Do You Have Stories about Old Commercial Buildings?

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  Do you have stories about the Retro Inn? What about the Aneth Lodge? They’re two of 17 properties under consideration for historic designation. You’re watching the Local News Round Up brought to you by FastSigns and Big O Tires. I’m Wendy Graham-Settle. The City of Cortez will survey 17 existing motels, restaurants and gas stations to inventory post World War II, auto and tourism properties for inclusion on the city’s Register of Historic Sites. The post World War II Baby Boom brought families to visit places like Mesa Verde National Park, and new motels, gas stations and restaurants popped up to serve tourists in Cortez. The city received a History Colorado Grant to conduct the inventory. The Cortez Preservation Board seeks old photos and personal stories about the properties in the inventory, including Burger Boy, the Ute Cafe, the Retro Inn and more. City has received 11 grants in 11 years to inventory historic properties within the original town site of Cortez. The inventories have identified 119 historic properties, 47 of which have been listed on the Cortez Register of Historic Sites, Structures and Districts by their owners. To learn more, visit cityofcortez.com/408/historicstructuresandpreservation. Time to clean out the garage and clean up your yards and gardens for the winter. The City of Cortez fall cleanup week will run Monday through Friday, September 26th through the 30th. Items will be picked up on your trash day. Here are a few dos and don’ts for cleanup day. Put your trash at the curb. Place all your household trash in the trash container. Put loose items in a container, bag it, box it and tie it up. Yard waste must be bagged and branches must be cut in four foot lengths and tied in bundles. The city will not pick up tires, electronics, unbagged yard waste, or appliances. Mattresses will be picked up for a $17 per mattress fee. Visit cityofcortez.com for a complete list of dos and don’ts. Chimney Rock National Monument will celebrate its 10th anniversary with a free day of activities on Saturday, September 24th. The monument was designated by presidential decree on September 21st, 2012, making it the seventh national monument managed by the US Forest Service. The monument encompasses seven square miles containing 200 ancestral Pueblo and residential and ceremonial structures, including a Chocoan great kiva beneath the twin towers of the chimney rock edifice. At 7,000 feet elevation, it’s the highest of the Chocoan outliers associated with the Choco Canyon settlement in New Mexico, occupied in the 11th and early 12th centuries. The monument will be closed to the public for tribal exclusive use and Dignitary Day on Friday September 23rd. Public celebrations follow on Saturday starting at 9:00 AM with free entry and shuttles to the upper mesa throughout the day. Cultural and natural resource demonstrations and activities are scheduled along with a special appearance from 10:00 AM to noon by Dooley, a Peregrine Falcon and his handler from the St. Francis Sanctuary and Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. One of seven Pueblo Indian dancing groups will perform on the hour, starting at 9:00 AM. Food and tribal artisan vendors will be on site and water will be for sale. The monument does not have a potable water source, so prepare accordingly. The Chimney Rock entrance is located off of Colorado Highway 151 south of US highway 160. To learn more about the 10th anniversary celebration and the schedule of events, visit fs.USDA.gov/sanjuan. To learn more about Chimney Rock and the activities available throughout its open season, go to chimneyrockco.org. The monument closes for the winter on September 30th. Purgatory Resort has announced that it will open for the 2022-23 season on Saturday, November 19th. Thanks to a one and a quarter million dollars in upgrades to its snow making equipment and operations. Purgatory will expand snow making coverage for the 2022-23 ski season to include Lower Paradise to the midway loading station on the Needles Triple Lift, also known as Lift Six. The upgrades also will improve snow production capacity through a rebuild of the water pumping and air compression plant with automated, low energy, and cutting edge snow making equipment. Snow making operations are expected to begin in mid-October as conditions allow. To learn more, visit skipurg.com. Thanks for watching this edition of the Local News Roundup. I’m Wendy Graham-Settle.

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