On Friday, Dec. 4, Delta celebrates Colorado's 150th birthday twice in one evening. The first celebration is a lit-up parade down Main Street under the theme "Let it GLOW – Cheers to 150 Years!" The second is at a reconstructed trading post whose original was built 48 years before Colorado became a state. That second stop is where the Christmas tree gets lit, Santa poses for photos and the carols happen. Downtown is only the first half of the night.
A parade for 1876, a fort from 1828
The "150 Years" in this year's theme is Colorado's statehood. History Colorado describes 2026 as the year of two anniversaries, the nation's 250th and Colorado's 150th, and says the America 250–Colorado 150 Commission is guiding both commemorations. President Grant declared Colorado the 38th state on Aug. 1, 1876.
Fort Uncompahgre goes back further. According to the National Park Service, the fort at the entrance to Confluence Park is a reconstruction of the trading post Antoine Robidoux built in 1828, near where the Uncompahgre and Gunnison rivers meet. The Park Service calls it the first Anglo settlement in the area and notes that it went up six years before Bent's Fort on the Santa Fe Trail. The City of Delta owns the site, and the Interpretive Association of Western Colorado has managed it since 2015.
That gives Dec. 4 an unusual arc. The parade salutes the state's 150 years. Then the crowd walks into a building whose story starts about half a century before there was a state to celebrate.
Before 6 p.m., the staging lot at 9th and Grand
The parade is run by the Delta Colorado Area Chamber of Commerce, and its 2026 rules shape how the early evening goes. Under the Chamber's float application, float check-in opens at 4 p.m. in the parking lot at 9th and Grand Avenue. Floats line up down 9th and then come south on Grand.
So 9th and Grand fills up with trucks, trailers and decorators about two hours before anything moves. If you live near that corner, expect traffic there well before the parade itself.
Groups still planning a float have a firm deadline. Applications are due Tuesday, Nov. 24, and the Chamber moves anyone who registers after that date to the back of the parade. The other rules entrants initial on the form:
- Floats can be no taller than 13 feet.
- Lights must be on before the parade starts.
- Nothing can be thrown from a float. Walkers alongside can hand items out instead.
- Horses in the parade need to wear diapers or poop catchers.
The no-throwing rule matters for families on the curb. Candy and trinkets will come by hand from people walking beside the floats, so kids at the front of the crowd won't be chasing anything into the street.
Main Street, 9th to 2nd, with the judges on the 500 block
The parade starts "PROMPTLY at 6pm," as the application puts it in capital letters, and runs on Main Street from 9th Street north to 2nd Street. The judges sit on the 500 block of Main Street.
Because of the judges, the 500 block is where floats are most likely to slow down and put on their best show, so it's a good place to stand if you want the full effect. Where you stand also decides when your night ends. If you watch near 9th, the first floats reach you right at 6 p.m., and you can follow the last float north to the end of the route. If you watch near 2nd, you're closest to where the parade breaks up. The Chamber's application asks entrants to look after their passengers because "Its dark out in a moving vehicle/float." By 6 p.m. on a December Friday, everything you see is lit by the floats themselves.
The handoff to Palmer Street
Christmas at the Fort runs from 6 to 9 p.m. the same night at the Fort Uncompahgre Interpretive Center. The High Country Spotlight announcement bills it as taking place "immediately following the Parade of Lights in Delta." Delta County Tourism lists the fort at 440 Palmer St. The evening has four hosts: the Fort Uncompahgre Interpretive Center, the Delta County Libraries Foundation, Altrusa International of Delta and Alpine Bank.
The announcement lists this program:
- Ceremonial lighting of the Christmas tree
- Photos with Santa
- Community sing-along of Christmas carols
- Frontier storytelling for the whole family
- Free cookies and cider from Altrusa International of Delta
- Horse-drawn wagon rides
- Holiday craft vendors with gifts and seasonal goods
The tree lighting, Santa and the carols are all at the fort. Main Street has the parade, and Palmer Street has the rest of what most families think of as a holiday kickoff.
What to carry
You don't pay a ticket price to get in. Canned goods are accepted as donations for entry. Wagon rides have a $10 requested donation, which goes to the Delta County Libraries Foundation. So bring a few cans from the pantry, and bring cash if anyone in your group wants a wagon ride. Questions go to Delta County Libraries at 970-399-7877.
In the High Country Spotlight piece, Diane Almy of the Delta County Libraries Foundation calls Christmas at the Fort "an opportunity to slow down, gather with friends and family, and celebrate the traditions that bring us together." The setting is meant to be a 19th-century Christmas lit by lanterns and holiday lights. That suits a building that, by the Park Service's description, is filled with trade goods and piles of furs and hides, and has a real trade room where American Indians and trappers once swapped furs for guns, knives and beads.
The evening in order
- 4 p.m. Float check-in opens at the 9th and Grand Avenue lot.
- 6 p.m. The Parade of Lights starts at 9th and Main and heads north toward 2nd Street, with judges on the 500 block.
- 6 to 9 p.m. Christmas at the Fort runs at 440 Palmer St., with the tree lighting, Santa, carols, wagon rides and vendors.
The fort's hours begin at the same time as the parade, so the event is already underway while the floats are still on Main Street. Families who skip the end of the route can get to the fort ahead of the crowd that follows the last float.
The fort's other December job
Christmas at the Fort isn't the only holiday reason to visit 440 Palmer. The Park Service lists Fort Uncompahgre as a public lands information center, open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. It sells firewood permits, park passes and Christmas tree permits. That means a household could buy its tree permit at the fort and come back weeks later to watch the community tree get lit there.
Tours of the fort itself are a different matter. Delta County Tourism says they have to be scheduled ahead of time, by calling the Delta Museum. If the evening of Dec. 4 makes you want to see the trade room in daylight, call to set that up on another day.
Where the 150 theme shows up first
Two November events come before the parade: a holiday mixer on Main Street, and a county event in Hotchkiss built around the Colorado 150 commemoration.
The Chamber's quarterly Chamber Connections Q4 business-after-hours is Friday, Nov. 13, from 5 to 7 p.m. at 460 Main Street, promising "Holiday Cheer and refreshments." Sponsors are Little Brown Bird Events, Scharee Atchinson 6A Insurance, and Portia on Main with New American Funding. It's the first holiday gathering on the Chamber's calendar.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, Nov. 17 and 18, the county holds "Celebrate Agriculture" at Heritage Hall, 403 S. 4th St., on the Delta County Fairgrounds in Hotchkiss. Delta County Tourism lists the Colorado Department of Agriculture ag mural, shown as part of the America 250–Colorado 150 commemoration, and a "Colorado 150: Highlighting Colorado's Landscape" exhibit on loan from the Western Colorado Community Foundation. The event also has work by local Delta County artists and a free community dinner catered by Zack's BBQ and sponsored by the Delta County Commissioners. Admission is free. Centerpieces will be available by donation, with proceeds going to the TSA Chapter and arts department at North Fork Valley High School, home of the "Soul Miners."
The Colorado 150 exhibits in Hotchkiss come first, and a little over two weeks later the "Cheers to 150 Years!" floats come down Main Street in Delta.
We work out of Montrose, but our days on the Western Slope follow the same seasons and the same rivers, from Confluence Park to the North Fork. If the holidays have you thinking about acreage, an orchard or a place near the Gunnison in Delta County, Colorado Land Home & Ranch is happy to walk you through what that property involves, from water to access. Schedule a Consultation when you're ready.
