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Valley Calendar

MONTE VISTA � The Potato Festival, with potatoes, crafts, antique tractor display, vendors, tours, games, chef competition, mashed potato dunk tank and music, will be held on Saturday, September 10 at Fullenwider Park in Monte Vista from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Free topped baked potatoes will be served from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and a mashed potato dunk tank will be set up at 3 p.m. At 4 p.m., activities will move to Chapman Park for more events until 7 p.m., with live music, more food and the potato sling shot competition. Call Debbie Garcia at 852-5700 or Linda Weyers at 852-3322. CREEDE � The Creede Arts Council is sponsoring the 8th annual Silver Thread Studio tour from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday Sept. 10. Visitors can drive from South Fork through historic Creede towards Lake City. Local artists will welcome visitors into their home studios or galleries. There will be brochure maps available at the Chamber of Commerce in Creede and at the South Fork Visitors Center and Wild River Jewelry. There is no charge. BLANCA � Northern Costilla County Committee for R-30 Mill Levy Override will host a spaghetti dinner to benefit Referendum 3A Mill Levy Override Initiative with Los Relampagos Del Fuerte and Deztello Norteno performing at Sierra Grande School on Saturday, Sept. 10, from 6-8 p.m. in the Sierra Grande School Auditorium. There is no charge. Donations accepted. SAND DUNES � Artist in Residence Joseph Palmerio will demonstrate and discuss �plein air� landscape painting at Great Sand Dunes National Park on September 10 from 9-11 a.m. free of charge on the Visitor Center�s large porch. (Regular entrance fees to the park are $3 per adult, and free for children under 16.) Call Patrick Myers at 378-6343. ALAMOSA �Fire departments in the San Luis Valley are planning a special September 11 Memorial that will include a silent procession, ceremony and stair climb. Fire trucks and police vehicles will meet at Alamosa Fire Department Station 1, 425 Fourth St., Alamosa. At 9:30 a.m.

Cheapest Places To Live: Texas

) I have received many comments and emails regarding how great it is to live in Texas on a budget. Texas came in at number 2 on my original post but I thought it would be awesome to publish some of the readers real experiences, as I have never been to Texas, and go into a little more detail.

Reader Comments and Mail About Cheap Living In Texas:

“I found Texas to be very reasonable I had a PULTE premiere home built for $188000. The taxes were $4400 every thing else was inexpensive beer in a restaurant was between 2.50 and 3.00 mexican food was good and cheap. people were friendly and didn’t beep the horn if you didnt jump at a light. there is no state tax but off the book jobs don’t exist. Car insurance was half the price of New York and electric was less than New York.”

“I currently live in Texas, born and raised, and the housing is extremely cheap here. I work in the culinary industry, and have been recently looking for a place up north to broaden my experience. From what I’ve seen, the cost of living is just ridiculous. I guess it’s just because I’m used to everything being so cheap down here, but I’m seriously starting to reconsider, because I wont have much cash left over at the end of the month for anything other than eating, and gas money. Some of the other comments kind of put Texas in a bad light though. I have done a lot of traveling, and I’ve found that generally speaking the people here are very nice. It’s a family friendly atmosphere, and it’s very community based. I also am an Atheist, and even though most people here are Christian I have never in anyway felt pressured to adopt Christianity. Of course you might find someone every now and then that wants to strike up an argument, but I’ve found that if you just say you would rather not talk about it because it only causes stress, they will generally agree and you can go back to having a good time. Also, with the “corrupt” police issue, I can say from experience that police here are not corrupt. They are however very strict, and can at times be overly intimidating. If you don’t break the law, you wont have anything to worry about. One of my best friends that lived down here for most of his life recently moved up to Maine, and he said that the police up there were much worse. Overall it’s a very friendly place to live, and I plan on staying.