IN the Monday Briefing, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 items to get your week started and a look back (above) at Del Norte’s Covered Wagon Days over the weekend (C.Claire Lara photos)
1. Hunt Avenue Cultural Trail next project up
The city of Alamosa recently was awarded a $1.2 million state grant to create the Hunt Avenue Cultural Trail from Sixth to Third streets, essentially creating a walking path in the middle of downtown running south to north and leading to Cole Park and the Rio Grande. It’s all part of an emerging vision for the downtown corridor of Alamosa. We connect the dots with this story.
2. Those 13,000 people headed to the Seven Peaks Festival
Alamosa Citizen reporter Owen Woods previews the upcoming Seven Peaks Festival scheduled for Labor Day weekend on a little slice of land just outside Villa Grove. With 13,000 pre-tickets sold, it’ll be a gathering Saguache County and the San Luis Valley have never seen before.
3. Grizzlies open summer training camp
If you hear grunts and groans and other early-morning sounds coming from Rex Stadium later this week, it’s likely the Adams State football team in their summer training camp. The Grizzlies open camp on Wednesday, Aug. 10. Under second-year head coach Jarrell Harrison, Adams State opens its 2022 season on Sept. 3 in Silver City, N.M., against Western New Mexico. The first home game is under the lights on Sept. 10 against West Texas A&M University, and Grizzlies then open Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play at home on Sept. 17 against Colorado School of Mines. The Grizzlies’ full schedule is here.
Adams State Athletics is pushing its annual Grizzly Club membership drive. The booster club membership provides passes to every athletic event at Adams State and all membership dollars are used to support scholarships for Adams State student-athletes.
4. Connecting students to careers
Alamosa High School Athletic Director Eric Melgoza noted the involvement of Ashley Lopez, a former AHS student who started her medical career as a student athletic trainer, at the annual sports physicals for Alamosa High students. Lopez was part of the team from SLV Health that provided the required athletic physicals to about 130 high school students last week. “It is great to see our former students move on from programs (Intro to Sports Medicine) offered at AHS,” Melgoza said.
5. Colorado Ag Department offers STAR Soil Health Event
The Colorado Department of Agriculture, Acres U.S.A., and the Mosca-Hooper Conservation District will host the first in a series of Colorado Soil Health regional events in the San Luis Valley on Aug. 13. This free event is part of the Colorado STAR Program and will include farm tours, educational presentations, guest speakers, and a keynote address from Jimmy Emmons, a soil health champion and producer from Oklahoma.
The day will begin at 8 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 13, in Monte Vista with brief presentations and the group will leave at 9 a.m. for two farm visits, before returning to Monte Vista for lunch. Afternoon will include breakout sessions and a panel discussion on soil health practices, which emphasize soil armor, minimal soil disturbance, plant diversity, continual live plant/root, and livestock integration. The event is free; however registration is required at ag.colorado.gov/events.
6. Cancer survivorship program seeks participants
The Adams State University Department of Kinesiology will continue important research on the effects of exercise on the physical, mental, and social health of cancer survivors. The program is currently seeking volunteers to participate in the study this fall.
The Larry Holder Exercise and Cancer Survivorship program offers cancer survivors in the San Luis Valley the opportunity to participate in an individualized exercise program conducted in a group setting which meets three times per week for 10 weeks. The program also provides Adams State undergraduate and graduate kinesiology students experience in fitness testing as well as guiding and supporting program participants throughout the exercise program.
All cancer survivors ages 18 years or older are welcome regardless of gender, type, or stage of cancer. This fall’s research study begins the week of August 29 with appointments for individual fitness testing. There is no cost to the participant, but completing the entire twelve weeks of the study is essential to ensure accurate results are obtained. For more information, or for those who can’t attend one of the scheduled pre-registration meetings, please contact the Adams State Kinesiology Department program coordinator: Ines Curti at 859-684-3511, email curtiines@gmail.com or Peggy Johnson at 719-589-0593, email pvjohnson@adams.edu.
The program is funded through a two-year grant from the Colorado Cancer Coalition and support from the SLV Health Foundation, including the Larry Holder Memorial Golf Tournament.
7. WALK. Slow Down, Connect at 1-3 Miles per Hour
That’s the title of a book by walking artist Jonathon Stalls, who is the latest guest on the Valley Pod. Naturally, he walked to our studios when in town recently and we discussed his career as a walking artist and his upcoming appearance at the Narrow Gauge Book Cooperative author series on Aug. 20. The book gets released Aug. 15. Fascinating, worthwhile conversation and then a chance to meet him later in August. The Valley Pod episode drops Tuesday on AlamosaCitizen.com and is available wherever you stream podcasts.
