Days of '92 and Fourth of July Mining Festival

At nine in the morning on the Fourth of July weekend, competitors in the arena at Basham Park, on Main Street in downtown Creede, take up the work of the hard-rock mine in front of a permanent grandstand. The Creede & Mineral County Chamber of Commerce describes them as actual miners who come from across the Southwest to contend for the title “Best Overall Miner of the Year.” The Mineral County Miner, covering the 2026 edition, wrote of a Top Miner spot and a cash prize at the end of the weekend. Admission is free. The events begin at 9 a.m. on both mornings and usually last until mid-afternoon.

Two days in the Days of ‘92 arena

The weekend joins two competitions. The first day belongs to the Colorado State Mining Championships, which the Chamber calls a taxing series that tests the miners in body and in mind. Its events are hand-mucking, machine drilling with the jack-leg, and single jack. The second day is the Days of ‘92, with team jack-leg drilling, spike driving, double jack, and machine mucking. The Chamber also lists hand steeling. According to the Chamber, the program is meant to show spectators the daily life of a hard-rock miner, and several generations of the same family have competed over the years.

The calendar has shifted from year to year. In 2022 the competitions filled July 3 and 4 and opened on the afternoon of the 3rd. The Chamber’s 2026 schedule put the State Championships on Saturday, July 4, and the Days of ‘92 on Sunday, July 5.

Basham Park, at 15 South Main Street, has a pavilion, picnic tables, drinking water, shade, and a veterans’ memorial garden. The old Rio Grande Railroad Depot behind it houses the Creede Historical Museum. During the 2025 holiday a beer garden ran in the park on both days. The park restrooms were set aside for women, and portable toilets beside the arena served everyone. A Search & Rescue cool-down tent was also set up.

Main Street on the Fourth

The parade steps off at 10 a.m. on the Fourth. In 2025 it followed Main Street to 7th Street, and Main was closed to traffic from early morning until it had passed. The Miner’s 2026 account describes red, white, and blue floats, horseback riders, decorated vehicles, and candy and beads thrown down Main Street to a crowd lining the curbs. In the same account the paper marked that Fourth as the nation’s 250th anniversary and reported that the mining competitions draw their crowds after the parade ends. In 2022 the paper reported 10,000 or more people in the area for the parade. It added that over the previous four years or so, visitors had begun arriving from around the world.

The 2025 town brochure lays out the rest of the day. A pancake breakfast is served at the Kentucky Belle shuttle stop, and chalk drawings cover the pavement of Main Street. Art and food vendors fill the lot south of the Kentucky Belle grocery, and a farmers market runs on East First Street. The brochure sends visitors to Bristolhead Bakery or the Antlers for breakfast and to Big Doug’s BBQ, the Tommyknocker Tavern, or the Creede Underground Mining Museum for lunch. For ice cream it lists the Main Street Creamery and Swee-T’s. In 2022 the Mineral County Fire Department held its annual lunch fundraiser, and both the Underground Mining Museum and the historical museum stayed open all day. Cars are left at the dirt lot off Corsair Drive by Creede School or at the fairgrounds, and free shuttles carry visitors into town.

In the afternoon the crowd moves out to the fairgrounds for the ChuteOut Rodeo at 4:30. Creede Repertory Theatre runs shows through the holiday week on its main stage and at The Ruth. The 2026 bill included Working, A Musical on the afternoon of the Fourth and Moriarty and Boomtown! at The Ruth the next day. After dark, live music plays in several places around town, beginning at what the Chamber’s schedule calls dark-thirty. The 2025 brochure lists a Party in the Park in Basham Park from 8 to 10 p.m., with glow sticks, snacks, and music. Fireworks are held at Mountain Views RV Park only when fire restrictions allow.

From company contests to a merged championship

According to the Chamber, Creede has always held mining competitions, as many Western mining towns have. While the area’s mines were working, mining companies sponsored the events to raise the miners’ morale. The Chamber dates the Days of ‘92 to the 1960s. In the late 1970s the State Mining Championships came to Creede, and the two competitions were merged into one weekend.

The sources count the years differently. The Chamber says Creede has hosted the two-day competition for “more than 46 years.” The Miner’s 2026 article also places the founding of the Days of ‘92 in the 1960s, but it says the competition “officially marked its 39th year” and has been preserved “for nearly four decades.” Neither source reconciles the two figures.

Both sources agree that the mines closed more than 30 years ago. The Miner says Creede’s last producing silver mine shut down then, and the town has since earned the name “the little town that would not die.” The paper traces Creede’s change from a 19th-century silver camp into a summer town of theater and local art. The Chamber says the competitions now serve to honor the town’s past. In 2022 the City of Creede received few suggestions for the parade theme and chose this one: “Creede: The True Silver Lining.”