Ouray Heritage Weekend

The festival is one lively component of Ouray County Heritage Weekend, which kicks off on Friday, August 24 and features county-wide events that celebrate Ouray’s rich mining, ranching and cultural heritage.

Friday afternoon, local miners will compete in what promises to be an incredibly entertaining mule race around Ouray to determine the order for the famous drilling competitions at the Highgraders’ Holidays on Saturday and Sunday. Plan to spend the weekend mornings and early afternoons at the Highgraders’ Holidays Mining Competitions in Miner’s Park (next to Fellin Park) to witness some “friendly” competition in traditional mining skills like single-jacking, team drilling and mucking. You can also go underground and experience a mine firsthand at one of our two historic mine tours; the Bachelor-Syracuse Mine Tour will be offering special discounts on their adult walk-in tours all weekend. Cruise through Ouray in a historic carriage or stagecoach, take a guided tour of the historic Beaumont Hotel, examine an apothecary collection that spans millenia, hop on a jeep tour and visit area ghost towns and mining sites, chug along on a 19^th century steam train, book a nighttime haunted Ouray history tour, and definitely visit our local history, railroad and ranching museums. Stop by the Ouray Visitor Center next to the Hot Springs Pool for more information on all of our heritage activities and free maps and guides to historic homes, hikes and ghost towns.

Highgraders' Holidays Schedule:

• All events take place in Ouray Miners' Park - right next to the Hot Springs Pool and Ouray Visitors' Center
• Friday:
  • Mule Race; Registration at 4 p.m., race at 5 p.m.
• Saturday:
  • Registration from 8 – 9 a.m.
  • 9 a.m. single-man drilling
  • 11 a.m. Men’s Handmucking immediately followed by Women’s Handmucking
  • 1 p.m. Spike driving
  • 3 p.m. Single-Jack Comp
• Sunday:
  • Registration from 8 – 9 a.m.
  • 9 a.m. Team Drilling
  • 11 a.m. Machine Mucking
  • 1 p.m. Double-Jack Comp
  • Awards ceremony later that day

Additional Heritage activities include:

• Ouray County Museum, Otto Mears Exhibit: 10 am - 4:30 pm, daily
• Ridgway Railroad Museum: 9 am – 4 pm, daily
• Beaumont Hotel, Guided Historic Tour, $5: 1:00 pm, daily
• Ridgway Farmer’s Market: 11 am – 4 pm, Friday
• Wright Opera House, Ouray County Players “Murder in the Cathedral” Theatrical Reading: 7:00 PM
• Ridgway State Park, Storytelling and singing by the campfire: 7:30 pm, Friday
• Outlaw Restaurant, Live Saloon Music: 9 pm, Friday
• Ridgway State Park, Nature Detectives “Tracks and Scat”: 9:30 am, Saturday
• Guided tour of Historical Main Street, Meet at Ouray County Museum, $10: 3 pm, Saturday
• Ridgway State Park, Fly Fishing Lessons with Rigs Fly Shop: 6 pm, Saturday
• San Juan Chamber Music Fest, Masters of Melody Concert: 7:30 pm, Wright Opera House $20, $5, Saturday
• O’Brien’s Pub, Poetic Minds Concert: 9pm, Saturday
• Ouray County Ranch History Museum, Colona: 1- 5 pm, Sunday
• Wright Opera House, San Juan Chamber Music Fest, Family Classical Music Concert: 2 pm, Sunday
• O’Brien’s Pub, Dan Dooley Live On the Patio: 3 pm, Sunday

Be sure to check the schedules at our local history, railroad and ranching museums for special events happening there.