Arts Walk & Hollyhock Festival

On the last Saturday in July, the hollyhock gardens of Saguache are open to anyone on foot. Visitors tour them on their own, along and around 4th Street in the historic downtown. On Main Street, food vendors set up and live music plays. More than 30 local artists and crafters show and sell their work in galleries, studios, and other venues about town, and more art hangs on display around the courthouse. Between stops there are fairy houses to find and activities for children. Admission is free. The 2026 festival fell on July 25, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The courthouse is there because Saguache, established in 1874, is the county seat. The town sits in the northern half of the San Luis Valley, with the Sangre de Cristo Mountains to the east and the San Juan Mountains to the west. The Saguache Chamber of Commerce, which puts on the festival, calls the county “the land with 1,000 miles of roads and not one stoplight.” By the Chamber’s count, up to 1,000 visitors come to the event.

Seed cards at the Chamber booth

At the Chamber booth, hollyhock plants are for sale alongside Hollyhock Seed Cards. Each card carries the winning entry from the previous year’s art contest, and the new year’s entries hang on view during the day. The 2024 card showed the 2023 winner by Lupe Hernandez. The 2025 card featured Stephanie Buechler, who took the $100 first prize in 2024. Yvonne Halburian placed second that year and Mary Anne Buehler third. The Chamber noted that there were no youth entries.

The gardens are judged too, in two categories. In 2024 the garden contest went to Kathy Hill, Loraine Quintana, and Paulina Beaton, in that order. The hollyhock garden prizes went to Sarah-Koehn Frey, Estolla Amezcua, and Ina Anderson.

A flower from the late 1800s

The hollyhock is the official flower of the Town of Saguache. The Chamber’s account traces Alcea rosea to Asia and names it among the earliest plants brought to the New World. Its hardiness, drought tolerance, and tolerance of different soils carried it across the Middle East, Europe, and North America. The hollyhocks growing in the Southwest, the Chamber writes, are probably descendants of the first seeds planted in the late 1800s, when the area was settled.

Two events made one in 2021

The Arts Walk and the Hollyhock Festival were separate events at first. In 2021 the Chamber held them together on the same day. The combined event was so warmly received that the Chamber kept it that way. The Chamber numbered the July 26, 2025 edition the 14th annual Hollyhock Festival and the 16th annual Arts Walk. Photographs of the 2021 gardens and art competition went up on the Chamber’s Facebook page.

Each half still has its own committee. Sarah Krantz leads the Arts Walk, with Ina Anderson, Amy Garoutte, and Paulina Beaton. Carla Quintana, who is also president of the Chamber, leads the Hollyhock Festival, with Daine Barton and Carita Ginn. Grants from Saguache County and the Town of Saguache help pay for the day. Once the festival is over, the Chamber’s page suggests staying in Saguache for a movie.