The Ute Mountain Roundup returned to Cortez for its 96th year bringing thousands of visitors and top PRCA cowboys and cowgirls to the Montezuma County Fairgrounds. From the board members who organize the event year round to the stock contractor who drives twelve hours from Wyoming to bring the animals, this is a look at what it takes to put on one of the biggest events in Montezuma County.

By Sadie Smith

Watch this story at LNN.news

This story is sponsored by Keesee Motor Company and Hospice of Montezuma

Durango has a packed week ahead with the True Western Roundup Rodeo at the La Plata County Fairgrounds, the Durango Youth Theater's production of Peter Pan and Treasure Island at the Durango Arts Center, and the Durango Botanic Gardens' 13th Annual Gardens on Tour.

By Sadie Smith

Watch this story at LNN.news

This story is sponsored by the Payroll Department and Kroegers Ace Hardware.

Colorado was shaped by the people who fed it. In this documentary, Scott Perez traces the agricultural history of the region from its earliest roots — from the orchards that sprang up near Hermosa Creek in the 1870s to serve hungry miners, to the ditch irrigation systems first developed by indigenous communities and later adapted by American settlers, to the narrow gauge railroads that opened new markets and transformed farming across the valleys. Drawing on diaries, oral histories, and a lifetime of working the land himself, Scott paints a vivid portrait of how agriculture has always been both a livelihood and a lifeline in Southwest Colorado — and why the small farms still taking root here today carry that legacy forward.

The Power of Place Magazine is a special initiative of the Colorado 150 Southwest organizing committee, featuring 20 articles by professional historians and local writers exploring Southwest Colorado's rich and complex heritage.

By Scott Perez

This story is sponsored by Alpine Bank, Sky Ute Casino and Strater Hotel

Watch the full series, Voices of the Past: Southwest Colorado.