2006

ONGOING

All Year - The Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum offers free Pike Bicentennial programs and tours for your group or school through 2006. Guided tours of Pike related exhibits are offered every 2nd and 4th Saturday of the month through 2006. For more info call 719-385-5631 two weeks in advance.

June--December 30 – El Pueblo History Museum, Pueblo, presents "Explorer or Spy; the Pike Legacy.” This exhibit examines both American and Spanish views of Pike’s famous expedition, and his illegal entry into New Spain. Learn how the expedition affected the region's people, economy and borders. The El Pueblo History Museum is located in Pueblo at 301 North Union Avenue. For more information or to make reservations, call the museum at 719/583-0453, or visit www.coloradohistory.org.

June--Dec - The Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum Exhibition opening: "Looming Large: Artistic Legacy of Pikes Peak", highlights a broad perspective of images featuring Pikes Peak from the mid-eighteenth century to present day. Free. 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.

June--Dec - The Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum Exhibition: "Marketing the Mountain: Pikes Peak in the Popular Imagination." Includes music, refreshments, and informal presentations. Learn how civic boosters and various promoters used Pikes Peak as a beacon to draw tourists to the region. Free/Reservations required. Call 719-385-5631; www.cspm.org

October

October 6-8 - Explorers’ Encampment at Bent’s Old Fort, La Junta. The park’s main living history event moves from the summer to the fall, and this year celebrates the explorers who passed by the site of Bent’s Fort before, during and after the post’s existence. Camps from Pike to Long to Fremont will grace the site – joining the camps of Plains Tribes and Santa Fe traders. Over 60 living history volunteers bring the post back to life during this major event! Admission is $3.00 for adults and $2.00 for children under 12. Contact Bents’ Old Fort National Historic Site, 35110 Hwy.194 East, La Junta, CO 81050 (719) 383-5010 or www.nps.gov/beol/home.htm .

October 7 – Penrose Apple Day Festival – “Pike to Present”. Join Penrose, Colorado in their annual Apple Day Festival as they commemorate the Pike Expedition by featuring a parade, free apple pie, used book sale, Pike look-a-like contest, games and a dance. For more information log on to www.penrosechamber.com.

October 7, 14, 21 - Picketwire Canyonland Auto Tours of La Junta will present information on Pike’s expedition and its influence on exploration and settlement of what is now the Comanche National Grasslands. For information and reservations contact Michelle Stevens, USFS Comanche National Grasslands, 719-384-2181. Tickets are $15 for adults and $7.00 for children. Participants must make advance reservations, and have a 4-wheel drive vehicle.

October 21 - The Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum - 2:00 p.m. Public lecture. TBA. Free/Reservations Required. Call 719-385-5631.

October 27-29 - A three-day seminar entitled “Rendezvous 2006” will be held, 2006 in Larned, Kansas at the Santa Fe Trail Center. The theme for 2006 is “Zebulon Pike and the Birth of the Santa Fe Trail.” The seminar is sponsored by the Trail Center, Fort Larned National Historic Site, and the Santa Fe Trail Association. This year’s Rendezvous theme was chosen as a way to examine the preliminary explorations by Pike that laid the foundation for what would later become the Santa Fe Trail. Registration packets will be available beginning September 1. To receive a packet, call the Santa Fe Trail Center at 620-285-2054 or e-mail trailassn@larned.net

November

November 13 - Pike Slept Here and Rededication of Pike’s Tower in Willow Creek Park in Lamar. The public is invited to meet at Pike’s Tower at 5:00 p.m. for a rededication ceremony of a limestone monument to Pike set on or near the very spot he and his men camped in Lamar, Colorado, on November 13, 1806. After the ceremony, the public is invited to a presentation of Pike’s expedition by historian and Pike reenactor Don Headlee at the Lamar Public Library at the corner of Parmenter and Main. Refreshments will be provided by The Lamar Friends of the Library and original pen and ink drawings of Pike’s expedition by Salida artist Jon McManus will be on display. For information, contact the Lamar Public Library at 719.336.4632 or Kathy Wootten of the Friends of the Lamar Library at 336-7634.

November 15 – At two o’clock in the afternoon on this date in 1806, Pike states in his journal that he saw a “small blue cloud” in the distance. A half an hour later, the mountains appeared before them. Three cheers were given for the “Mexican mountains.” This will be the historical dedication of the marker commemorating the “First Sighting” of the mountain to later be named after him. At John Martin Reservoir, east of Las Animas. Call 719-336-3476.

November 18 - The Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum - 2:00 p.m. Public lecture. TBA. Free/Reservations Required. Call 719-385-5631.

November 20 - Woodruff Memorial Library, La Junta. Illustrations from Dr. Jack Cooper’s new edition of Zebulon Montgomery Pike entered the San Luis Valley via Medano Pass January 27, 1807 come to Woodruff Memorial Library in La Junta for display. This exhibit is courtesy of illustrator Jon McManus, and will be on hand until the end of November.

November 24 – Parade of Lights with Zebulon Pike – Salida, Colorado.

December

December 2 – The Buena Vista Chamber will sponsor the Zebulon Pike Equine Parade that will open the Christmas season in Buena Vista. Folks will gather around 4:00 pm for a horse and carriage parade through the downtown area.

December 24 - Christmas Dinner with Zebulon Pike, on the Arkansas River 11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m., at the actual site Pike and his expedition camped for two days. They celebrated Christmas here after going without food for three days, and killing six buffalo on the neighboring prairie. Pike and several soldiers will be there, along with Colorado mountain men reenacting early trapper gatherings. “Colorado Mountain Men” and Beddin’ Down Bar-B-Q will host the Buffalo Christmas Dinner that Pike and his men enjoyed at a modest charge. Off US-285 at the AHRA site on CR 165. Contact the Chaffee County Pike Information Center at 719-539-6744 or the Salida Chamber of Commerce.

Click here for 2007 Events