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Editors Note:

The San Luis Valley is a big place. From Creede to San Luis, Saguache to Antonito, and all of the communities in between, there's a lot happening across the Valley every week.

And *The San Luis Valley Beat* has a staff of one.

I'm 74 years old, and while I would love to personally attend every event, visit every community and take an original photograph for every story, that's simply not possible.

Sometimes I have a photograph or flyer provided by an organization or reader. Sometimes there's an appropriate image available from a reliable source. And sometimes there isn't.

That's where AI-generated illustrations come in. I use AI as one of the tools that helps me produce *The Beat*. When an appropriate photograph isn't available, an illustration can help bring attention to a story or event that might otherwise go without an image—or perhaps not receive the attention it deserves.

But here's something I want the community to know: **I would much rather use your photos and event flyers whenever possible.** Since the beginning, I've encouraged readers, businesses, nonprofits, community organizations and event organizers throughout the Valley to send information to *The Beat*.

And recently, more people have begun doing exactly that. I hope that continues. If you have an upcoming event, send me the flyer. If your organization is doing something worth sharing, tell me about it. If you have photographs that I have permission to use with a story, send those too.

You can reach *The San Luis Valley Beat* by:

* **Email**

* **Direct message through our Facebook page**

* **Our online event submission form**

This newsletter was created to help people throughout the San Luis Valley discover what's happening in their communities.

It is free to readers, and community participation makes it better. So rather than simply telling me what I'm missing, **help me tell the Valley about it.**

Send me the story. Send me the flyer. Send me the photo. I'll do my best to help get the word out.

 — **Frank** *Editor, The San Luis Valley Beat*

 🎁 Subscriber Bonus: Your Free San Luis Valley Restaurant Guide

 As a thank-you for being a subscriber to **The San Luis Valley Beat**, we've created a **free San Luis Valley Restaurant Guide** featuring local restaurants from communities across the Valley.

Whether you're searching for your next breakfast stop, a family dinner, a quick lunch, or a place you've never tried before, this guide makes it easy to discover great local dining options.

This is just the beginning. We'll continue updating the guide as new restaurants are added and information changes, so you'll always have access to the latest edition.

Thank you for supporting local businesses and The San Luis Valley Beat!

Good Tuesday morning from the San Luis Valley!

This week we're crossing one of the Valley's most unusual old bridges to check out a brand-new outdoor classroom, celebrating a quarter-million-dollar scholarship investment in Adams State students, and watching the Valley's signature crop finally head for harvest.

We're also taking a history detour down to Garcia in Costilla County, and out to a reconstructed 1807 fort in Conejos County that most people drive right past without knowing it's there.

Let's get into it. 🌄

 Preserving the stories of places time forgot.

 Pike's Stockade: Where the Flag Went Up on Foreign Soil

Most of what we cover in this section is about people leaving a place behind.

Pike's Stockade is about someone arriving somewhere they were never supposed to be.

In January 1807, a young Army lieutenant named Zebulon Montgomery Pike led a small detachment up the Conejos River while exploring the newly acquired Louisiana Territory on orders from President Thomas Jefferson.

What Pike didn't fully grasp — or claimed not to — was that he'd wandered well outside U.S. territory and onto land that Spain considered its own. Rather than turn back, Pike's men built a small fortified log structure at their camp: a rough stockade with a moat, sharpened spikes along the outer wall, and only a narrow foxhole for an entrance. And over it, they raised the American flag.

Spanish soldiers arrived not long after, and Pike and his men were taken into custody — eventually marched south into Mexico before being released and sent home. The whole episode became one of the stranger footnotes of early American westward exploration: an accidental international incident, built out of logs, on the banks of the Conejos.

The stockade that stands today isn't the original — it's a faithful replica built in 1952, based on the detailed descriptions Pike left in his own expedition journals. The site was named a National Historic Landmark in 1961, and for nearly a century it's been maintained by History Colorado, with day-to-day care now handled by the staff at Fort Garland Museum & Cultural Center.

It's easy to drive right past it on the way to Sanford. But for a few tense weeks in the winter of 1807, this quiet bend of the Conejos River was, technically, an international border dispute.

"Sometimes history isn't made by conquest — it's made by getting lost and refusing to admit it."

Source: History Colorado, Colorado Encyclopedia

San Luis Valley Animal Welfare Society

This week's Community Spotlight goes to the San Luis Valley Animal Welfare Society (SLVAWS), an all-volunteer, no-kill animal rescue based in Alamosa.

Founded in 2001 by a small group of people who saw an urgent need, SLVAWS has spent nearly 25 years rescuing homeless and often suffering animals from across one of Colorado's more economically challenged regions, sheltering them, and finding them permanent homes. Every bit of it runs on volunteer time and community donations — there's no paid staff cushioning the workload.

In a rural Valley this size, where resources for animal welfare are stretched thin to begin with, organizations like SLVAWS fill a gap that would otherwise go unaddressed. If you've got a soft spot for a dog or cat that needs one more chance, they're always looking for fosters, adopters, and donations.

🌐 slvaws.org   📍 Serving the San Luis Valley

🗺️ Discover Garcia

The Town That Outlasted a Border

Down near the Colorado–New Mexico line, in the far southern reach of Costilla County, sits Garcia — a community whose history is tangled up with two different countries' worth of politics before it ever became a settled Colorado town.

The site was first settled in 1849, known then as La Plaza de los Manzanares, though an even earlier attempt to establish the settlement in 1842 was driven out by conflict with the Ute people before it could take hold. Resettlement followed, and over time the community took on the name Garcia, after a local family who lived there. A post office opened in 1915, formally connecting the town to the postal system and, by extension, the rest of the country.

What makes Garcia's story unusual is what happened to the ground beneath it. The official Colorado–New Mexico state line wasn't fully settled until a series of surveys between 1868 and 1912 — and when the dust settled, the boundary cut straight through the original Manzanares settlement area, splitting it into two communities on two sides of a state line: Garcia, Colorado, and Costilla, New Mexico.

Garcia never incorporated as a town, and there's a specific reason why. Nearby San Luis — founded around the same era — received an official charter from the Colorado Territorial Government, which is part of why it's remembered as Colorado's oldest continuously occupied town.

Garcia never received that kind of charter from either the Territory or the State, so it has remained unincorporated ever since, even as it kept right on being a real place where people live, farm, and raise families.

Did You Know? Garcia's sister settlement, Costilla, New Mexico, sits just across the state line — a reminder that the border between Colorado and New Mexico wasn't fully drawn until decades after people had already built their lives on both sides of it.

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ALAMOSA — Adams State University students will have additional scholarship support over the next two years thanks to a $262,500 award from the Reisher Scholars Program at The Denver Foundation.

The funding comes as the Reisher Scholars Program celebrates its 25th anniversary and is part of a larger $25 million initiative supporting students at partner colleges and universities throughout Colorado.

For Adams State, the $262,500 will provide scholarships to students during the next two academic years, helping make earning a four-year degree more attainable for students who may otherwise face financial barriers.

Helping Students Finish What They Started

The Reisher Scholars Program takes a somewhat different approach from many traditional scholarship programs. Rather than focusing solely on students entering college for the first time, Reisher scholarships are designed to help Colorado students who have already begun their college education continue toward graduation.

The program serves rising college sophomores as well as students transferring from community colleges into their junior year at participating four-year institutions.

Scholarships can range from $6,000 to $22,000 per year, depending on financial need and other eligibility requirements. Students must be Colorado residents and demonstrate academic ability, leadership potential and financial need.

That focus can be particularly important for students who successfully make it through their first year or two of college but discover that the increasing cost of completing their education has become a significant obstacle.

An Investment in San Luis Valley Students

For Adams State, scholarship programs such as Reisher can have an impact that extends beyond the university campus.

As the San Luis Valley's four-year university, Adams State provides educational opportunities for students from throughout southern Colorado while also attracting students from across the state and beyond. Helping those students remain in school and complete their degrees can ultimately strengthen the Valley's workforce, schools, businesses and communities.

The university is also Colorado's oldest Hispanic-Serving Institution and has long played an important role in providing access to higher education in rural southern Colorado.

The new Reisher funding continues a partnership aimed not simply at getting students into college, but at helping them cross the finish line.

For students balancing tuition, housing, books, transportation and everyday living expenses, scholarship assistance can sometimes make the difference between putting an education on hold and earning a degree.

And with $262,500 headed to Adams State students over the next two academic years, that difference could be felt by a number of students and families throughout the San Luis Valley and Colorado.

💡 Tip of The Day

Potato harvest means heavier truck traffic on Valley farm roads and highways through September — give farm equipment and loaded trucks extra room and patience, especially around Center, Monte Vista, and Hooper.

San Luis Valley Green Chile Potato Skillet

With the new potato crop just weeks away, there's no better time for a simple, hearty skillet that puts Valley potatoes front and center alongside roasted green chile and melty cheese. It's a great weeknight dinner or a hearty breakfast side.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 lbs Valley potatoes, diced small (skin on)
• 3 tbsp olive oil or bacon fat
• 1 small yellow onion, diced
• 1 cup roasted green chile, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1 cup shredded cheddar or Colby jack cheese
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Chopped green onion and sour cream, for serving
  
  

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Heat oil or bacon fat in a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add potatoes in a single layer and cook, stirring occasionally, for 12–15 minutes until golden and fork-tender.
2. Add the onion and cook another 4–5 minutes until softened.
3. Stir in the green chile, garlic, smoked paprika, and cumin. Cook 2 more minutes until fragrant.
4. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle cheese evenly over the top, cover, and let melt for 2–3 minutes.
5. Top with chopped green onion and a dollop of sour cream. Serve straight from the skillet.
   
   

Makes 4 servings.

🥕 Fresh From the Valley: Farmers Market Roundup

August is prime farmers market season in the San Luis Valley, with fresh produce, baked goods, handmade items and locally grown foods showing up around the Valley each week. Here’s an updated look at where to shop local.

🌻 Wednesday

Mercadillo en el Río — Alamosa
3:00–7:00 PM
Rio Grande Farm Park
Seasonal Wednesday market running through the summer.

Del Norte Farmers Market / Mercado del Norte — Del Norte
Wednesday market dates are held during the summer season. Because dates and hours can vary, shoppers should check the market’s current schedule before making a special trip.

🌽 Friday

Creede Farmers Market — Creede
8:00 AM–2:00 PM
East 1st Street
Season continues through approximately mid-September.

Monte Vista Farmers Market — Monte Vista
9:00 AM–1:00 PM
1st & Jefferson
July 17 through September 25

Market at South Fork — South Fork
9:00 AM–1:00 PM
South Fork Visitor Center, 28 Silver Thread Lane
Season continues through September 5.

🥔 Saturday

Alamosa Farmers Market — Alamosa
8:00 AM–1:30 PM
Ross Avenue & 6th Street
Season continues through October 10.

Market at South Fork — South Fork
9:00 AM–1:00 PM
South Fork Visitor Center
Season continues through September 5.

Blanca Farmers Market — Blanca
Saturday & Sunday • Traditionally 9:00 AM–3:00 PM
Highway 160 & Broadway
Listed as operating through approximately mid-October. Readers may want to confirm current hours before traveling.

San Luis Farmers Market — San Luis
Saturday • Main Street
A seasonal market is listed for San Luis, but current hours should be confirmed locally before making a special trip.

Market schedules, vendors and product availability can change due to weather, harvest conditions and other circumstances. Readers may want to confirm hours before making a special trip.

💡 ANSWER TO TRIVIA QUESTION:

Pike's Stockade! Built by Zebulon Pike's men in January 1807 on the banks of the Conejos River, the reconstructed fort marks one of the earliest — and most awkward — American flag-raisings on Spanish-claimed soil.