Early Settlers Day

The day starts with breakfast. On Saturday, August 1, 2026, the La Junta Chamber of Commerce opened Early Settlers Day with a community breakfast. A parade then went through downtown La Junta, and the crowd moved to La Junta City Park, at Tenth Street and Colorado Avenue. The daytime program at the park was free.

The park at Tenth and Colorado

The main stage at the park carried entertainment, guest speakers and stories about the Santa Fe Trail and Bent’s Old Fort. The chamber’s listing places the fort a few miles from La Junta. It was built in 1833, and travelers on the trail stopped there to rest, repair wagons, receive medical care and gather supplies. The Salida Circus performed on the program with other acts. Children and adults could enter a fishing derby at the city park pond, a chalk contest, a cornhole tournament and a skate competition. The chamber also ran a Free Family Fun Zone. The La Junta Fire Department gave safety demonstrations through the day. Vendors filled the grounds: local businesses, craft sellers, nonprofit organizations and food and drink stands.

A dance at First and Santa Fe

At 5 p.m. the evening moved back downtown. A beer garden and street dance opened at Santa Fe Plaza Park, at First Street and Santa Fe Avenue, and ran until 11:30. DJ Buddy Beezy and The Runners Band played, and Sweet Inspirations Catering served food. Admission was $10, and entry was limited to those 21 and older with valid identification.

On Monday, August 3, 2026, Mayor Joseph Ayala reported on the day to the La Junta City Council. The La Junta Tribune-Democrat headlined its account “Mayor calls La Junta’s 92nd Early Settler’s Day a success.” Two years earlier, the City of Rocky Ford’s calendar listed the 90th annual celebration for Saturday, September 7, 2024, from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. The editions of 1991, 2021 and 2024 all fell in September. Older newspaper accounts spell the name Early Settler’s Day, while the chamber now writes Early Settlers Day.

Rocky Ford, 1915, and the towns that took turns

The celebration did not start in La Junta. According to a 1991 account in The Pueblo Chieftain, the first Early Settler’s Day was held in Rocky Ford in 1915, with 115 people registered. World War I halted it for a few years. Afterward the host town rotated among Las Animas, Rocky Ford, La Junta, Manzanola and Ordway. La Junta was chosen as the permanent site in 1934, and the first parade followed in 1935. By 1991 the paper called it the largest annual parade in the lower Arkansas Valley, with well over 100 entries.

The celebration lapsed again during and after World War II. It was revived in 1975 under the chairmanship of State Sen. Jim Rizzuto, who still headed the committee in 1991.

Bed race and barbecue, 1991

The Chieftain laid out the 1991 program in detail. Chris Weaver, the chamber manager, said more than 175 crafters and demonstrators had signed up for booth space, with room for 210, and that the day drew craftsmen from all over Colorado.

• Breakfast: a pancake breakfast sponsored by the Kiwanis Club opened the day at 7 a.m. on September 7 in the Courthouse Square.
• Bed race: at 9 a.m. the bed race, sponsored by the Arkansas Valley Regional Medical Center, ran from Fourth and Santa Fe to Second and Santa Fe.
• Parade: at 10 a.m. the parade went down Santa Fe Avenue and back up Colorado Avenue.
• Stage and booths: a stage between Second and Third streets on Santa Fe Avenue carried live entertainment all day, and booths of crafts, helpful hints and food filled the courthouse square.
• Barbecue: settlers who had registered with the chamber were guests of honor at a noon barbecue. Committee members and cooks from Fort Carson prepared it, and the public paid a nominal fee.
• Evening contests: that year added a Spokesmodel competition, headed by Kathy Benz. The annual lip sync contest, popular with area youth, came at 7 p.m.
• Dances: at 8 p.m. two street dances began. A country-western dance for the whole family was held on Santa Fe Avenue between Second and Third. Teens could go to the corner of Colorado and Second for rock music.

Shofars and bagpipes, 2021

In 2021 Early Settler’s Day fell on September 11, the 20th anniversary of the 2001 attacks. After the 10 a.m. parade, a noon ceremony at City Park honored Coloradans who were killed. Betty Blanco, Kathy Davis, Oz Hoeme and Greg Kolomitz moderated.

Blanco recalled the 10th anniversary, held at the Santa Fe Plaza with the fire department’s truck. “At that time there was only seven,” she said. “Now, we’re at the 20-year anniversary. I got digging around only to find out that we have 30 victims with Colorado ties.” The Tribune put the count at 31. “What I would like to see is for people to learn who these people were that we lost,” Blanco said, “because we lost the best of the best.”

The park gazebo held a “Hall of Tribute” with stories and pictures of the victims. The ceremony also recognized three other men:

• Staff Sgt. Justin Vasquez of Manzanola, killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom on June 5, 2005.
• Staff Sgt. Brian Cowdrey of La Junta, a flight medic killed on October 13, 2011, en route to rescue wounded soldiers in Afghanistan.
• Denver firefighter Aaron Lybarger, who worked on Colorado’s cleanup task force at Ground Zero and died of cancer in 2018. His cancer was believed to have been caused by that work.

Keith Procter and Shad Trujillo opened the ceremony by blowing shofars. Kirsten Golding sang the National Anthem, and American Legion Post No. 9 fired a gun salute. Pastor Steve Hicks gave the invocation and, later, the closing prayer. Johnny Griego played Taps, and Rob Marshall played the bagpipes. To close, members of the La Junta Catholic Parish Choir sang “De Colores” while balloons were released. The festivities resumed at 1:30 p.m.