Seasonal for kids near Rico

Talking Gourds Presents: Stories and Poems-Craig Childs and Daiva Česonis

Tuesday · 5:15 PM – 7 PM

Magazine Room · Telluride · ≈ 21 mi

The Telluride Institute’s Talking Gourds Poetry Program is hosting a live Stories & Poems series at the Wilkinson Public Library magazine room on the third Tuesday of every month at 5:15 pm. Following the featured poet's or story teller's reading we will hold a Talking Gourds sharing circle going around the room to let everyone speak. Attendees are encouraged to bring their own work or someone else’s that they like to share. For more information, visit the Telluride Institute Talking Gourds website: tellurideinstitute.org/talking-gourds Jan. 20 / Tanya Ishikawa of Montrose Feb. 17 / Karen Bellerose of Lawson Mar. 17 / Mary Hearding of Rico Apr 21 / Joan Shapiro of Ridgway May 19 / Danny Rosen of Fruita June 16 / Paulo Munguia of Montrose July 21 / Peter Waldor of Trout Lake Aug. 18 / Art Goodtimes of Wrights Mesa and Scott A. Nicolay of Santa Fe Sept. 15 / Ruth Duffy & Mike Olschewsky of Nucla Oct. 20 / Rob Schultheis of Lason Hill and Ellen Metrick of Norwood Nov. 17 / Daiva Česonis and Craig Childs of Wrights Mesa Dec. 15 / Becca Myers and Dan Rosenberg of Fruita

Holiday - Library Closed

Thu, Nov 26 · All day

Program Room · Telluride · ≈ 21 mi

Holiday - Library Closed

Fri, Nov 27 · All day

Program Room · Telluride · ≈ 21 mi

Bardic Trails Online Poetry Night: John Calderazzo

Tue, Dec 1 · 7 PM – 8:30 PM

Wilkinson Public Library · Telluride · 21 mi

The Telluride Institute's Bardic Trails poetry night features an award-winning guest poet sharing their new and exciting work. The reading will be followed with a Q & A about the poet’s work and inspirations, with time afterwards for poetry sharing from attendees – a Gourd Circle of sharing whatever poetry attendees wish, or just listening in. The list of 2026 poets is below. The free Bardic Trails virtual Zoom series is on the first Tuesday of each month. Visit <https://www.tellurideinstitute.org/western-slope-calendar> to get the zoom link each month, Thanks to the Wilkinson Public Library, Cantor Family, the Guttman Family Foundation, CCAASE and our Fischer and Cantor contest participants for supporting our program and projects. Jan. 6 / Euro-American poet Dane Cervine of Santa Cruz (CA)* Feb. 3 / Euro-American poet & professor Lesley Wheeler of Virginia* March 3 / Euro-American Storyteller Kate Torode of St. Louis (MO)* April 7 / Euro-American Poet & fiber artist Nancy Takacs of Wellington (UT)* May 5 / Euro-American Poet Kathy Winograd of Louisville* June 2 / Euro-American poet & playwright John Macker of New Mexico / new book* July 7 / Euro-American poet Lawton Eddy of Salida/* Aug 4 / Euro-American performance poet Suzy Q of Denver/ queried Sept 1 / Euro-American poet Michelle Baptiste of Lafayette* Oct 6 / Euro-American performance poet Claire Blotter of California, winner of the 2026 Fischer Prize* Nov 3 / Euro-American Poet & Professor Kate Kingston of Trinidad* Dec 1 / Italian-American Poet & Professor John Calderazzo of Bellvue*

America 250 Book Club: The Battle for Christmas

Thu, Dec 3 · 5:30 PM – 7 PM

Magazine Room · Telluride · ≈ 21 mi

Joins us for the last in the America 250/Colorado 150 Book Club series: The Battle for Christmas: A Cultural History of America's Most Cherished Holiday by Stephen Nissenbaum. The discussion will be led by Telluride Historical Museum's Executive Diretor, Kiernan Landon. You can check out a copy from the libray or purcashe a copy at 10% off from Between the Covers Bookstore. PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST Drawing on a wealth of research, this ”fascinating” book (The New York Times Book Review) charts the invention of our current Yuletide traditions, from St. Nicholas to the Christmas tree and, perhaps most radically, the practice of giving gifts to children. Anyone who laments the excesses of Christmas might consider the Puritans of colonial Massachusetts: they simply outlawed the holiday. The Puritans had their reasons, since Christmas was once an occasion for drunkenness and riot, when poor “wassailers extorted food and drink from the well-to-do. In this intriguing and innovative work of social history, Stephen Nissenbaum rediscovers Christmas’s carnival origins and shows how it was transformed, during the nineteenth century, into a festival of domesticity and consumerism. Bursting with detail, filled with subversive readings of such seasonal classics as “A Visit from St. Nicholas” and A Christmas Carol, The Battle for Christmas captures the glorious strangeness of the past even as it helps us better understand our present.