Love Your Valley and River Festivals Generate Goodwill, Education

RIDGWAY – Ridgway's summer season of festivities is in full swing. Two of its biggest events, the 12th Annual Love Your Valley Festival and the First Annual Ridgway River Festival, brought the town and neighboring communities together during the month of June to enjoy a variety of events and raise awareness for local and regional nonprofits.

The Love Your Valley Festival, sponsored by the Town of Ridgway, included a 5K Fun Run, a chalk-art competition and face painting, all hosted by Black Canyon Land Trust, a nonprofit coalition striving to ensure conservation of private lands in the watersheds of southwestern Colorado.

For 11 years BCLT sponsored the Love Your Valley festival as a fundraiser for their conservation work in the Uncompahgre and other valleys of western Colorado. "We were no longer able to sponsor the event, but we wanted to remain one of the hosts to stay present in the area, and raise awareness for BCLT and the conservation work we do," said Barbara Hawke, executive director of BCLT.

Hawke said that the events that they sponsored were a success. "We had just over 30 people register for the 5K run, and there were too many faces to paint to get to everyone."

Though the numbers are not added up yet, it appears that the event was a fundraising success for BCLT. They had several cash sponsors for the events, including Alpine Bank and Alpine Investment and Reality.

Second Chance Humane Society also sponsored a couple of activities during the festivalto raise money for work they do in the community: an animal parade, obstacle course and dog tricks contest. Though the events raised little money, they were a success in terms of participation, with over 30 dogs participating in the obstacle course.

“Mostly it was about getting out there and interacting with the kids and dogs and people,” said SCHS Executive Director Kelly Goodin. Rhree cats and a dog were adopted that day, “and that’s always worth it,” she added.

Ridgway Town Clerk Pam Kraft said that monetarily, the festival generated no revenue for the town coffers. "We lost a little money, but [the money] was insignificant to what we gave back to the community," she said.

Kraft added that the town and town council voted to allocate a certain amount of money toward free community events and festivals for the summer. She said the town is very supportive of budgeting money for events that bring people to town and provide a reason for the community to gather together.

The First Annual Ridgway River Festival took place in Rollins Park on June 28. Event organizer Deidra Krois described it as a "huge success and fabulous watershed celebration for the community."

The River Festival was a fundraiser for the Mosaic Community Project, a local nonprofit whose mission is to support and promote education, the visual and performing arts, sustainable living practices, and environmental awareness in Ouray County. The festival raised over $1,500 for the Mosaic Project. The money raised in a silent auction will go directly toward a River Corridor Service Project Fund.

Krois said raising awareness of the local watershed was as important as raising money. To that end, organizers set up an information tent to provide information on the Uncompahgre and other watersheds of western Colorado.

"I hope this annual event will grow and become an attraction to support watershed awareness and create more opportunities for people to enjoy river sports," said Krois.