I was invited to tag along with Janice and Janice today, to the
"The Dolores River Festival is a community celebration of the Dolores River and the many ways it connects us to each other, to the environment and its resources."
The town of Dolores is confined to a narrow valley bottom, along the Dolores River, near the point where the river turns from flowing southward out of the San Juan Mountains.
This is a one-day festival that is open from 10am to sundown. It is geared towards family activities with a special children's area. The festival is dog friendly and there were many dogs, large and small, all leashed and well behaved.
The festival had planned free river rafting, but the water was too shallow for rafts, although kayaking and tubing were allowed.
There was free music on stage all day , a costumed river parade, and typical festival food booths.
We staked out a spot on the grass with our blankets and chairs and then walked around all of the booths and picked up a free water bottle, free notepads, brochures, flower seeds, etc. from various organizations. There were some nice displays of handcrafted jewelry and other arts and crafts for sale. We played a few ring toss games to win small trinkets and water bottles. I bought raffle tickets for a quilt and for a mountain bike. The bike will not be raffled off until August 11th (my daughters birthday).
We had to take a walk down to the shore of the river, to walk in the cold water and cool off. It was a hot, sunny day and we were happy when the clouds blocked the sun for awhile. We had set up a small beach umbrella, but we really needed a sun shade like many of the other people had set up.
We left the festival around 5:30 and stopped at the Dolores River Brewery for pizza and salad. On the way back "home" we just had to stop at the Dairy Queen in Cortez, CO for an ice cream cone, as a finale to a great day.
