MANASSA — For 140 years, Manassa has reached to its very roots and celebrated them. The Pioneer Days Celebration honors its namesake—the pioneers.
From Spanish explorers in the late 1500s, to Mormon pioneers in the 1800s to newcomers adding their special aura to the place, it has been said that Manassa’s settlement history rings true to the Southwestern spirit of intellectual innovation, spiritual perseverance and the ceaselessly American trait of discovery.
On Friday, the Sangre de Cristo National Heritage Area (SdCNHA) will premiere a documentary that features the settlement of Manassa and surrounding areas.
Free and open to the public, it will be shown at 1 p.m. and again at 2 p.m. in the Manassa Opera House.
The project is a collaboration between SdCNHA, Northern Rio Grande National Heritage Area (NRGNHA), Mormon Pioneer National Heritage Area (MPNHA) and was funded in part by the San Luis Valley Conservation & Connection Initiative (SLVCCI). It was filmed by Discovery Roadshow Series out of Utah that shows in public television stations.
Included in that history is Jack Dempsey, the fabled Manassa Mauer, whose world championship boxing win in 1919 was celebrated this year at the downtown museum, which will host many of this year’s activities. The joy lingers in the air, blending with the town’s celebrated history
It has been said Manassa’s population swells to some 10,000 during the three-day event and it’s possible. Families plan reunions to coincide with the annual celebration as kinfolks gravitate toward their hometown for a celebration of history, legacy and family.
The celebration packs the town chock-full of carnival rides, fair food, old timey bandstands, Miss Pioneer princesses, and the event’s crown jewel, the parade—a parade so spectacular, it runs up and down main street twice!
Following is the celebration schedule:
Thursday, July 19
 The museum will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and the carnival will run from 5 p.m. to midnight. A kickoff dinner will be served at 7 p.m. at the Opera House, Miss Pioneer and her court will be crowned and the parade grand marshal will be named.
Friday, July 20
Featuring elegant floats and entries, the parade will run at 10 a.m. up and down Main Street. The carnival will run from 10 a.m. to midnight. Pre-registration for the 5K will be from noon to 4 p.m. at Dempsey Park. Long awaited for its food, the hamburger stand will be open 8 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Live entertainment will be offered from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on the church grounds.
Scheduled are the Sowards Dancers 11:30 a.m.-noon, Gunbarrel Junction from noon-4 p.m., Bad Attitude, 4-6 p.m. and Indian Nickel, 4-8.
Mutton Bustin’ will be at 5:30 p.m., followed by the rodeo at 6 p.m. at the fairgrounds. A concert will follow at 8:30 p.m.
Saturday will be another busy day with 5K registration followed by the run at 7 a.m. from Dempsey Park. The carnival will run from 10 a.m. to midnight live music is planned.
The parade will be at 10 a.m.  and rodeo slack events will take place at the fairgrounds. Mutton Bustin’ will be at 12:30 p.m. followed by the rodeo at 1 p.m.
Live entertainment with the Sutherland-Thomas dancers will be from 11:30 a.m. to noon, then Atomic Fireballs will play from noon-3:30 p.m., followed by the Barton Comedy Troupe from  3:30 to 4 p.m., then Blue Sky will take the stage until 6 p.m.
From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., a barbecue is planned at the Opera House and the hamburger stand will be open from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m.
The roaring, crashing fan favorite demolition derby will roll out at 6 p.m., followed at 9 p.m. by the lighting of the mountain and fireworks.

Manassa history
An account hosted by the Harold E. Lee Library states that in the late 1870’s, missionary successes in the southern states prompted the search for a location to which the new converts could migrate and establish their homes among the Latter Day Saints (LDS) in “Zion.”
The area eventually decided upon for the location of the southern converts was the San Luis Valley, in southern Colorado. Elder John Morgan, the most prominent figure in the early missionary work in the south, was given the leading role in bringing southern converts to the settlements to be established in the San Luis Valley. The initial settlement took place in the spring of 1878, and regular spring and fall migrations from the south added to their numbers for a full decade.
Experienced in irrigation methods and the ways of the frontier and firmly rooted in their knowledge of and devotion to gospel principles, families from Utah were called to assist in the colonization of the valley. Manassa was the first town they established, in 1879.
As the population of church members increased, additional communities were founded in the vicinity around Manassa; among them Ephraim, Richfield and Sanford. Further development and expansion continued until circumstances warranted the establishment of a Stake organization of the Church.
In June 1883, the San Luis Stake of Zion was organized, with Silas S. Smith, a cousin of the Prophet Joseph Smith, as stake president. Feelings of animosity developed between the southern converts and those who had come from Utah, which was to be a source of much irritation and disunity in the years to follow.
The year 1884 was a particularly difficult year for the Saints, as false stories circulated by apostate members of the Church brought much opposition from non-Mormons and dissension among the membership of the stake. The controversy over polygamy also contributed to the difficulties.
In the years that followed the passage of the Edmunds Act in 1882 the San Luis Valley experienced a notable influx of polygamous families fleeing Utah in search of a place of refuge. The desire for more remote places of refuge, coupled with population pressures and the attraction of available land, prompted the establishment of several additional settlements in more distant parts of the San Luis Valley and in New Mexico. Most of the newer communities experienced only a temporary success and were abandoned before the turn of the century. Sanford held fast. A post office called Sanford has been in operation since 1888. The town was named after Silas Sanford Smith, a Mormon pioneer.
Economic and material progress characterized the Mormon settlements, especially in agricultural development. Private and co-operative enterprise experienced only limited success among the Saints in the valley. Spiritual progress, while notable, was marred by the occasional reoccurrence of the factional strife between the southern Saints and those from Utah.
This strife, superimposed over a dispute regarding the financial management of the Manassa Co-operative Milling and Manufacture Company resulted in the resignation of Stake President Silas S. Smith and the reorganization of the Stake Presidency in 1892.
Manassa church organizational development and change paralleled the ups and downs of the colonial endeavor in the valley. A general improvement in social economic, and religious matters was the trend of the final years of the 19th century, marked, most notably, by the visit of Apostle John W. Taylor to the valley in 1897.
By 1900 the frontier phase of the Mormon colonization of the valley was completed. The population had reached the leveling-off point, dissension was in steady decline, and the Saints looked to the future of the valley with confidence and optimism.