The State's Farm Mural Is Coming to Hotchkiss, and a Painting of Our Own Valley Will Hang Beside It

Colorado's official 150th-birthday portrait of agriculture never names the North Fork in its written story. The Colorado Department of Agriculture's written guide to its traveling Ag Mural names the San Luis Valley, Strasburg, and a harvest of potatoes, sunflowers, pears, pumpkins and peppers. It doesn't name the Western Slope, Delta County, or any town between Hotchkiss and Paonia.

That makes the mural's November stop at the Delta County Fairgrounds worth the drive. Delta County is bringing it to Heritage Hall for a free two-day event called Celebrate Agriculture. The county is surrounding it with local work, including a painting that looks east from Hotchkiss toward Paonia and the Ragged Mountains. The state brings its version of Colorado farming. The county adds the valley outside the fairground fence.

A Mural Built to Ride in a Prius

The mural is by Denver artist Thomas "Detour" Evans. The Colorado Department of Agriculture unveiled it on January 10, 2026, on the CoBank Arena West Concourse of the Sue Anschutz-Rodgers Livestock Center during the National Western Stock Show in Denver. The department calls it a traveling mural, and that shaped how it was made.

The Denver Gazette described it at the unveiling as a roughly 40-foot, 10-panel work that folds down to fit in the artist's Prius. The department lists it at 35 feet wide, so plan on something about as long as a big stock trailer. According to Farm Flavor, Evans built the interlocking plywood panels over 10 days and spent about three weeks painting them.

Reading It Left to Right

The state's mural page says the piece reads left to right, like a story. Here's the order it gives, which helps once you're standing in front of 10 panels of bright color:

1. Snowmelt. Water from the Rocky Mountains feeds everything that follows: fields, rangeland and livestock.
2. The first farmers. Ute and Plains Indigenous communities lived along river corridors and grew corn, wheat, beans and squash.
3. Irrigation spreads. Regions like the San Luis Valley grow as more people come to work the land.
4. The center pivot. The circular cutouts in the upper right point to the center-pivot irrigation system Frank Zybach built near Strasburg.
5. Livestock and family. The oral history of farmer John Stulp's family shaped how the mural shows livestock, hard work and tradition.
6. The next generation. Young people tend crops, and the harvest of potatoes, sunflowers, pears, pumpkins and peppers closes out the story.

The page says the goal is simple. If the mural gets even one young viewer to picture themselves as a future farmer, rancher or steward of the land, it has done its job.

The fourth step is where the West Slope runs out of words. The written description covers a statewide arc of snowmelt, ditches and pivots, and the places it names are east of the Divide or in the San Luis Valley. Pears are the only tree fruit in its harvest list. The text doesn't list peaches, apples, cherries or grapes. A written summary doesn't cover every brushstroke, though, so there's only one way to know whether a peach crate is hiding in a corner: go look.

Where the North Fork Comes In

The local layer starts with the Western Colorado Community Foundation's Colorado 150 exhibit, which Delta County is borrowing for the event. The foundation's project paired one artist from each of seven counties: Mesa, Eagle, Garfield, Montrose, Delta, Ouray and Rio Blanco. Each artist made two paintings, one about their county's natural beauty and one about its philanthropy. The collection was unveiled July 30 at the foundation's Center for Philanthropy at 128 N. 5th Street in Grand Junction.

Delta County's artist is Jill Knutson. Her landscape, "Verdant Valley," looks east from Hotchkiss toward Paonia and the Ragged Mountains. The foundation writes that she chose the scene because it shows the agriculture, ranching, mountains and North Fork of the Gunnison River that define the valley. It also passes along something she heard when she first moved here:

"Everything you need is in this valley."

The foundation adds that she has found that to be true.

Her second painting heads downriver to Delta. "Bill Heddles Recreation Complex" shows the rec center named for Bill Heddles, a former Delta mayor, council member and youth advocate. The foundation's account of how it got built reads like a small-town ledger. Senior citizen groups and service organizations pitched in, along with a 1% sales tax and an unexpected $100,000 donation from an ambassador from Kuwait who was passing through.

Put the two side by side and you have the county's whole case. One painting shows the river and orchard ground the mural's written story never names. The other shows a local building paid for by local people.

Two Afternoons at Heritage Hall

Celebrate Agriculture runs Tuesday, November 17, and Wednesday, November 18, at Heritage Hall on the Delta County Fairgrounds, 403 S. 4th St. in Hotchkiss. Admission is free. Delta County and Visit Delta County are presenting it with support from the Colorado Department of Agriculture and the State of Colorado.

The county's event flier lays out the days:

• Tuesday, Nov. 17, Art and Agriculture. The mural and the "Celebrating Ag Delta County" art show are open from 1 to 6 p.m. The artist reception runs 5 to 6 p.m.
• Wednesday, Nov. 18, Community Night. Public viewing runs 1 to 4 p.m. Guest speakers and a free community dinner catered by Zack's follow from 5:30 to 7 p.m., while the food lasts.

The county's event page lists Tuesday's reception from 4 to 7 p.m. and calls the schedule tentative. The guest speakers haven't been announced yet. If you're planning around the reception, check the time closer to the date.

The rest of the event is local too. Students from the TSA chapter and arts department at North Fork Valley High School, the Soul Miners, are making the table centerpieces. You can take one home for a donation, and the money goes back to the chapter and the arts department. The Delta County Commissioners are sponsoring the dinner, which Zack's BBQ is catering from its home base at 721 E. Bridge St. The state mural ends its story on young people tending crops. At Heritage Hall, local students will have their own work on the tables right in front of it.

Hotchkiss Is the Last Stop on the Schedule

The mural wasn't supposed to be on the road this late. When the department opened its call for muralists in July 2025, it planned the August 2026 State Fair as the final celebration. This summer it announced the mural would stay at the fair in Pueblo for the full run, August 28 through September 7.

Since then, the mural page has added a three-town swing through the Western Slope:

The schedule lists nothing after Hotchkiss. If you miss Heritage Hall, the closest earlier chances are in Montrose and Olathe the week before. Of the three stops, Hotchkiss is the one where the county has built a full program around the mural, with an art show, a borrowed regional exhibit, student work and a dinner.

Before November, Downtown Keeps Its Own Calendar

If the mural gets you thinking about what this valley grows and makes, two downtown dates come first. The Hotchkiss Farmers Market is on the calendar for Saturday, October 31, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. outside the Creamery Arts Center at 165 W. Bridge St. It's free and depends on the weather. The Hotchkiss Second Friday Art Walk follows on November 13, from 5 to 8 p.m., with downtown shops, restaurants and galleries open in the evening.

Between the two, you'll have seen this season's farm stands and local art before the statewide version rolls into the fairgrounds, which makes it easier to compare.

At Needlerock Mountain Realty, plenty of us have spent our working lives on ground like the stretch in "Verdant Valley": ditches, pasture and orchard rows running east toward the Raggeds. If you head to Heritage Hall on November 17 or 18, look for the painting that looks back at Hotchkiss, then stay for dinner. And when you're ready to talk about land in this valley, we'll help you find your place in Colorado.