With another new year comes another Snowdown festival in Durango. While games and libations are plentiful during the weeklong festivities, downtown Main Avenue can be difficult to navigate the afternoon and evening of the Snowdown Light Parade.
The city is implementing an improved traffic and pedestrian management plan to make getting where one needs to go a less frustrating experience, Ellen Babers, community events administrator for the city, said.
She said keeping east-west roads and streets open as long as possible ahead of parades and like events has been a priority over the past year, and she’s hopeful adjustments that will be implemented next week will help drivers and pedestrians find their way with ease.
For the Snowdown Light Parade, crews typically start putting up vehicle barriers around 2:30 p.m., she said. On Jan. 31, the day of the parade, she said the city will keep College Drive and Ninth Street open for thru-traffic until 4:30 p.m. while barriers are placed at other cross streets.
In past years, pedestrian crossings have only been placed on Main Avenue at Eighth Street and 11th Street, with access blocked on other cross streets by fencing and barriers, she said. This Snowdown, a pedestrian crossing will be present at almost every block save for 12th Street.
“You can cross at Sixth, at Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, 10th and … halfway down the 11th block,” she said.
The city has also acquired more vehicle barriers to place at College Drive and Ninth Street. The city previously bought one trailer and eight vehicle barriers using lodgers tax funds collected in 2023. The city purchased another trailer and 10 more barricades with 2024 lodgers tax funds, bringing its inventory up to 18 barriers, Babers said.
She added the company the city purchased the barriers from also pitched in nine barriers, an additional trailer and extra fencing for Snowdown. In total, the city will deploy 27 barriers for the parade this year.
The barriers are about the size of a podium and weigh 700 pounds, she said. They are built to stop a car traveling 30 to 40 mph.
The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad is also partnering with Durango Police Department and the city of Durango to provide trains or train cars to use as additional vehicle barriers, she said.
“They will put a train on the track at Seventh and Eighth and also at 11th,” she said. “Pedestrians will still be able to get through, and we still have (traffic) routing. People will be able to get out to Camino at night, at Sixth and at 12th from Narrow Gauge.”
Babers said she anticipates a big turnout for Snowdown 2025. The 2024 Snowdown Light Parade reportedly had the most participation yet with thousands on the sidelines cheering as about 65 floats coasted down Main Avenue.
“It always depends on exactly how cold it is, because then all of a sudden the families don’t come out,” she said. “But my thought is it’s going to be big.”
Snowdown 2025’s theme is board games. From Jan. 24 through Feb. 2, hundreds of events are scheduled. A schedule is available at snowdown.org/pages/2025-events-schedule.
cburney@durangoherald.com