Current Edition

By Sam Goering, Crestone Performances Inc Strains of Woody Guthrie could be heard emanating from the Elephant Cloud Station as local musicians gathered in tribute to the famed folk singer’s lyrical messages.  The Woody Guthrie tribute and fundraising show, Nov. 15, featured amazing performances from youth poets and local musicians who came together to play some of Woody's best-known songs in front of a packed room.  The event raised more than $1,700 for Crestone Performances, Inc., the non-profit that organizes the Crestone Music Festival and the annual Youth Grant program that purchases musical instruments and lessons for local youth. There were so...

By Kaitlyn Fletcher, SLVEC The San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council (SLVEC) was tapped to participate in the initial infrastructure of an expansive air quality monitoring network. SLVEC now seeks a compensated crew of multiple Community Navigators and Recruiters from across all six valley counties as part of the intervention initiative, under the Mountain West Hub. These positions will be the boots on the ground for recruitment and data collection for this initiative over the next three years.  The Mountain West Hub, based at the Colorado School of Public Health, is “a collaborative partnership to promote strong and healthy rural and urban...

By Lisa Cyriacks Water users can expect to pay increased rates in 2026 with the approval of a rate increase.  The 2026 budget adopted by the Baca Grande Water and Sewer District (BGWSD) Board of Directors increases monthly rates for water and sewer and water consumption. New rates will take effect on Jan. 1.  Base rates for residential users will increase as follows: water will rise 5% (from $48.13 to $50.54) and sewer will rise 10% (from $40.73 to $44.80), for a new combined monthly base rate of $95.34. The Town of Crestone, under the 2025 intergovernmental agreement (IGA), will also pay an...

By Lisa Cyriacks New fees, short-term rental requirements and subdivision rules are coming to Saguache County. Saguache County Commissioners voted 2–1 to adopt an updated Land Use Development Code. The new code has raised concerns among citizens and led to one commissioner dissenting.  The adoption followed a public hearing on Nov. 17, ending with the commissioners voting to adopt the changes, as published on the website with only minor exceptions. Commissioner Lynne Thompson cast the sole dissenting vote.  When Commissioner Liza Marron asked her to explain her position, Thompson responded, “Because I did not agree with more than I disagreed with in the...

By Matt Lit Transportation in the San Luis Valley will see a major change coming in November. Mountain Valley Transit (MVT) announced it will be switching from a "route-based" system to an "on demand" system on Nov. 3. And there will be no change to the cost. All rides are free. The Salida-based transit company (formerly The Chaffee Shuttle) has been operating for almost 30 years starting in the Chaffee County and Salida areas. The company—a rural transit non-profit—began operating routes in the San Luis Valley about seven years ago with a Saguache to Alamosa route. It began adding additional routes including...

By Kaitlyn Fletcher The Trump Administration intends to repeal the Public Lands Rule that elevated conservation as an equal priority alongside other uses, such as grazing and drilling, on public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Eliminating the rule will roll back protection and restoration on millions of acres of public lands. As the nation's largest land management agency, the bureau stewards 245 million acres of public lands across 13 states in the American West. Commonly known as the Public Lands Rule, the Conservation and Landscape Health legislation was a historic milestone that modernized the bureau's management framework to...

By Tricia Toney After an extended downpour and hail in downtown Crestone, as a rainbow formed over the peaks, about 40 people gathered under tents, with others viewing via livestream to hear about something brighter: the future of the San Luis Valley economy. A panel of local leaders, brought together by Ameille Warner, Executive Director of Saguache County Sustainable Environment and Economic Development (ScSEED), took on a broad range of topics shaping that future, including: public transit, tourism and housing. The panel included: • Ame Warner – Executive Director, ScSEED; Owner, Dandelion Creative Services; Marketing Consultant, Saguache County Tourism Council; Saguache Town...

By Lori Nagel For the last eight of her 15 years in the industry, Phylesha Mirelez, aka Phlea, has been offering a variety of salon services to the Crestone community, catering to each client based on their individual hair styling needs. “I do everybody in the family's haircut and I also do hair color,” she explained. “I do braids and extensions and most everyone knows me for my loctician work—dreadlocks.” Touting that valuable service for Crestone, Mirelez helps people start new dreads, perform maintenance on existing ones, will thoroughly wash them, or comb them out for people who want to restore their...