Santa Fe Trail Day

Santa Fe Trail Day begins at eight in the morning in the cafeteria of Las Animas High School, with a costume contest open to the town and to the junior and senior high. The parade lines up at nine on Second Street behind the school and steps off at ten. From eleven to one the cafeteria serves ranch burgers. The day closes in the gym, where from two to four there is square dancing, the introduction of the king and queen, and the awards. The school streams the dancing and the awards on its YouTube page.

The day falls on the last Friday in April. The 2026 edition, the 92nd, was held April 24 under the theme “92 Years of Horse Tails and Dirt Trails.” Anyone wishing to enter a float in the parade calls the high school.

A king contest at the bus barn

The royalty contest starts the afternoon before. In 2026 the Santa Fe Trail Day King Contest was held Thursday, April 23, at two o’clock at the school bus barn at Second and Poplar. King and queen interviews followed on Friday at eleven in the high school library. The candidates come from each class. For the 90th annual celebration, which SECO News listed as running April 24 to 26, 2024, the seniors were Cordell Reisch and Alicia Deatherage, the juniors Jesus Aguilar Castro and Espi Marlow, and the sophomores Nathaniel Garcia and Alexis Greenbank, with Izabella Martinez for the freshmen. That year the interviews were held in the high school’s maker space room.

At the 88th Santa Fe Trail Day, sophomore Grace Gardner and senior Kaden Maes were crowned queen and king on Friday afternoon. The La Junta Tribune-Democrat reported that they won the titles through a series of judged events, including traditional dress, axe throwing, and questions on history. Square dancing is also one of the standing clubs at Las Animas High School.

The school’s student handbook names the High School Student Council as sponsor of “the annual Santa Fe Trail Day, the oldest school sponsored community event.” The student coordinator is Teresa Garcia, a lifelong resident of Bent County who runs her family’s ranch and serves as secretary of the Las Animas/Bent County Chamber of Commerce.

Booths on Carson Avenue

While the school holds the cafeteria and the gym, downtown belongs to the Chamber. From nine to four, vendors, booths, games, music, and entertainment line Carson Avenue and Sixth Street, along the parade route. Each booth is one parking space wide. The Chamber shares sponsorship with the City of Las Animas, the Bent County Art Guild, the John W. Rawlings Heritage Center and Museum, and local merchants.

A car show brings out cars, pickups, motorcycles, and tractors, and it is free for entrants and spectators alike. The Chamber’s 2026 vendor packet placed it at Fifth and Carson. The car show’s own notice put it at 510 Carson Avenue, in front of Bag Lady Boutique. The Art Guild holds an art show at the Rawlings museum. Other groups use the day as well. On Santa Fe Trail Day in 2022, the Woman’s Civic Club drew the winners of its “April Showers” raffle. First prize was a strip quilt, and the third, fourth, and fifth prizes were spring baskets donated by Hat & Spur Hardware.

The parade route is part of the town’s routine. The city announced its October 8, 2026, homecoming parade as following “the same as the traditional SFTD Parade route.”

A sheriff’s son and the parade of 1934

The Tribune-Democrat says the day began in 1934 and has long served as a remembrance of the Santa Fe Trail. Accounts of who started it differ. The Bent County Historical Society credits the high school class of Ken Curtis, born Curtis Wain Gates in Lamar. The Welcome to Bent County historical marker, at the steps of the Bent County Courthouse on Carson Avenue, says that Ken Gates himself started the Las Animas Santa Fe Trail Parade in 1934.

Gates spent his first ten years on a ranch on Muddy Creek in eastern Bent County. The family moved to Las Animas in 1926, after his father was elected sheriff. From 1927 to 1931 they lived in the residence below the county jail, and his mother cooked for the prisoners. Gates played quarterback on the football team, played clarinet in the band, and graduated from Bent County High School in 1935.

According to the historical society, the parade was almost canceled in its second year, reportedly because Curtis, dressed as an Indian, wore very little clothing. The society calls the parade the longest continuously running high-school-sponsored event in the country.

Gates later became Ken Curtis, a name Tommy Dorsey suggested. He followed Frank Sinatra as lead vocalist of the Dorsey band and later sang lead for the Sons of the Pioneers. He played Festus Haggen on Gunsmoke. As Curtis told it, he modeled Festus on Cedar Jack, a man from his Las Animas boyhood who lived fifteen miles south of town and cut cedar fence posts for a living. Cedar Jack came to town often and usually ended up drunk in the sheriff’s jail.

The 87th parade, unsanctioned

In April 2021 the county moved from green to orange on the state’s COVID-19 dial, a level the school described as high risk. Las Animas High School canceled the king and queen competition, the parade, the ranch burgers, the square dancing, and all the downtown activities it held with the Chamber. It planned some remote activities and arranged for delivery of the T-shirts. The school district, the Chamber, and the City of Las Animas formally called the event off.

On Friday morning, residents held the 87th annual parade anyway, unsanctioned. SECO News described it as short and noted that 2021 was the bicentennial of the Santa Fe Trail. The Art Guild held its 15th Santa Fe Trail Day Art Show at the Rawlings museum that year, with student work judged and Bill Bunting as featured artist. Visitors were asked to wear masks and keep their distance.

After two years of COVID-related scaling down, the full program returned in 2022. “There were a lot of people who were concerned that Santa Fe Trail Day would never come back,” said Teresa Garcia, the event’s longtime coordinator.