The Saguache County Museum will be hosting a series of free programs on Sunday afternoons.  Our guest speakers come from a variety of backgrounds and will talk on a variety of topics.  The programs begin at 1:30pm.  Refreshments are served.  Donations are appreciated.

We invite you to attend the following programs:

June 5th - Jay Young will speak about the History and Future of Colorado Gators.  Jay will bring a small alligator with him.  Even kids will enjoy Jay’s presentation.

June 12th – Mike Rosso, Owner, Publisher and Editor of Colorado Central Magazine will discuss the goals of the magazine.  Published in Salida, it is an interesting and informative magazine, which helps to build a sense of place, a regional community, local culture in central Colorado and the San Luis Valley.

June 19th – No program due to Father’s Day

June 26th – Becky Dolan and Ken Frye, Founders of Native American Research & Preservation, will speak about Modified Trees, Stone Sculptures and Oblong Singing Stones.

If you have any questions about these presentations, please feel free to call Connie at 719-298-7940.

The Rio Grande County Museum in Del Norte, Colorado will host a show devoted to the work of artist, Byron Williams.  Byron runs the Smith Market Gallery at the corner of 5th and Denver in Saguache.  The museum's exhibit will have examples of Williams' work, going back 40 years including baskets and gourds of many patterns and styles.

Williams has made baskets out of many materials, most frequently basket reed which is a standard basket making material.  He has used grapevine, honeysuckle, tulip popular bark, Siberian Elm bark as well as rawhide, wool rovings and yard, paper and fabric.  His talents are shown in a wide variety of baskets from traditional to the uniquely creative freeform styles.

Gourds are used for making everything from baskets looking like sculptures to masks and are part of his large collection of art. The art work is accomplished with the use of design itself to the unique painting the color with various dyes and wood varnish, antlers, carving, wood burning and other embellishments.  He states that he likes to clean each of the gourds so he “becomes familiar with each one."  Each piece is a one of a kind.

The show will be available for viewing from May 25th - June 25th from 10am - 4pm Tues - Fri and 10am - 3pm on Saturday.  The  reception for the show will be held June 11th from 1:30pm to 4pm.  The public is invited to come and enjoy the work of Byron Williams.

The museum is located at 580 Oak Street in Del Norte, Colorado, just south of the only stop light on Highways 160 and 112.  For more information, please contact the Museum at (719)657-2847 or rgmuseum@riograndecounty.org.  For information about lodging in the area, please contact riograndecountry.com.

You could be a Winner!  From May 27 to July 4, members of museumtrail.org are sponsoring a summer campaign to get you caught up on local history.  

10 Museums - By visiting ten local participating museums you could win a t-shirt and The Tile app/device.  This is a great way to discover local history and have a chance to win great prizes. 

Punch Card - Pick up a map and punch card at any participating museum (listed below) and you'll get your card stamped at each museum you visit.  One card per person (8 yrs old and up). When you get 10 stamps, drop off your card at the 10th museum to be entered into the drawing.  The 10 winners will be announced after July 4th.
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Participating Museums: 
Creede Historical Society Museum 
Creede Underground Mining Museum
Fort Garland Museum
Francisco Fort Museum (La Veta) 
Hinsdale County Museum (Lake City) 
Homelake Veterans’ History Museum 
Jack Dempsey Museum (Manassa) 
Luther Bean Museum (ASU)
Monte Vista History Museum  
Rio Grande County Museum (Del Norte)
Saguache County Museum
Sanford Museum 
San Luis Valley Museum (Alamosa)
Transportation of the West Museum (Monte Vista)

For Sale - The Get Caught Up in History t-shirts are available for sale at most of the participating museums.  Get yours while you can!

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A special thanks to the San Luis Valley Museum Association, Alamosa Marketing District and the Rio Grande County Tourism for their financial contribution in making this event possible.