The warmest days of the year so far are in the weekly forecast. Expect daytime highs to reach into the high 80s and overnight temps to stay above the 50-degree mark. The rodeo arena at the Ski-Hi Stampede will be hot as well. Here’s more to get Stampede Week started:
1. Breaking new hotel ground
Developing the property that sits adjacent to the Ski-Hi Stampede grounds was a goal of Gigi Dennis’ when she took over as Monte Vista City Manager in 2021. Why not build a hotel near the Ski-Hi complex that could accommodate annual visitors to the Ski-Hi Stampede or Southern Rocky Mountain Ag Conference or the annual Crane Festival, Dennis reasoned. Now four years later, Cobblestone Hotels, with Dennis serving as the dealmaker, will break ground on a new property at Sherman Avenue and Ski Hi Trail on July 16, the week after the Ski-Hi Stampede. It’s a new twist to Monte Vista’s efforts to keep more of its visitors in town.
2. Stampede Week
The foot-stomping at this year’s Ski-Hi Stampede kicks off with Thursday’s headliner concert by Muscadine Bloodline, an Alabama country duo featuring Charlie Muncaster and Gary Stanton. From there it’s the parades on Friday and Saturday that begin at 10 a.m., PRCA rodeos and nightly dances that follow, and then a closing matinee rodeo on Sunday, July 13. The Stampede carnival opens Wednesday evening.
3. Tourism in Alamosa
Visits to the Great Sand Dunes National Park in the month of June were down around 9 percent from a year ago, according to the National Park Service monthly report. The downtrend has the attention of Visit Alamosa, the organization responsible for promoting Alamosa to the outside world. Visit Alamosa, with help from Solimar International, is launching a five-year tourism strategy to help it stay in front of travelers as they adjust their own habits and interests. Kale Mortensen, executive director of Visit Alamosa, and Chris Seeks with Solimar International, explain it all in this episode of The Valley Pod. Community members are invited to get involved. This survey asks things like, ‘If you could change one thing about tourism in Alamosa, what would it be?’ Feel free to answer it. There is also this separate stakeholder survey that takes about 10 minutes to take.
4. The Valley Pod: 250 Episodes
The Valley Pod will welcome in Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser this week for what will be episode 250. The fact Weiser is also a candidate for governor in 2026 makes his appearance doubly interesting. Weiser is traveling to the San Luis Valley to talk water with the Rio Grande Basin Roundtable and to attend a fundraising event for his governor’s campaign.
5. Gotta love a parade
Between the annual Fourth of July parades, this week’s back-to-back Ski-Hi Stampede parades, and then the Manassa Pioneer Day parades on July 18 and 19, the San Luis Valley is parade-happy in the month of July. Alamosa drew good crowds for its annual July 4 parade. Monte Vista and Manassa, undoubtedly, will do the same for two of the best parades the Valley has to offer.
