Marines; Dena Stafford, Navy; Dee Blackhorse, Army; Laura Lenihan, Air Force; and Kayla Maynard, Navy. Floats were rated based on theme, lights, creativity and music.<\/p>\n

In the \u201cCommercial\u201d category, Stormy\u2019s ATC Gymnastics took first place, Slavens True Value was second, and TruWest Auto took third. In the \u201cNon-profit\u201d category, Girl Scout Service Unit 206 took first place, Re-1 Transportation took second, and Whimspire Child Placement Agency was third. In the \u201cOther\u201d category, Copeland Family USA Truck took first place, Cortez 911 Dispatch Center took second place, and Four Corners Re-enacting was third.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has become a regional draw, with people coming from all over the Four Corners,\u201d said organizer Michelle Morris. \u201cThis is the parade\u2019s 30th year. The first year there were just seven floats, now we have 60.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heavy-duty construction equipment decked out in festive lights. Blasting different styles of music were a parade highlight.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had the biggest trucks ever this year,\u201d said Maynard. \u201cIt was great to see the different takes on hometown heroes. It is our military members, and also our teachers, nurses, miners, law-enforcement and firefighters.\u201d<\/p>\n

The mild weather was perfect for the parade, and the crowd on the sidewalk was three or four deep in places. In a time of mourning from recent lost veterans, the community gathering for the Parade of Lights hit patriotic and holiday chords.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis town really needed a good morale boost, and everyone got into the spirit of things,\u201d said Morris.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

holiday event honors military duty and sacrifice<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":91388,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[755,21,13,28,445,598,184],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-91387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-christmas","tag-cortez","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter-lead","tag-public-holiday","tag-veterans-affairs"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91387","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=91387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91387\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91387"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=91387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}