Autumn Arts Festival Features More than a 100 Artists

Arts, culture and practical tours mark fall in Durango. You’re watching the local news roundup brought to you by TBK Bank and the payroll department. I’m Wendy Graham Settle. More than 100 artists have been selected to display their work for the 28th annual Durango Autumn Arts Fest, scheduled for the weekend of September 17th and 18th. Displays will be open to the public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Second Avenue. Entry to the festival is free. Music, food vendors and a children’s creation station are included among the art displays. To learn more, visit DurangoArts.org. Award winning Cowboy Poets, musicians, actors and a parade will return to Durango during the annual Cowboy Poetry Gathering scheduled for September 29th through October 2nd. Award-winning musician Dave Stamey will open the event on Thursday with two performances at 6 and 8:30 p.m. at the VFW building on Main Avenue. Cowboys and Indians magazine called him the Charlie Russell of Western Music and True West Magazine named him best living Western solo musician four years in a row. Stamey’s been a cowboy, a mule packer and a dude wrangler, work that informs his music. He’s received the Will Rogers Award from the Academy of Western Artists, and in 2016 he was inducted into the Western Music Hall of Fame. Friday’s events include a poetry and train excursion on the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. A trail ride, a Western arts reception at Sorrel Sky Gallery and two evening poetry performances. Also at the VFW. Saturday begins with the traditional Chuckwagon Breakfast at 7:30 a.m. at Main Avenue and Fifth Street in front of the train station. The Poetry Gathering Parade, featuring Grand Marshal Lorraine Taylor, begins at 10:30 a.m. Actor Ellie English will perform as the Miss Kitty character from Gunsmoke at 3 p.m. at the Wild Horse Saloon, followed by another evening of poetry at the VFW. And wrapping up the weekend will be a church service and potluck lunch at the Durango Cowboy Church on Colorado Highway 172. For a complete schedule and lineup of performances, tickets and other information, visit durangocowboygathering.org. And if you don’t have enough to do in September, consider cleaning out your cabinets, garage and shed of all your hazardous household wastes. The city of Durango will host its free hazardous waste collection event on September 23rd and 24th at the La Plata County Fairgrounds. Collections will be from noon to 5 p.m. on Friday and are by appointment only. Friday drop offs are limited to commercial businesses, organizations or larger quantities of residential waste. Saturday collections will be from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and do not require an appointment. Saturday is limited to personal and residential drop offs and relatively smaller quantities of materials. Drop off materials can include ammonia and other harsh cleaning products, automotive fluids, chlorine bleach, corrosive chemicals and acids, drain cleaners, fertilizers, gasoline and diesel fuel. Pesticides and weed killers, lighter fluids and more. To see a sample list of hazardous waste materials and more information about the collection day, visit Durangogov.org. Thanks for watching this edition of the local news roundup. I’m Wendy Graham Settle.

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