WELCOME to the last days of January and the arrival of 40-degree weather for February. Groundhog Day is Thursday, Feb. 2. Says here the old groundhog won’t find his shadow, meaning an early spring in the forecast. Besides, who needs Punxsutawney Phil when you’ve got Cooper the Weather Dog (who is also a whole lot cuter).
Let’s go – here’s more for the week ahead.
1. Valley counties fight water exportation projects
Saguache County Commissioner Tom McCracken sees the potential. So does Alamosa County Commissioner Vern Heersink. We’re talking about how all six counties in the San Luis Valley are looking into establishing a “Joint Planning Area” to protect the Valley’s water resources and then apply specific 1041 planning regulations that address water exportation projects like Renewable Water Resources. Our Sunday story explains it all. Take a read. It’s a water policy strategy that will come before county commissioners across the Valley in the coming months.
2. Recap: 2023 Rio Frio
John Reesor, the affable organizer of the annual Rio Frio 5K, was all smiles over the weekend. The Rio Frio saw an overflowing number of runners who took on the challenge of running along the Rio Grande and across the icy Blanca Vista pond. Of course the Rio Frio has turned into much more and we have a full recap with a video story (above) by Owen Woods and Hannah Eubanks and some beautiful photography. Here’s our recap.
3. On The Valley Pod: The good school work at Alamosa High
Up at 5 a.m. to get his day going, Principal Andy Lavier has Alamosa High meeting state performance standards and on the rise as a public high school in the state of Colorado. On this episode of The Valley Pod you’ll learn about all the ways AHS is trending upward, including with its innovative Ag Ed program. Listen in.
4. Monday ASD school board meeting
Speaking of the Moose, the Alamosa School Board is back in session with a special meeting scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday. On the agenda is a board vote on a revised annual budget. The school board normally meets the first and third Thursdays of every month, putting the school board back in session Feb. 2 and Feb. 16. If you want more on Alamosa schools, try the school district’s two podcasts – one in Spanish and one in English.
5. Hunt Avenue Cultural Trail gets a start
The Hunt Avenue Cultural Trail will begin to come into focus when the Alamosa City Council takes it up at its meeting Wednesday. Back in August we wrote this:
“If you take a step back, you can see it. A cultural trail along Hunt Avenue and Sixth Street that leads to Cole Park. A newly-designed landscaping project with the Jocelyn Russell “Cranes in Flight” public art exhibit accentuating the area. The idea of a boutique downtown hotel on the block from State Avenue to Hunt. You can see it all, and it’s closer than you might think.” Here’s the full story.
Now Alamosa will look to enter into an intergovernmental agreement with the Colorado Department of Transportation to move the project forward. Alamosa is receiving $1.2 million through the CDOT Revitalize Main Street initiative to turn Hunt Avenue into a cultural trail as part of its downtown revitalization efforts.
5.1 Knee Knockers Bar & Grill
The Alamosa City Council also has on its agenda a transfer of a liquor license for the eatery at Cattails Golf Course, which under new management will now be called Knee Knockers Bar & Grill. Here’s the agenda item.
6. A plug for Society Hall
Some of the most talked-about shows at Alamosa’s Society Hall venue in recent years have been when some of the most popular and successful Texas singer-songwriters working today, called the Traveling Red River Songwriters, swing bye for a visit. They’re back this Sunday, Feb. 5, for a concert that begins at 7 p.m. Don Richmond writes more about this show and his friends in the Traveling Red River Songwriters. Take a read. Maybe we’ll see you Sunday at Society Hall.
TOP PHOTO: Sand Dunes sunset | Andrew Parnes for The Citizen
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