Winterfest

When I first moved here I was told that if you don't play in the snow, you'll hate the snow. And Pagosa Springs is a town that loves to play in the snow. Every winter, they play host to Winterfest. A celebration of Winter and all the fun things we do in the snow. In this video, we cover four events.

Pagosa Nordic Club BB Biathlon

This race at Yamaguchi Park features a 16k competitive race and a 4k fun race. Contestants ski laps on a groomed track around our local park and stop every four laps for the 16k race and every lap for the 4k race and shoot a Red Ryder BB gun at targets.

Penguin Plunge

Participants raise money for local charities by plunging themselves into the freezing cold waters of the San Juan River. After completing the plunge, participants receive a free Healing Waters pass to warm up their bodies!

Sledz on Rez

Build it. Ride it. Wreck it. Kids from town build their own sleds to ride down Rez Hill. What often ends up happening is spectacular crashes that leave the audience hooting and hollering! Sponsored by Build Pagosa. Build Pagosa is a charitable organization dedicated to providing volunteer opportunities for the building trades industry, local businesses, and Pagosa Springs residents who want to support the educational, vocational, communication, economic and stabilization goals within the community. Through advocacy, collaboration, and networking, we work to build a better Pagosa Springs by involving members of our community in efforts that support smart, safe and sustainable growth.

Skijor Pagosa

Skijor Pagosa is an adventure competition where horse and rider pull a skier as fast as possible through an obstacle course of jumps, gates and rings. Skijoring combines Pagosa Country's finest skiing heritage with its cowboy roots creating a fast and curious spectator's event. Participants compete for cash and prizes based on the fastest times. More excitingly, our Skis and Saddles Event will be a great reason to get outside and enjoy southern Colorado's best kept secret while hanging out with great friends and family.

Colorfest 2022

On Sunday Morning, hot air balloons ascend from the Uptown Area along the Pagosa Springs golf course and throughout many of the surrounding neighborhoods and condo's near City Market. This year, we decided to film a timelapse of the event. Which gives a unique view of the nearly 20 balloons that participate.

Colorfest 2021

Colorfest is a festival held each autumn in Pagosa Springs, CO. On Saturday morning, over 40 balloons launch from the downtown area with many balloons dipping their nets into the San Juan River. On Saturday afternoon, a Bands & Brews festival kicks off with many small breweries from Colorado and New Mexico competing for the crowd favorite. The afternoon ends when dusk arrives and the balloons fire back up for the night glow!

Whitewater & Cocktails

It’s that time of year...Spring!

The sun is out. Well, it’s always out in Pagosa Springs. But the aspens are blooming and the snow in the high country is melting. It could also be considered the beginning of festival season. And every year in May an event called “Pagosa Paddle” is held on the San Juan River.

It’s put on by Tim Brink, a local school psychologist and also the founder of the Colorado-Oregon Rafting Team. The mission is simple. Have a good time racing through whitewater while generating community support for river activities in the area and the cORT rafting team.

The Most Epic Whitewater Event

It also happens to have quite the motto…“The Most Epic Whitewater Event in Colorado.” But what makes it epic?

“It’s epic because you can sit in the hot springs and have a cocktail and watch everybody race and we’re the only type of whitewater event that has that type of a namesake” says Tim Brink. “Every other event I’ve done we’re hiking out in the boondocks and the weather might be nasty but this is just a great spectator venue. We have bike paths along both sides of the river and the hot springs is right there and it’s world famous. And geez, it’s nice to sit in a hot tub, watch people race and have a cocktail.”

Upon arriving to the event, locals were out in full force helping the event get underway. Many worked in the local school district. The kind of individuals that have a passion for education but also the active mountain lifestyle. Which means they are not only volunteers but also competitors.

It wasn’t long until various teams of families, local businesses businesses and even professional rafting teams like the USA Women’s Team, launched into the San Juan River and navigated the gates and rapids. And each competitor was just as encouraging to those they were racing against.

Rafts. Kayaks. Inflatable Kayaks. Stand Up Paddleboards.

Crowds quickly filled in along the river walk to watch the action with the best seats in the house being across the river at the The Springs Resort and Spa, cocktails in hand.

Paddleboarding

The head-to-head action was fast and intense. But the crowd favorite was a gigantic stand up paddle board that fit six adults. As it went through the wave “mother chucker”, the crowd cheered, laughed and hollered as somehow none of the riders fell into the water. For round two, they put the SUP board on top of a raft but weren’t quite as lucky getting through the first wave with one rider falling off.

At the end of the day, the participants reminisced the days events as they watched the highlights on the big screen at the after party.

“I want them to walk away with what we did the first year and that’s they had a hell of a lot of fun and it’s something they want to do again. And it’s just a good time to have fun with no consequences and to meet people and just have a good fond memory of the river in Pagosa Springs,” said Tim.

With over double the number of participants from the previous year, I think that’s exactly what happened.