Events in Durango, CO

This lunch and learn at Shiloh’s Steak House highlights why many energy workers choose CNS Cares. Attendees can hear about support from experienced local nurses and caregivers, personalized care plans that align with individual health goals, guidance to navigate and make the most of EEOICPA benefits, and enhanced options for family caregivers. RSVP is available by calling 970-892-1478. The focus is on the difference that attentive, dependable care can make.

Presented by The Cookout, this community-centered harvest celebration spotlights music, makers, and culture while creating space for artists of color and Indigenous performers to share their voices. The lineup includes Tha Yoties, Levi Platero, Blessing Chimanga, The Boomroots Collective, Street Blues Family, Innastate, Def-i, DJ Nigey, DJ Beèso, and others. Alongside the performances, a curated makers market, local food and beer, and family-friendly activities invite children, organizers, first responders, and service workers to gather, celebrate, and be heard. Rooted in honoring the harvest, resilience, and the connections that hold communities together, the festival enters its fourth year as a living celebration in Mancos. Set times and ticket details will be announced, with an after party planned at the Cantina. Car show sign-up information is coming soon, and sponsorship details will be shared shortly.

Play sand volleyball in a sober setting at Santa Rita Park. This event offers a simple, substance-free way to enjoy the game on the sand.

Tooth & Gill Mushroom Co. brings locally cultivated culinary mushrooms to the Bayfield Farmers Market. Browse a fresh selection grown in the Four Corners area and pick up ingredients for your next meal. Find their booth at the market and take home mushrooms ready for cooking.

The SWCO Walk to End Alzheimer’s brings the Durango and surrounding community together for a team-based walk centered on camaraderie and fun. Participants are encouraged to form teams with friends, family, or coworkers and take part in a lively, welcoming atmosphere. It offers a positive way for the community to come together around the Walk to End Alzheimer’s.

The Center of Southwest Studies will host a presentation and documentary screening in the CSWS Lyceum, Room 120, spotlighting the Cedar Mesa Perishables Project. Since 2011, this collaborative effort has worked with Pueblo fiber artists to document around 4,000 ancient textiles, basketry, wooden implements, and other organic cultural items recovered from dry caves in the greater Cedar Mesa region of southeastern Utah. Anthropologist, textile consultant, and project director Dr. Laurie Webster, together with Zuni fiber artist and project team member Christopher Lewis, a member of the Badger Clan and a child of the Corn Clan, will share the story of this partnership and how it has advanced archaeological understanding of ancestral Pueblo perishable technologies while supporting the preservation and renewal of Pueblo fiber arts. The program also features a screening of Languages of the Landscape: The Cedar Mesa Perishables Project, a 30-minute documentary produced by Cloudy Ridge Productions. This event is free and open to all, and it is presented as part of the Southwest Colorado Humanities Roundtable History Live!

Kick off the 2026 Durango Open Studio Tour at the Opening Art Exhibition, where you can get an early look at works from the artists taking part. Explore paintings, sculpture, ceramics, jewelry, photography, glass, and mixed media, then choose which studios to visit during the free, self-guided tour weekend. About 25 working studios around Durango welcome the public to see demonstrations, learn about creative methods, and buy original pieces straight from local artists while discovering neighborhoods and creative spaces that might be new to you. There is no charge to attend.

Gather at Rubia's Fine Mexican Dining for a Sip & Support event that raises funds for Four Corners Wolf Dog Rescue Sanctuary. Mingle with other community members, enjoy a welcoming setting, and contribute to a local cause. Admission is $10 per person and can be paid at the door. The Aztec Chamber of Commerce hosts the event.

The MAVWA fiber festival takes place at the La Plata County Fairgrounds and Event Center in Durango, Colorado. The festival spans two days over a weekend, with setup scheduled the day before.

At La Plata County Fairgrounds and Event Center, a juried selection of vendors showcases all-natural fiber work, from raw fleeces and fiber to textiles, yarn, tools, supplies, and finished pieces, with every item handmade. Admission is free. The setting is family friendly with activities for children. Visitors can see sheep, alpacas, llamas, and yaks, watch sheep shearing, and explore contests, workshops, and free demonstrations. Food and music add to the experience.

The 34th Annual Toy Run Before Christmas brings the community together to brighten the holidays for local children and families. Hosted by The ASH Foundation and sponsored by Rider Justice, this family-friendly ride welcomes everyone, whether arriving on a motorcycle or in a car. The route departs from Durango Harley-Davidson with a police escort and heads to Bar D Chuckwagon Ranch. At the destination, participants can enjoy a chili lunch, a silent auction, prize drawings, a bar, a DJ, and photos with Santa, along with additional festivities. Entry is $15 or a new toy valued at $15 or more. Every contribution helps The ASH Foundation support organizations throughout the Four Corners region, including Marine Toys for Tots Foundation, Boys and Girls Club of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, Big Brothers Big Sisters of SW Colorado, Mercy Health Foundation Pediatric Oncology Unit, Women’s Resource Center of Durango, and Volunteers of America Durango. For more than three decades, this tradition has centered on neighbors lending a hand so families feel supported during the holiday season.

Enjoy a live performance by Ron Lowe and the Rock'n Rebel's Band.

Gritty Velvet performs at the well known Wild Horse Saloon in Durango, Colorado. The night is set for a party vibe with energetic music and plenty of dancing.

Experience a two-day, hands-on sewing and serging workshop focused on Shannon Fabrics Cuddle® and the BERNINA L8 Series Serger, led by Cuddle® Ambassador and experienced sewist Sheila Ryan. Whether new to serging or already comfortable at the machine, participants can strengthen skills and pick up practical techniques while creating cozy, finished projects. On the first day, the session covers the essentials of working with Cuddle® fabric, including handling, cutting, and serging, along with an introduction to the BERNINA L8 Series Serger and how different fabric qualities compare. The learning culminates in a beginner-friendly Cuddle® infinity scarf that can be worn home. The second day builds on those fundamentals with two take-home projects. Participants make a soft lap throw and a coordinating pillow with an envelope closure that includes a Shannon Fabrics–branded pillow form. These projects reinforce earlier skills, introduce new methods, and produce pieces that are ready to enjoy or gift. The store number is 970-247-1085.

Enjoy a live set from Dustin Burley, blending improvisation with rock, blues, and folk. He thrives when the moment takes over, pouring honest, unguarded feeling into every jam and song. His playing moves with a liquid ease, each note flowing into the next to pull listeners into the intimate soundscape that is uniquely his.

Experience live music from High Altitude Blues Band.

Members of the Herstory Printmaking Collective present an artist talk in the CSWS Lyceum, Room 120, highlighting their collaborative practice of creating portrait murals that honor women who have shaped how we understand the world. Based in Albuquerque, the group works with an approachable relief printmaking process to produce bold newsprint images for wheat pasting, and has shared this work through workshops, live demonstrations, and installations around the Southwest at places such as the Santa Fe Railyard, the Beehive Building in Mancos, the University of New Mexico’s Masley Art Gallery, the Southwest Printmaking Fiesta in Silver City, and the mobile Axle Contemporary Gallery. The talk introduces the idea of herstory, a feminist perspective on history that centers women’s experiences. Admission is free and open to all. The Center of Southwest Studies is also partnering with the collective on a printmaking workshop for Fort Lewis College Art & Design students inspired by women represented in the Center’s archives and museum collections, with resulting portraits to be installed for an ongoing exhibition celebrating women of the Southwest.

Ben Gibson brings years of stage experience to a set of guitar-first rock, blending the roots of classic bands like Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Tom Petty, and Jimi Hendrix with contemporary tones and effects. The music ranges from airy, open soundscapes to big, soulful rockers, moving between acoustic and electric textures. His expressive vocals and deep connection to the songs drive every moment, and his background performing solo, as a duo, and with a trio comes through in the range and dynamics on stage.

This annual Halloween party features specials on food and beverages, plus pumpkin carving and costume competitions. Music is planned, with the band to be announced.

This in-person, year-long course and community with teachers Yong Oh and Kate Siber brings together two core Buddhist pathways, the four foundations of mindfulness and the brahma-viharas, to support steady practice and everyday integration. Participants progress through mindfulness of the body, feelings, mind and phenomena while cultivating loving-kindness, compassion, appreciative joy and equanimity. The curriculum also touches on classical teachings such as the five hindrances, the five aggregates, the six sense bases, the seven factors of awakening and the four noble truths, with an emphasis on living these insights in the midst of real life. The group is limited to 25 participants to foster connection and mutual support. Each month includes two gatherings, one focused on dharma reflections, guided meditation, discussion and questions, and another centered on quiet practice, integration and community connection. Several meetings are peer-led with guidance from the teachers, and the program begins and concludes with a retreat. There is no online or recorded option, and all practice takes place together in the moment. Primary study resources include Bhikkhu Analayo’s Satipatthana Meditation: A Practice Guide and Christina Feldman’s Boundless Heart, along with the Satipatthana Sutta and additional readings. The program follows a gift-economy approach. Registration operates on a sliding scale of $385, $559, $733, $907 or $1,079 to support organizational costs, scholarships are readily available, and no one is turned away for lack of funds. In the spirit of dana, participants may offer a donation to the teachers at the end of the course in any amount. The course is held at the Durango Dharma Center.

State of Aztec Breakfast is shifting to a twice yearly format, with the second edition planned at the Aztec Senior Community Center. It begins with a Coffee Hour and continues with the program. Ticket details will be announced, with additional information to follow.

Enjoy live music from Vallecito favorites Reeder and Spencer.

At CSWS Lyceum, Room 120, Tewa filmmaker Charine Pilar Gonzales leads a program of storytelling and film. A Fort Lewis College alum and a featured artist in the Center of Southwest Studies exhibition Constellations of Place, she discusses her creative path and a community based filmmaking practice that weaves memories, dreams, and truths into vivid narratives. Two short films will be shown. River Bank (Po-Kehgeh) is the first narrative fiction film approved by San Ildefonso Pueblo to be filmed on Tribal lands since the 1980s and follows an Indigenous story structure inspired by traditional Tewa stories. This Land Carries Us reflects on Tewa people and land and was produced for the exhibition Tewa Nangeh or Tewa Country at the Georgia O'Keefe Museum. Gonzales is a 2024 Sundance Institute Native Lab Fellow for the episodic project NDN Time. Her documentary Our Quiyo: Maria Martinez premiered at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and was acquired by AT&T, Comcast Xfinity, Millicent Rogers Museum, and The Heard Museum. River Bank earned the Achievement in Short Filmmaking Award at the 2023 LA SKINS FEST. She produces for Native Lens, leads Povi Studios, is represented by Rain Management Group, and is pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing at the Institute of American Indian Arts. Her short Mesa Memory in Constellations of Place is supported by the Belonging Colorado initiative of The Denver Foundation and the Greater Good Science Center, in partnership with the America 250 Colorado 150 Southwest regional Power of Place initiative. This event is free and open to all and is part of the Four Corners Water Center annual Water Week series of lectures and presentations.

Enjoy a live performance by the Pete Giuliani Band.

Experience live music performed by Nathan Mark.

An annual holiday tradition returns to Vallecito with a weekend of festive activities. The celebration begins Friday evening with the Festival of Trees Home Tour at the north end of the lake, followed by a poker run and an ugly sweater contest. Live music is planned, with details to be announced. On Sunday, the Upper Pine River Fire Protection District will bring Santa and his elf to the kids Christmas party, featuring crafts and photo opportunities with Santa and the fire truck.