The Colorado Almanac
A rodeo that may be the world's first. A big city that started life as “Fletcher.” Colorado's original open-air market. This is the porch half of Colorado Porch — 502 short, true stories about the places, people, and quirks of the state, each one sourced. No task required. Sit down, pick a thread, wander.
Tonight's shelf
Nine from the collection, spread across Colorado — a different corner of the state in every one.
Eastern Plains
Near Eads, the Sand Creek Massacre site is sacred ground the National Park Service cares for
The Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site in Kiowa County is a place of mourning for the Cheyenne and Arapaho people, and the National Park Service is the agency that protects and explains it.
Read the story ->San Luis Valley
A steam train climbs out of Antonito and over a 10,000-foot pass
The Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad runs a coal-fired narrow-gauge steam train 64 miles from Antonito over Cumbres Pass, on a line so intact it was named a National Historic Landmark.
Read the story ->Western Slope
The ancient sky-watchers of Chimney Rock
The ruins at Chimney Rock were a high-elevation Ancestral Puebloan village tied to the Chaco world, built where two stone spires frame events in the sky.
Read the story ->Mountains
Telluride runs on festivals, and Bluegrass weekend is the heart of it
Telluride's summer calendar is built around festivals, from Bluegrass in Town Park each June to the Film Festival's secret program on Labor Day weekend.
Read the story ->Front Range
Broomfield is both a city and a county at the same time
Broomfield is one of only two places in Colorado that is a combined city and county, formed when the city's land was pulled out of four other counties.
Read the story ->Foothills
Dinosaur Ridge: Walking a Tilted Slab of Deep Time Near Morrison
A walkable ridge near Morrison where the tilted Dakota Hogback lays Jurassic bones and Cretaceous footprints out at eye level.
Read the story ->Eastern Plains
Rocky Ford melons and a fair that has run since 1878
Rocky Ford's cantaloupes and watermelons anchor the Arkansas Valley Fair, the oldest continuous fair in Colorado, whose mid-August Watermelon Day hands out free melons to everyone who comes.
Read the story ->San Luis Valley
Colorado's oldest church still holds Mass in Conejos
Our Lady of Guadalupe in Conejos is counted as Colorado's oldest parish, an adobe church still holding Mass, with a mid-December fiesta and an adobe prayer labyrinth.
Read the story ->Western Slope
The hot spring that gave Pagosa Springs its name
The geothermal spring at the center of Pagosa Springs has drawn people since long before the town existed, and its story includes Ute and earlier Native histories that deserve careful telling.
Read the story ->The quiz
The Colorado Rules Quiz
Real Colorado rules, each with the official source behind the answer. Locals miss more than they expect.
Take a guess ->By region
Explore a corner of Colorado
The Front Range, the high country, the Western Slope, the valley, the plains, and the college towns — each with its towns and stories.
Explore by region ->By place
Start from your town
Open a county or town and the local stories are waiting there, alongside the practical details.
Find your place ->Prefer a plain list? Every rule and guide on the site is on one A–Z page.
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