This is a big year for our community, state and nation, and numerous celebratory events are already being announced, with more sure to follow. We’re already enjoying the look back at history as history continues to be set.
Colorado will be celebrating the sesquisemiquincentennial — a fancy term for the dual anniversaries of Colorado and the United States of America.
As History Colorado explains it, “In 2026, the United States will mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence—our nation’s semiquincentennial. At the same time, Colorado will mark the 150th anniversary of our entrance into the Union—our state’s sesquicentennial. As the Centennial State, Colorado is the only one who will observe twin anniversaries—our Sesquisemiquincentennial.”
Beyond that, Pagosa Springs is turning 135 this year and the county is turning 141.
The original petition to incorporate Pagosa Springs was signed by 36 men 1891, with that followed by an election where 38 votes were cast — 26 in favor and 12 against.
The first town election was held on April 7, 1891, and John L. Dowell became the town’s first mayor. The town board held its first meeting on April 20, 1891.
Archuleta County was carved out from Conejos County in 1885. The bill to create Archuleta County was introduced in February 1885, with officials meeting to organize the new county in May of that year and the first elected officials taking office in 1886.
This year will also be the 75th Archuleta County Fair, celebrating, in part, our county’s agricultural past and present.
Be sure to keep an eye on The SUN, The PREVIEW and www.PagosaSUN.com to find out about all the events planned.
We welcome the opportunities to reflect upon where we came from and the progress we’ve made (or haven’t made) since our town, county, state and nation were founded.
We’re also excited about some of the history currently being set.
Our nation is seeking to set history this week and next with the Artemis II space trip, which was slated to blast off late Wednesday afternoon.
If successful, the flight will mean returning to the moon and sending humans farther into space than we’ve ever been before, among other records. The 10-day mission is set to be the first crewed flight to orbit the moon since 1972 — the days of Apollo — and could pave the way for the planned moon landing in 2028.
Colorado is also playing a role in the launch, with Colorado aerospace companies taking part in the design and engineering of the spacecraft and a launch vehicle that will help humans venture farther than ever before.
Like the myriad personnel who are working on the Artemis II launch and flight will reflect upon each detail to see what worked and what doesn’t with the current flight to make future flights successful, we hope the lessons we’ve learned over time are apparent in how we’re moving forward today and will continue to into the future.
If not, we hope we can all work together to correct course and head into the future as a community, state and nation we can be proud of.
Randi Pierce
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