Newly designated Colorado Centennial Farms to be honored August 27 at Colorado State Fair in Pueblo

Annual awards ceremony recognizes Colorado’s dedicated farming and ranching families

PRESS RELEASE


Denver — Twenty-one Colorado families who have owned and operated their farm or ranch for 100 years or more will be recognized during the 24th Annual Centennial Farms Celebration on Friday, August 27 at 4 p.m. The awards ceremony will be held on the Pepsi Stage in Family Park at the Colorado State Fair in Pueblo, Colo., where honorees will receive a certificate signed by Governor Bill Ritter and other state officials, as well as a sign to display on their property.

Edward C. Nichols, President and CEO of History Colorado, the Colorado Historical Society and John Stulp, Colorado Commissioner of Agriculture, will make acknowledgements and present awards to family representatives.

12 of the 21 families will also receive a Historic Structures Award. The National Trust for Historic Preservation provides this additional recognition to families who have demonstrated stewardship of their historic agricultural sites by maintaining four or more structures on their property that have survived for 50 years.


2010 Colorado Centennial Farm Awardees:

Farm/Ranch Name Year Settled Town, County
1. Bellgardt Homestead Ranch 1910 Montrose, Montrose
2. Benson Homestead 1910 Sterling, Logan
3. Foghino Farm 1909 Trinidad, Las Animas
4. Harper Dairy 1910 Yuma, Yuma
5. Heath Ranch 1910 Montrose, Montrose
6. Hertneky Homestead 1892 Ramah (area), Elbert
7. Hogan Farm 1910 Wiggins, Morgan
8. Jack Sniff Ranch 1910 Hasty, Bent
9. John Bitzer Homestead 1907 Byers (area), Adams
10. Johnson Family Ranch 1910 Stoneham, Weld
11. Leonard Farms and Livestock 1878 Montrose, Montrose
12. Reed Homestead 1910 Akron, Washington
13. Schreiber Ranch 1910 Woodrow, Washington
14. Shafer Farm 1908 Otis, Washington
15. Tarabino Farm 1907 Trinidad, Las Animas
16. Thim Farm 1910 Akron, Washington
17. Vetter Farm 1905 Milliken, Weld
18. Waitman Farm & Ranch 1910 Stratton, Kit Carson
19. Walters/Vassios Ranch 1908 Boyero, Lincoln
20. William H. Johnson Family Farm 1906 Avondale, Pueblo
21. Wyckoff Farm 1910 Genoa (area), Washington

The Centennial Farms Program started in 1986. It is sponsored by History Colorado, the Colorado Historical Society, the Colorado Department of Agriculture, the Colorado State Fair and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. History Colorado oversees the State Historical Fund, a grants program that supports historic preservation projects, including agricultural sites.

The awards honor Colorado’s families who have maintained ownership of their land for more than a century in spite of the economic challenges facing modern farming. At the ceremony, a brief history of each farm is presented, including stories of prosperity and hardship.

Family representatives are available for interviews at a reception following the ceremony.

“The contributions of Colorado’s long-standing farm and ranch families are significant because they have preserved important pieces of our state’s history,” said Ed Nichols, President and CEO of History Colorado, the Colorado Historical Society. “Historic barns and other agricultural sites around the nation are disappearing at an alarming rate. But these families have withstood the pressures of growth, changes in farming methods, drought and economic conditions to keep their way of life.”

For more information about the Centennial Farms Program or to receive an application and brochure, please call the State Historical Fund at 303/866-2825.

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The State Historical Fund, a program of History Colorado, the Colorado Historical Society, awards grants to public and non-profit organizations to preserve Colorado’s architectural and archaeological treasures for public benefit. The State Historical Fund receives funds for grants through a portion of tax revenues from limited-stakes gaming in the towns of Cripple Creek, Central City, and Black Hawk. State Historical Fund grants have helped preserve hundreds of historic schools, town halls, agricultural sites and other important resources in all 64 Colorado counties since 1993.