My late father, a 30-year USAF veteran, would walk around our family home and burst into song. He might break into “Amapola,” the Spanish word for poppy, a Spanish-American love song, or “Singin’ in the Rain.” At certain times of the year, he’d lead with “I Love a Parade,” a song originally in a Merrie Melodies cartoon.
“I Love a Parade” is particularly appropriate this year. We have the 250-year anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, we have the 150-year anniversary of Colorado statehood, and there’s a few other notable events that are growing nicely each trip around the sun.
We had our third successful and culturally uplifting First Peoples Festival in January. In February, the second wild edition of SkiJor came to town. We had the fourth Frozen Dead Guy Days festival (on an unfrozen, summery March weekend), bringing many people to town who hadn’t visited Estes before – and many of whom may return and explore and enjoy our beautiful mountain valley.
The Scottish Festival has a big anniversary this year. Peggy Sue Young will be celebrating the fifty-year anniversary of that event on September 12, 13, 14. Fellows, get your kilts in order. If you haven’t gone in recent years, this is the one to attend. It would be great to have the Tattoo events sold out for this pull-out-all-the-stops year, and to attend the various musical events, athletic events, vendor booths, and all.
The ScotFest is privately owned, of course. Perhaps a well-attended ScotFest in 2026 could help on the financial side so that they’d have more leverage with bringing back the parade in a future year. As I’ve mentioned before, the Town provided direct financial support for some years to pay for traffic management and control for the parade, but it was the only and last private event for which the Town provided cash.
In the meantime, the Town still provides a substantial amount – over $60,000 – of in-kind support to the festival, including facilities and other components. But with the progressively constrained tough budget years of the 2020s, it didn’t fit to continue to provide direct cash to a single private entity.
So, if there’s a Scottish or Irish angel out there, or anyone who could and would help with the parade costs, I’m sure Peggy would love to hear from you!
The age of the Rooftop Rodeo has been a source of debate for a long time. When is or was the actual 100-year anniversary of the rodeo? What counted for the first rodeo? What about the missed years? And so on.
I won’t debate those questions. However, Colonel Howell Wright (Ret.) expects to publish and distribute his comprehensive Estes rodeo history book before summer in collaboration with the Estes Park Museum. That volume is full of history, pictures, colorful performers and riders, and athletic animals — you’ll want to check it out. And Howell will confront the topic of which anniversary this year will be. Stay tuned!
Incidentally, yes, the rodeo is a Town-owned event, and yes, the rodeo parade will happen this year, on its traditional route.
And then there’s the USA and Colorado, as mentioned above. There are many activities taking shape for those celebrations. Let’s hope for a good summer in which to enjoy all the events and the toasts to America and Colorado.
If we get into a fire-banned summer, well, there’s the option that many towns and cities are now doing with the drone show. Check some out on YouTube, they’re amazing and they don’t set anything on fire or leave debris.
Yes, I know the boom-poppin’ firecrackers are like the rockets’ red glare bursting in air, but ultimately, the safety of Estes and our people is the top priority.
The United States of America has had a good run, though certainly with ups and downs. We need to keep it going. What will the USA be like in 250 more years? Democracy must prevail and we must take proper care of our lands and resources and people. We will have good times and tough times, as we have had in these first 250 years.
And we must always consider those future generations that will come after us. That future vision guides us in the present to try to make the best decisions today for a great country tomorrow.