Editing Las Animas, Colorado (section)

==Santa Fe Trail Day==
[[File:Bent County, CO, Courthouse IMG 5719.JPG|thumb|right|[[Bent County Courthouse and Jail|Bent County Courthouse]]]]
Las Animas sits along the Mountain Branch of the [[Santa Fe Trail]] and served as the major city in southeast Colorado until the [[Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad]] established operations in [[La Junta, Colorado|La Junta]], {{convert|20|mi}} to the west of Las Animas.

Las Animas celebrates an annual Santa Fe Trail Day, a celebration of the pioneers and traders who used this trail. This local holiday is the oldest student council-sponsored event in the US. The Las Animas High School Student Council organizes the day, with assistance from the Bent County Chamber of Commerce. Festivities have included a parade, a costume contest, [[square dancing]], a [[demolition derby]], and a traditional "Ranchburger" lunch, as well as many other activities. From 2002 and forward, students have spread out events over a two-day period, sometimes making this a weekend event. The event originally occurred/started on the last Friday in April.

As the event moves into another milestone, these, too, are milestones in the event's remarkable resilience:

•April 26, 2002, is the official start of a multiday event, spreading over the weekend.

•April 24, 2009, Las Animas celebrated its 75th Annual Santa Fe Trail Day with special guests, those who previously were the Santa Fe Trail Day Crowned Queen and those who had been previously elected Student Council President, as far back as 1944 attended.

•April 24, 2020, and the COVID-19 pandemic, marked the first time in its history the town would not permit the community parade.

•Events were planned for April 26–28, 2024, in recognition for the 90th-anniversary commemoration.