The 59th Annual Mancos Days kicked off Thursday with a flag football tournament put on by the Mancos High School football team. The four 7-member teams, two from Mancos (KTA and Da Rookies) and two from Farmington (Str8 Rippin and Farmington Flag Warriors), competed in a double-elimination bracket. Str8 Rippin ended up taking the win over FFW.
Because of the construction on the Mancos School District campus, the tournament was moved from the football field to Boyle Park, so preparations were a little hectic. The games quickly turned competitive, but all ended well.
“In the end, everyone had fun,” Lacey Murphy, president of the Mancos Days Association, said. “We are happy the kids want to get involved, and we were very happy to have groups come from out of town. With a little more organization and planning, I think it could be a great event in the future.”
The cost was $30 to enter, with proceeds split between the Mancos High School football team and the Mancos Days Association.
On Friday morning, the kids parade launched the day’s events. Mancos residents Heather Cannon and her son James Roemer were just two of many who lined Grand Avenue to watch the parade. Roemer said he loves “basically everything” about Mancos Days, and Cannon agreed. She said she likes how it brings people together and has been participating for years.
“I love the fact that everyone comes home,” Cannon said. “(Mancos Days) brings a lot of people to town.”
The parade had three separate categories: float and trailer, individual and horse riding. Tammy Davison and Christina Evans judged each section, and the winners were announced later in Boyle Park.
When asked about what they look for in the kids parade, Davison and Evans answered in unison, “creativity.” The winners for each category were Victoria Lewis for the “A Little Piece of Kids Heaven” trailer, Sienna Small for “A Sweet Piece of Heaven” in the individual section, and the Robbins Memorial Arena group in the horse riding section.
After the parade, kids games were held in Boyle Park. The games featured various races, a watermelon-eating contest and no shortage of prizes, with plenty more activities planned for the rest of the day, including a magician in the afternoon.
The teen movie night was a hit, Murphy said. Around 50 kids joined for the Boyle Park screening of “Texas Chainsaw Massacre.”
The 5k Fun Run Saturday morning also turned out to be a huge success, with the biggest turnout ever with 76 runners, Murphy said. The run was sponsored by Run+Hike, an outdoor running and adventuring store Cortez.
The volleyball tournament also kicked off Saturday morning with 23 teams registered.