Great Sand Dunes kicks Red Rocks’ ass

A few years back, visitors to Red Rocks had the opportunity to sign a petition suggesting that the famed amphitheater represent Colorado in the U.S. Mint's state quarters program. Unfortunately, the campaign didn't succeed -- the winning design features a fairly generic mountain backdrop -- and a new "America the...
Carbonatix Pre-Player Loader

Audio By Carbonatix


A few years back, visitors to Red Rocks had the opportunity to sign a petition suggesting that the famed amphitheater represent Colorado in the U.S. Mint’s state quarters program. Unfortunately, the campaign didn’t succeed — the winning design features a fairly generic mountain backdrop — and a new “America the Beautiful” series announced today bypasses the Rocks again in favor of Great Sand Dunes National Park, which will be featured on a coin in 2014. Click here for the complete list of sites across the country, and here for the Mint’s release — and get a preview of the program in the video above, which features powerful narration of the sort that used to accompany ’60s-era film strips.

Yes, Colorado’s winning entry is beautiful — but I’ve still got two important questions about the pick. Is our fair state best known for dunes? (I think not.) And did Bono ever sing there? (If he did, no one filmed it.) Better luck next time, Red Rocks.

GET MORE COVERAGE LIKE THIS

Sign up for the This Week’s Top Stories newsletter to get the latest stories delivered to your inbox

Loading latest posts...