Yampa's signature Fourth of July party celebrates 50 years
- Kari Dequine Harden
- 4 days ago
- 6 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
The town of 400 residents has long celebrated big on Independence Day, but dwindling volunteers is putting the party at risk.
As Yampa marks its 50th year of official Fourth of July celebrations, the small town’s trademark traditions — broom polo and horse race on Moffatt Avenue, parade, games, fireworks and 3rd-of-July community picnic — continue to take place only through the hard work of a team of ever-dwindling volunteers.
Home to about 400 residents, the quiet rural town’s population more than quadruples during the annual holiday gathering. While census data shows the town shrinking, Fourth of July crowds only seem to be increasing, as more people seek a small-town experience and escape from the crowds of Steamboat Springs. Newer traditions — a car show, street dance, pancake breakfast, local craft market, and kids’ fishing pond — continue to draw visitors of all ages.
To travel to Yampa is to travel back in time — offering a Wild West authenticity increasingly rare across the state and country. First settled as a hunting camp in the 1880’s, unofficial 4th of July celebrations can be documented back to the town’s earliest days.
Moffat Avenue — the town’s extremely wide dirt road connecting Main Street to the highway — was designed to accommodate rodeos and allow teamsters to turn around their horses. For the residents of Yampa and the surrounding ranches, the festivities honor the town’s hard-scrabble history from pioneering homesteaders through industries come and gone — timber, railroad, lettuce farming, cattle raising, and mining.
Many Yampa residents can trace their families four or five generations back. Linda Long’s grandfather was one of the first grand marshals for the Fourth of July parades, and she's been serving pulled pork for the 3rd of July picnic for decades. Long, who comes from a long line of cattle ranchers, typically slow-cooks 30 roasts over four to five days leading up to the event.
This year, Long also organized an exhibition of vintage quilts at Crossan’s Market, the historic town hall and museum located on Main Street. She gathered about 50 hand-quilted, hand-pieced quilts from families across the valley, including ones made by her own mother, grandmother and aunt. The quilts were made from whatever scraps of material the women could find, she noted. “They had nothing, and look at what beauty they could make out of nothing.”
Margaret Chipman has lived in Yampa for close to 30 years after 12 seasons spent working as a whitewater raft guide in the Grand Canyon (also her husband’s profession for about 20 seasons). Chipman took over as organizer of the parade’s band several years ago when the previous leader moved away. The band is “a hoot,” she described. It always leads the parade with “When the Saints Go Marching In,” and is made up of a ragtag group assembled each year about a month before the big day.
“It’s a lot of work, but it’s so fun,” Chipman said.
Chipman, who plays the flute, said she was worried they wouldn’t have much of a band this year. But she was able to bring in a family of last-minute recruits — including a grandmother who had her high school trumpet mailed from Austin, Texas. The woman's son and granddaughter are joining on drums, despite never having played a percussion instrument.
The parade band is open to anyone — many playing on instruments borrowed from the Soroco High School band.
There is one man who usually joins on trumpet, Chipman said, driving from Denver and arriving just in time for the noon lineup.
Unique Holiday Traditions at risk as volunteer ranks dwindle
Still, some of the other traditions started in 1975 — like the community barbecue on the 4th — have already disappeared due to a lack of volunteers. Worse yet, the entire celebration itself is at risk as many of the 4th of July committee stalwarts grow older, volunteer recruitment efforts struggle and labor falls on fewer overworked, overtired shoulders.
“It’s getting harder and harder to get enough volunteers,” Long said.
Three years ago, the ever-optimistic but then-desperate Chipman put up a handwritten sign around town because there weren’t enough volunteers. It read: “Please help save the historical small town 4th of July celebration. We are in danger of losing our tradition.” That initial call brought in about 30 people to an emergency meeting she said, which resulted in about five committed new committee members.
Long worries if she steps down the picnic on the 3rd will also go away. This year, she brought in a younger recruit to do the cooking. “My hands won’t handle it anymore,” she said. And Long is quick to give credit to the many other people who have been instrumental in keeping the traditions going. “I’m just a worker,” she says repeatedly.
Chipman echoes Long's concerns about volunteer recruitment, but she’s working hard to inspire newcomers and younger residents to join in the effort. And she's found reason to hope.
There was a big concern this year the committee wouldn’t have enough money for fireworks, so Chipman made six gallons of spaghetti sauce for a fundraiser dinner in May and was pleasantly surprised by the turnout and donations.
It was the third fundraiser required to bring in enough money to cover what is needed for the entire celebration, she said.
The efforts are unifying, Chipman said. “And can bring people together in a small town -- working together for something positive.” Pulling it off each year feels like a miracle, she said.
On this 4th of July, the town is mourning the recent loss of Rita Herold, a local author, historian, and former president of the Yampa Egeria Historical Society. But the town is also celebrating the 55th wedding anniversary of Paul and Ellen Bonnifield — a couple with deep roots and a lifetime dedicated to preserving Yampa's history and character.
There is also a persistent battle between preservation and change in Yampa — between the people who don’t want anything to change — ever — and those who see a need for revitalization and evolution. Chipman points to an example in the restoration of Crossan’s Market about eight years ago, which required a $1.3 million fundraising effort.
There was a contingent of people who would have just assumed light a match and burned the place down, she said.
But another contingent pushed forward and successfully brought the historic market back to life. Chipman has always tried to bridge the gap between the old and the new — preservation and progression. She believes in the value and importance of both.
“Keeping small town traditions alive in these changing times is something you have to work at,” she said. “Traditions are really really important. But how we celebrate traditions has to evolve,” she added, especially as people come and go.
Town Clerk/Administrator Sheila Symons said started to try everything she could think of last winter to bring in more volunteers — social media posts, paper sign-up sheets around town, pleas in the monthly newsletters mailed out with water bills. The 4th of July has always been the day Yampa shines its brightest, Symons said. She knows just how much work it takes to put it on, and is grateful each year for the small but dedicated group of volunteers who continue — against the odds — to pull it off.
While the community barbecue isn’t happening anymore on the 4th, there will be several food trucks this year, with new offerings like fried fruit pies, cotton candy and homemade soft pretzels. And the new kids' fishing pond — courtesy of Colorado Parks and Wildlife — has been a huge hit.
As far as the band goes, Chipman said, “I don’t know if I can keep it going, but I will do my best — and I’m not going to let it die on my watch.”
The Parade in Yampa starts at 1 p.m., with participants needing to line up by noon. The horse polo and horse race events are scheduled to start at 4 p.m. Check out the Yampa Fourth of July Committee on Facebook for more.
