Colorado Readers Share Haxtun Corn Festival and Eads Museum as Statehood Highlights

The question isn’t whether Colorado has enough history to fill a museum. It’s whether that history fits on the dashboard of your truck as you drive past Eads, or if it waits patiently inside a brick building on Main Street.

This year, The Sun has been celebrating 150 years of statehood with a series asking readers for their favorite Colorado things. The premise was simple: narrow down the infinite list of what makes this place great to 10 items, plus a few bonus suggestions. The result was less a definitive ranking and more a collage of local pride, submitted by people who actually live here.

We started in April with an email newsletter featuring 150 people, places, and things. We didn’t claim to cover everything because, as the Sun noted, covering everything would be impossible and probably boring. Instead, we asked for help. We got it in the form of suggestions that ranged from childhood favorites to specific feelings — like turning onto your street after a long trip and seeing the sun set behind the Rocky Mountains.

The final list included 10 core items, but the real story was in the details provided by readers. Take Haxtun, for example. Barbara Rehm Gorman of Fleming tipped us off to the annual Haxtun Corn Festival, which she described as family-friendly with events for all ages. It’s billed as the longest-running fall festival in the state and will be back in September for its 105th iteration.

But don’t just take her word for the scale of it. Look at the shoe-kicking contest. It’s a big draw each year, starting with kids and moving up to adults. It is not uncommon for people to accidentally kick their shoes onto the roof of the Haxtun Town Hall. (Dewitt Jones, photo provided by Haxtun Chamber of Commerce).

There is usually a demo derby and a beer garden, too. Gorman’s favorite events are the parent/child sack races. The festival sits in a small Eastern Plains town between Sterling and Holyoke, joining Yuma’s Old Thresher Days, Sterling’s Sugar Beet Days, Fort Morgan’s Glen Miller Days, and Holyoke’s Holly Days. Haxtun might have the deepest harvest fest history in the region, but this recommendation is really about breadth. Harvest festivals happen in nearly every town east of Interstate 25 now through October.

Then there is the Kiowa County Museum in Eads. Formed in 1976 as part of the country’s bicentennial celebrations, it represents what one reader called "every tiny town in Colorado." They are generally very good, well-researched (even when not strictly factual), and enthusiastic. You learn something about the locale, whether you’re a local or just passing through on your way to Denver.

The part everyone skips past is the realization that these aren’t just tourist traps. They are community anchors. The Sun’s project wasn't about finding the single best burger or the tallest peak. It was about the roadside attractions, the destinations, and the celebrations that define a life in Colorado.

Stand there long enough and you’ll see it: 150 years isn’t measured in decades, but in shoe roofs and museum bricks.