Best of Summer’s End 2018, Part 2: The Monte Vista Potato Festival

The difference two years makes in a small farming town in Colorado’s central San Luis Valley.

It was another age altogether when my wife and I, fleeing the depredations of Colorado Springs, took possession of Big Pink on the near east side of Monte Vista in July 2016. I remember my first walks about town in the evenings, noting all the empty houses and storefronts, wondering if someone would ever get around to fixing the clock/temperature sign outside of Sunflower Bank on the corner of Adams St. and First Ave., the blown bulbs of which were flashing alien hieroglyphics to all who passed by.

Fortunately, that much got fixed in time for that year’s Potato Festival, which at the time was not much more than a food truck from Denver and some stuff going on under the main pavilion at Chapman Park. It got much bigger in 2017. It was even bigger this year. These photos are from the last couple of hours, and the remaining booths and people seemed to be doing quite well for themselves even as the day wound down.

I enjoyed looking at these fine specimens of transportation engineering on the way in.

The way these tractors were lined up made for a nice shot.

I was impressed by the pull of this standard-size yard tractor, as it was towing quite a few of those barrels, each with a small child inside.

From a small gathering on a square of grass to nearly the entire park taken up by vendors and exhibitors and food trucks, that’s how much the Festival has grown. We were happy just to get out into the last of the summer sun, sample boutique potato chips, and soak up the vibe of so many people having a good time on a fine Saturday afternoon.

One of the main things that impressed me about this year’s Potato Festival were the numerous activities for the children.

Human hamster balls. Yep. It’s a big park; they could do anything here.

Lots of vendors vending stuff, thangs.

This wasn’t the only vendor selling home-raised honey, but he had the most unique...mobile booth.

Oh, to have the funds and dedicated shelf space to buy every jar I see of this whenever I come across it. Fun fact: honey doesn’t spoil. Ever. Keep a lid on it, and it will never go bad. You could ferment it for mead and drink like a real Viking. I prefer to pour it over big heapin’ tablespoons of raw peanut butter, the kind you have to stir the oil into. Kings of old never ate this good.

I thought of my now-grown daughter, and how she would have reacted to the “Invite a pony to your party!” sign as a nine-year-old girl, and tried not to choke up. Again, it was so good to see so many activities for the children.

As we walked out we saw a man and a woman in a cart deliver sacks of potatoes to the vendors as thank-you for participating. We had come just as the festival in the park was coming to a close, but it looked as if it might have gone an hour longer. This is so much better than many other things I’ve attended in which everything goes dead after lunch.

I had to take more photos of the trucks and equipment on the way out. I was surprised by my visceral reaction to the sight of these, feeling that thrill of wonder a five-year-old boy might for these magnificent machines.

I’ve photographed this beauty before in the Ski-Hi Stampede Rodeo parade. It was nice to be able to walk around and see how much work went into preserving this rolling work of art.

Sometimes I wonder if I didn’t miss a calling somewhere. I’ve always regretted never learning how to work on cars aside from changing the oil and gapping spark plugs. I think what I might have really gotten into was paint and body work, being able to bring old beasts back to life, and mod others out into fun custom designs. 

For now, I can only be grateful others do. 

I got this photo just as they were backing this classic beauty out. The driver and passenger waved at me after I got the shot. Which reminds me of something else that was a lot different from 2016, namely, that the vibe was a lot friendlier among vendors and the public alike. People seemed actually happy to be here. Imagine!

My wife and I left in good spirits, and not just for a happy Potato Festival, but for a small town that’s come a long way with the improving economy. A lot of the empty storefronts are re-opening for business, for one thing—which, when you think about it, is the main thing. The Main Street thing, where the economic rubber meets the road.

This means more traffic, of course. By the way, the bank sign at right works just fine, thank you. I happened to snap this in between flashes.

Two years later it’s another age entirely, and a far better one than what we started out with. Civic decay is not irreversible. Sometimes things do get better. What marvelously counter-intuitive concepts! Who knew?

Photographs Copyright © 2018 by Lawrence Roy Aiken. All rights reserved.