Home

Steamboat Springs — Alpacas, goats, cows and pigs will be bleating, oinking and mooing on the Routt County Courthouse lawn Saturday during Ranch Rendezvous Day.

The fifth annual event, which has previously been staged at the base of the Steamboat Ski Area, is intended to underscore the message that ranching is alive and well in the Yampa Valley, said Marsha Daughenbaugh of the Community Agriculture Alliance.

"This is a great educational experience to show the relationship between the ski industry and agriculture," said Daughenbaugh, who noted the ski industry in Steamboat began as a dream of local ranchers.

"They'd be out on skis getting around their ranches when the snow was too deep," she said.

The event is a partnership between the Community Agriculture Alliance and Steamboat Ski and Resort Corp.

Saturday's event will include displays about the history of horses in the Yampa Valley, saddle making, and a farrier exhibition, along with displays on hay, alfalfa and straw. A petting zoo will be available, featuring a variety of animals found on area ranches, such as horses, lambs, cows, pigs, alpacas and goats.

"It's great exposure for the Community Agriculture Alliance and it has always been an educational experience," said Mike Lane, spokesman for the Steamboat Ski and Resort Corp. "With everything going on up at the base area we decided it was best not to hold it up here and move it down to the courthouse lawn. It's a great program and we are proud to be a partner with them in it."

Also Saturday, roping demonstrations, stick horse races and a kid's craft tent will round out Ranch Rendezvous activities. Music, food and farm equipment will be in ample supply. To accommodate the animals, activities and adjoining farmers market, Sixth Street will be closed between Lincoln Avenue and Oak Street from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m.

"There is a really good symbiotic relationship between these two industries and it's going to be a lot of fun to learn a little bit about them both," Daughenbaugh said.