It was 14-years-ago when Hayden resident Nancy Merrill, founder of The Colorado Crane Conservation Coalition, decided the group should host a festival celebrating Yampa Valley’s most iconic bird. 

“We started it as a celebration because the crane hunting proposal was withdrawn,” Merrill said of the Yampa Valley Crane Festival that will take place in Steamboat Springs, Aug. 28-31. “We thought the (Yampa Valley Crane) Festival was a much better way to make use of the wonderful (Sandhill) cranes that are in our area, and it has just become bigger and bigger each year.”

Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials had proposed establishing a limited hunting season for Sandhill cranes in Routt and Moffat counties in 2012, inspiring advocates like Merrill to stand up for the birds by founding The Colorado Crane Conservation Coalition. When the proposal was withdrawn, the Coalition established the Yampa Valley Crane Festival as a way a to bring attention to the unique birds.

Since its inception, the Festival, which will be headquartered at the Bud Werner Memorial Library at 1289 Lincoln Ave., has raised awareness and drawn visitors from around the country to Steamboat Springs.

Many visitors this week have traveled to the Yampa Valley to view birds that spend the summers on area ranches.

The Festival is also an opportunity to listen to experts speak about the Sandhill cranes and to gather with others who also appreciate the birds and explore Routt County hoping to get the chance to see the birds in their natural habitat.

“I think the Festival has been instrumental in getting people to notice (Sandhill cranes) and get excited about them,” Merrill said. “This morning, I was out scouting for cranes, and it looks like there is going to be a good flock of them this year.”

The Yampa Valley Crane Festival will begin a little before the scheduled start date from 5-7 p.m. Aug. 26 with children’s events including different stations featuring actives, followed by a screening of the Molly of Denali episode “Crane Song” and the presentation of Crane Coloring Contest awards. 

On Aug. 27, the Yampa Valley Crane Festival will head to Craig from 4-7 p.m. for the Craig Craniac Happy Hour at the Yampa Valley Brewing Company, located at 576 Yampa Ave, Craig.

The Festival will officially begin on Aug. 28, and will be followed by a weekend of Sandhill crane inspired events.

While many of the events at the Festival require participants to register and pay a fee are already full, the Coalition said there are still a limited number of tickets available several events at press time including the Carpenter Ranch Birding and Nature Study (Friday), the Nature Journaling Workshop (Friday) and spots for the guided adult and youth sunrise crane viewings on Saturday and Sunday.

Tickets are also available for the Birding the Core Trail and the Scenic Excursion by Pontoon Boat, but those tickets were extremely limited at the time of this story. Interested participants can see what is still available at ColoradoCranes.org.

There are also many opportunities that are free and open to the public throughout the week.

“All the speakers are free and open to the public at the Bud Werner Memorial Library and we’re showing a wonderful film this year called Dances with Cranes, which actually features George Archibald, who is our keynote speaker,” Merrill said. “He will be there to introduce (the film) and answer questions, and that’s free and open to the public — and it’s being shown both on Friday night and on Sunday morning.”

Other events where registration is not required and participation is free includes Crane Yoga, iNaturalist Workshop Lunch, Talon Talk, Sketch-a-Bird. There will also be an aerial dance performance and a happy hour at The Press. A full schedule can be found at ColoradoCranes.org/festival-schedule.

“I never envisioned that it would become this big and draw people from all over the country and, but the best part is that it helps us get our message out about cranes and how special they are, and that makes me feel great,” Merrill said. “I love that.”