In April, the Town of San Luis was named the winner of a 2025 Colorful Colorado Choice Award, presented by Downtown Colorado Inc., for the San Luis Civic Plaza project. Town officials were not at the conference, so David Land of Ayres accepted the award on their behalf.
Sanderson said the pergola can be adorned with draperies to provide additional shade, and accent lighting can be attached to further enhance the desired festive atmosphere at the plaza.
The plaza also includes planting beds filled with native, drought-tolerant landscaping. And electrical pedestals have been installed to provide access to electricity for lighting, music, food trucks, and other plaza programming needs.
Small town with big tourism dreams
Sanderson said the decision to build the new civic plaza arose from years of discussion among Town officials centered around one key question:“ How do we make San Luis a tourist destination?”
“ That’ s the long-term goal because we need the tourist dollars to help our local businesses,” she said.“ We’ re trying to create a little more activity and excitement in our downtown for local residents and for tourists as well.”
And Sanderson promises that San Luis and its surrounding area offers much for tourists to enjoy.
“ This town is basically a living museum,” she said.“ This is where Colorado began. There is so much history and character here.”
Plaza serves as entryway to major tourist attraction
As a tourist destination, San Luis is best known for its Shrine of the Stations of the Cross, a striking Spanish-Moorish style adobe chapel that sits atop a mesa overlooking the town center. Directly across Main Street from the new civic plaza, visitors can ascend a three-quarter-mile trail leading to the shrine and along the way, admire 15 large bronze sculptures by local artist Huberto Maestas that depict the events surrounding the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
It ' s expected that the new plaza will be a gathering place for visitors to the Stations shrine. In addition,
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