The new year 2026 promises to offer a lot in the way of celebrations and commemorations. It is the 150th year of Colorado statehood and 250 years since the signing of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, after all.
It also promises to deliver some big answers — both for the country, the state of Colorado and our home here in the San Luis Valley.
First the celebrations
History Colorado is leading the charge to bring about the celebrations and commemorations around 150 years of Colorado statehood. History Colorado has two historical exhibits on display in Denver – “The Moments that Made US” and “38th Star: Colorado Becomes the Centennial State”. Both exhibitions are showing at History Colorado Center on Broadway Avenue in Denver.
Here is a list of exhibitions, projects and events that History Colorado is organizing for the 150th Celebration of Colorado (History Colorado 2026 lineup of events). More will be added as the year moves along.
Locally, Alamosa Citizen has plans to mark 150 years of Colorado statehood. One is through the introduction of a history column by Barbara Kruse, who each month will explore the origins of the Valley. The column will debut Jan. 9 and run monthly on AlamosaCitizen.com.
Alamosa Citizen is also creating a project titled “150 Faces of the San Luis Valley” as a reflection of the generations of families and newbies who call Alamosa and the greater San Luis Valley home. Watch for it in August of 2026, around the time of the five year anniversary of Alamosa Citizen itself.
We have set a goal of reaching 1,000 paid members in 2026 to mark our fifth year of publishing. An annual membership is $100 a year, which equals $8.34 per month or about $2 a week. Members receive two weekly curated newsletters. Most importantly, memberships directly fund the local work that keeps Alamosa and the greater San Luis Valley informed — free for everyone, with no paywall. Click “Become A Member” to support
Questions in the new year
Some big questions are on the table in 2026 that will be answered by those who exercise their right to vote in the new year. Other questions will get addressed by the courts and Mother Nature herself.
Midterm elections is a phrase you will hear a lot about and with it will come some answers.
Will President Trump and his team maneuver enough to maintain control of Congress through the entirety of his four-year term? Or have voters seen enough and instead seek change once again by taking control of Congress away from the Republican Party and back into the hands of the Democratic Party?
The answer will be delivered when the midterm election is held Nov. 3. One race that could help determine the answer is Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, where Republican Jeff Hurd holds the seat.
His main challenger in the new year, at least for the moment, is a person familiar with Valley – Alex Kelloff, whose grandfather and father operated Kelloff’s Food Market. Kelloff is seeking the Democratic nomination in the June 30 Colorado primary election to face Hurd in November.
The governorship is on the line in Colorado in 2026. Two big questions will get answered: Is it state Attorney General Phil Weiser or U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet that Democrats will favor when those two political heavyweights square off in the June primary? It is a race that will consume Coloradans throughout the first half of the new year, with intrigue written all over this contest.
The second question: Can a Republican win the governorship? And not just any Republican, but State Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer of Weld County. Can she change the fortunes of the state GOP when it comes to the governor’s office and the strong control Democrats have in the Colorado Legislature?
According to local Republicans who hold sway, Kirkmeyer is really the only GOP gubernatorial candidate in Colorado who could pull off the upset. Her credentials include serving as a current member of the state legislature’s powerful Joint Budget Committee and a long background serving on the Weld County Board of County Commissioners in one of the fastest growing regions of the state, northern Colorado.
For the San Luis Valley, possibly the biggest question that will be answered in 2026 is this: What is to become of the Fourth Amended Plan of Water Management for Subdistrict 1 of the Rio Grande Water Conservation District? Sure, it’s inside baseball to the world of farming and surface and groundwater management, but the answer to the question will help determine the future of farming in a local and state economy that relies on it.
Judge Michael Gonzales in Colorado Division 3 Water Court has scheduled a water trial to begin June 29 that will address and answer the question. The moment will come some four years after irrigators in the subdistrict decided to tie their fate to Mother Nature. The subdistrict and its parent Rio Grande Water Conservation District remain under pressure to bring the unconfined aquifer of the Upper Rio Grande Basin to a sustainable level or face curtailment of wells.
So far nothing has worked. The Fourth Amended Plan hopes to change the equation.
“The Subdistrict realizes that if more restrictive steps are not taken to achieve a Sustainable Unconfined Aquifer, the State Engineer will, at some point, be unable to approve a future Annual Replacement Plan, resulting in the curtailment of Subdistrict Wells. State Engineer denial of an Annual Replacement Plan could result in the curtailment of all Subdistrict Wells, causing severe negative impact on the agricultural economy of the Subdistrict and the San Luis Valley as a whole,” subdistrict irrigators note in their adoption of the plan.
To be sure, there are other questions that 2026 will help answer. Will Downtown Alamosa see even more renewed life with an addition of a 90-room hotel? How will the opening of the new Love’s change East Alamosa? What will the cell phone policy of Alamosa School District look like when all school districts in Colorado are required to adopt a policy by July 1?
The new year is shaping up to be consequential in many ways. What will it bring? The answers are forthcoming.
2025 in review
Take a look at our 2025: Year of Photos compiled by Hannah Eubanks and MaryAnne Talbott.
To wrap another bow around 2025, here is our month-to-month review compiled by Chris Lopez.