Revolutionizing · Modernizing · Simplifying
Revolutionizing · Modernizing · Simplifying
A Border Collie sits at the top of a hill on the Western Slope, dead quiet, staring down a hillside at sheep it has not touched yet. No barking. No nipping. Just the eye. And in a few seconds it is going to move those sheep across a course that has humbled dogs and handlers from all over North America.
That is Meeker right now. And most people in the Front Range have no idea it is happening.
The Meeker Classic Sheepdog Championship Trials are running five days, Wednesday September 9 through Sunday September 13, at 1901 Main St. in Meeker, out in the White River Valley. This is the 40th anniversary, which lands in a big year for round numbers. Colorado turns 150. The country turns 250. Meeker's little sheepdog trial hits 40. On Thursday, September 10, they even put up a "Story in the Sky" drone show over town, a 250/150 salute to all of it.
Here is the scale. 135 handler and dog teams, mostly Border Collies, come in from across the US and Canada. They are chasing a purse and added money that totals
All 135 dogs run preliminaries Wednesday through Friday, one run each. The top 30 advance to Saturday's semifinals. Then only the top 12 make Sunday's Double Lift finals. Runs go all day, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., every single day. So if you show up, you are watching dogs work sunup to late afternoon.
Sunday is the payoff. Double Lift finals, top 12 teams, the best of a field that started at 135. This is where you see what these dogs actually are.
And here is the part people miss about Border Collies. They were bred to gather, not drive. They pull sheep toward the handler instead of pushing from behind, and they do it quietly. No barking, no nipping. Just position and pressure and that famous stare. Watching a good one work is closer to watching a chess player than a cattle dog. It is calm right up until it is incredibly precise.
The judge this year is Angie Coker-Sells. Worth knowing her name. Back in 2008 she became the first US judge to ever judge the Meeker Classic, and she has been competing as a handler herself since 1998. So the person scoring these runs has stood in the same field, holding the same crook, feeling the same wind. That matters.
The thing I always tell people about Meeker is that it is a whole festival, not just a competition. They pair the trials with education, an art and photography show, vendors, and a real dose of Western heritage. It is the kind of thing where you come for the dogs and leave having eaten too much and bought something you did not plan on.
And it runs on people. More than 375 volunteers put this on every year. Think about that number against the size of Meeker. That is a town showing up for its own event. There was a welcome and check-in dinner Tuesday night at the on-site Hospitality Tent to kick everything off, which is exactly the small-town, everybody-knows-everybody energy you want out of a trip like this.
Meeker is a haul from Denver, no way around it. This is a Western Slope drive, so treat it like the adventure it is and give yourself the day. Once you are in town, they run free courtesy vans all festival week, Wednesday through Sunday, so you are not fighting for parking on Main Street.
And here is the best part for anybody on the fence. Sunday's finals are free to watch. Free. The top 12 dogs on the planet's toughest courses, and you can stand there and take it in without a ticket.
I will say the quiet part, because it is my job to notice this stuff. Towns like Meeker are exactly the kind of place people underrate. Ranch country, real community, an event that has held on for 40 years and draws people from across the continent. That does not happen in a place with no soul. When folks ask me about the Western Slope and whether the small towns are worth a look, I point at weekends like this one. A town that can pull off the Meeker Classic knows exactly who it is. If you ever find yourself out there falling for the White River Valley, that is a conversation Symbio Homes is always happy to have.
But this weekend is not about buying anything. It is about a hillside, 12 dogs, and a purse on the line. So if you have got Sunday open, point the car west. Buckle up. This is one of the toughest sheepdog trials on earth, it is 40 years old, and it is right here in Colorado where you can actually get to it.