No more Columbus Day Boulder Announces 2025 Indigenous Peoples Day Events
Oct 2nd
Boulder replaced Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day to acknowledge the devastating impact of colonization and honor the resilience and continued existence of Indigenous peoples. The movement to replace the holiday gained traction due to recognition of Christopher Columbus’s record of enslavement and violence against native populations and was supported by community members and Indigenous leaders. 
Events honor the existence, culture and contributions of the original inhabitants of North America.
BOULDER, Colo. – Each year, the City of Boulder provides support to organizations that recognize Indigenous Peoples Day through events and celebrations honoring the existence, culture and contributions of the original inhabitants of North America. Through this support, the city and its community partners work to promote knowledge about Indigenous Peoples and honor the city’s Indigenous Peoples Day Resolution. The City of Boulder recognizes the second Monday in October each year as Indigenous Peoples Day.
This year, the city’s Housing and Human Services department and Office of Arts and Culture have provided funding for several community events to celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day 2025. Community events are free and open to the public. Find information provided by event organizers below.
- Sunday, Oct. 12 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. – Breaking Barriers to Native Education For All
- Where: Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut Street, Boulder, CO, 80302
- Details: Right Relationship Boulder Presents Indigenous Peoples’ Day 2025: “Breaking Barriers to Native Education for All.” This event will foster cross-generational connections through Native-led panels, art, education, and healing activities, highlighting local Native voices and perspectives. Attendees will engage with interactive discussions, a Native art market, education resource fair, and food vendors, while learning to support Native-designed curricula and commit to building lasting, inclusive community relationships.
- Free tickets are recommended but not required.
Sunday, Oct. 12 from time 12 to 6 p.m. – Indigenous People’s Day Celebration
- Where: Mi Chantli, 1750 30th St. Boulder, CO 80301
- Details: La Vecindad presents an Indigenous People’s Day Celebration that will feature art, music, dance, food, workshops, and storytelling to honor and reclaim Indigenous heritage, language, and wisdom. Highlights include Danza Azteca, bookmaking and printmaking workshops, a tamale tasting competition, tortilla-making stations, traditional foods, community elder talks, and a performance by Los Mocochetes.
- Sunday, Oct. 12 from 2 to 5 p.m. – Indigenous People’s Day: Games, Poetry, and Ancestral Mathematics
- Where: Museum of Boulder, 2205 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80302
- Details: Presented by Luna Cultura, this event will include food and live music; a lecture on Mother Earth teachings from Indigenous oral tradition; a poetry and storytelling workshop; an ancestral mathematics session creating the Nepohualtzintzin; play-based healing activities; and community connection time with closing reflections. It celebrates Indigenous Peoples’ Day by honoring Indigenous legacies in science, art, and literature while fostering intercultural, intergenerational dialogue and blending art and science for holistic personal and community well-being.
- Register online.
- Sunday, Oct. 19 at 6 p.m. – The Boulder Roots Music Festival – Indigenous People’s Day Showcase
- Where: Savannah Bee Company Stage, 1222 Pearl St, Boulder, CO 80302
- Details: Presented by Roots Music Project, this event will include performances by Indigenous artists, showcasing diverse cultural music traditions and personal stories to amplify Indigenous voices. This programming will create an accessible, vibrant space for the community to deepen appreciation of Indigenous culture and its influence on contemporary music.
In 2016, the Human Relations Commission and community members drafted the Indigenous Peoples Day Resolution (Resolution No. 1190), which was presented at the Aug. 2, 2016, Boulder City Council meeting and adopted by the City of Boulder. It declared the second Monday of October of each year to be Indigenous Peoples Day. The resolution also guides the city’s ongoing collaboration with American Indian Tribal Nations and ongoing work to correct omissions of Indigenous Peoples’ presence in places, resources and cultural programming.
For additional information about Indigenous Peoples Day visit the city’s website.
The City of Boulder appreciates the opportunity to listen and learn from American Indian Tribal Nations who are collaborating with the city on several ongoing projects, including the proposed new Healing Trail that has a community connection to the Sand Creek Massacre. For information on the city’s ongoing collaboration with Tribal Nations, please visit our Tribal Engagement and Consultation webpage.
U.S Government Shut down at Midnight: Effects on Boulder
Sep 30th
A government shutdown has a significant and direct impact on Boulder, particularly due to the city’s large concentration of federal labs and employees. The effects ripple through the local economy, from missed paychecks for federal workers to disruptions in scientific research and local businesses.
Impacts on federal employees and contractors
- Furloughs and missed paychecks: Boulder is home to a dozen federally funded research labs and approximately 1,700 federal employees, along with thousands more whose jobs are tied to federal funding. Furloughed employees will miss paychecks, creating economic hardship for many families.
- Federal contractors: Unlike direct federal employees, government contractors are not guaranteed back pay once a shutdown ends. This places many contractors in aerospace, defense, and research industries in a precarious financial situation.
- Potential layoffs: Recent reporting has indicated that mass layoffs of federal employees have already occurred in some agencies in the region, with more potentially coming during a shutdown.
Impacts on research and science
- Boulder’s federal labs: Prominent federal facilities in Boulder, including those at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), are heavily affected.
- Furloughs and staffing cuts will stall critical scientific research.
- Reports indicate that budget cuts have already affected these facilities, leading to a “brain drain” of talented scientists seeking more stable employment.
- University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder): A significant amount of research funding for CU Boulder comes from federal agencies like NASA, the National Science Foundation, and the National Institutes of Health.
- Since early 2025, CU Boulder has faced cancellations and pauses on dozens of grants, totaling tens of millions of dollars in lost funding.
- A shutdown would further exacerbate this, delaying projects, affecting students, and potentially driving faculty and researchers away.
Economic and community impacts
- Local businesses: With federal workers missing paychecks, local businesses—including restaurants and retail stores—will see a drop in consumer spending. Colorado’s governor, Jared Polis, has stated that shutdowns have historically caused billions of dollars in lost economic activity.
- Small business loans: The Small Business Administration (SBA) will not process new loans for small businesses, putting a hold on financial support for many local entrepreneurs.
- Social services: Programs that rely on federal funding, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), could see their funding dry up, though the governor has taken steps to secure some state funding to cover the gap.
Visitor services and national parks
- Rocky Mountain National Park: Governor Polis has expressed willingness to use limited state funds to keep Rocky Mountain National Park open, as it is a major economic driver for the state. In previous shutdowns, the closure of national parks hurt local economies.
- Essential services: Some services, such as air traffic control and weather forecasting, are generally considered essential and are expected to continue, though delays and maintenance issues can arise in a prolonged shutdown.
Certain government services are not affected by a government shutdown either because they are deemed essential for public safety or because their funding is not dependent on annual appropriations. While essential federal employees must continue working, their pay is withheld until the shutdown ends.
Services funded by mandatory spending
These are programs funded by permanent law, not annual appropriations, so they continue without interruption.
- Social Security: Payments for Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) continue to be paid. However, non-critical administrative tasks, such as benefit verification and issuing replacement Social Security cards, may be suspended.
- Medicare and Medicaid: Benefits and payments for Medicare and Medicaid continue normally, though some services could be slowed by staffing shortages.
- Other benefits: Veterans benefits (including health care services, disability, and pension payments) and unemployment benefits are generally unaffected.
- SNAP: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits continue in the short term, though a prolonged shutdown could threaten payments.
Essential services for public safety
These services are legally required to continue, with essential employees working without pay during the shutdown.
- Law enforcement and border security: The FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and other federal law enforcement agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), continue operations.
- Military: All active-duty military personnel, along with Reservists on active duty, must continue working.
- Air travel: Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers, and air traffic controllers continue to work. A prolonged shutdown could cause delays due to workers calling out.
- Emergency and medical care: Inpatient and emergency medical care, including VA medical facilities, remains operational.
- Disaster relief: The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will continue to respond to emergencies.
- Critical health activities: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will continue to handle drug and device recalls, monitor foodborne illnesses, and respond to other imminent public health threats.
Fee-funded and independent services
Services funded by fees or that operate independently from the annual appropriations process can continue.
- U.S. Postal Service: As a self-funded entity, the USPS is not impacted by a shutdown, and mail delivery continues as usual.
- Consular and immigration services: Passport, visa, and other consular services primarily funded by user fees are expected to continue. However, staffing issues could cause delays, especially during a longer shutdown.
Impacted services
Some services may experience partial impacts or be threatened if a shutdown is prolonged:
- WIC: Funding for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) could run out quickly, potentially within a week, threatening benefits for families.
- Student Loans and Pell Grants: While disbursements may continue briefly using carryover funds, staffing reductions will cause delays in processing, and a prolonged shutdown could exhaust funding.
- Small Business Administration (SBA): The SBA would stop processing new business loans.
- National Parks: Although parks often remain physically accessible, visitor centers close, and services like trash collection and road maintenance stop.
However, if Trump shuts down NIST, NOAA, and NCAR. that will be a loss of 30,000 jobs @$200,000. ea and a lost of 6 Billions dollars annually to the Boulder Economy this is the tsunami the city is not prepared for
