Independence Day celebrations brought bustling activity to Cortez with entertainment for people of all ages. Parque de Vida and Centennial Park attracted folks from the Four Corners states starting early in the day as visitors secured viewing spots.
Families set up pop-up tents and lawn chairs to relax in the parks ahead of the scheduled events. Children played and friends chatted as they enjoyed the sunshine and warm weather.
At 4 p.m. Thursday, dozens of people gathered in Centennial Park and Parque de Vida for the Independence Day Car Show.
Alan Sabo, a Vietnam veteran and retired air traffic controller who moved to Durango 15 years ago showed off his white 2000 Corvette C7Z5, complete with American flags.
Alongside Sabo was Treyson Steed, a Cortez local who was taking his 2017 Dodge Challenger to his first car show.
“It drives,” Steed said when asked about the car.
The Durango Motor Sports Club was out in full force. One member, Tim McCullough, demonstrated the science of modifying his tricked-out 1996 Honda Accord’s software on a laptop.
All the festivities were accompanied by the constant refrain of an ice cream truck’s music as it circled the park.
Carrie Hrvatin and Sascha Steinberg, members of Squirrel Congress, a nonprofit that hosts a ghost tour and immersive Popsicle experience in Cortez, wheeled a mobile Popsicle cooler through the grass pedaling their ghost-pops, made with locally grown fruit.
Squirrel Congress exists to highlight the town’s rich history. They are also planning bringing their ghost tour and immersive popsicle experience to the Hot Air Balloon Rendezvous in August. They will sell popsicles at the Cortez Farmer’s Market August 3.
“Balloons and ghosts just float so well together,” said Hrvatin.
Many of the groups lounging on the grass had signs on coolers and tables advertising homemade food and cold drinks.
Brian Willie, a father from Grand Junction comes to Cortez on Independence Day to visit family. While they are here, Willie and his family sell food and light-up toys that they buy in bulk to help raise funds for his twin sons, who are athletes at Central High School.
Flashback, a Mancos- and Cortez-based rock band, took the stage in Centennial Park at 7 p.m. They were a crowd-pleaser yet again, performing as people watched, danced along, and milled about the park.
The fireworks show, put on by the Cortez Fire Protection District, started at 9:20 p.m. The night sky lit up with green, purple, orange, and of course red, white and blue as the crowd oohed and awed. Children and adults alike took delight in watching the colors fill the air.
Crowd members cheered and whistled for the fireworks when an especially bright and long sequence went off. The gasoline mines were a crowd favorite, earning shouts and cheers with each one.
Some children played on the playground at Centennial Park during the show, while others milled about carrying glow sticks and light up sabers. Families speckled the park, sitting on picnic blankets, in lawn chairs, and under pop-up tents.
The fireworks show came to an abrupt end when shots were fired near the skatepark on the south side of Parque de Vida. No one was injured, but “multiple shots were fired into the air,” according to a Crimewatch.net alert by the Cortez Police Department.
“We regret the abrupt cancellation of last night's 4th of July fireworks display,” Kelly Codner, public information officer for the city and the Cortez Police Department, said in an email Friday morning. “The decision was a unified response by the Cortez Police Department and the Cortez Fire Protection District for the safety and well-being of all residents and visitors.”
Police are still investigating the incident, and as of 10:47 p.m. on Thursday, they did not believe there was a threat to the community, according to the Crimewatch.net alert.
Corrections were made Friday morning to the spellings of Hrvatin’s and Steinberg’s names, as well as their plans for the Hot Air Balloon Rendezvous in August.
