DENVER (KDVR) — While the rest of the state celebrates Cabrini Day on the first Monday of October in lieu of Columbus Day the next week, a Denver metro area county observes its own local holiday to honor its first residents.
In 2020, Colorado lawmakers replaced Columbus Day as a state holiday with Cabrini Day amid a larger national conversation at the time about the legacy of explorer Christopher Columbus’ impact on Indigenous North Americans. Former President Joe Biden in 2021 proclaimed the holiday Indigenous Peoples Day in addition to Columbus Day.
While Colorado has not officially designated Indigenous Peoples Day as a state holiday, in Arapahoe County, local officials have declared the first Monday of October “Arapahoe Day,” honoring the county’s namesake Indigenous people, the Arapaho people, and recognizing their place in the county and state’s history.
The legislation creating Cabrini Day a week before what is typically celebrated as Columbus Day honors the holiday’s namesake, a nun who came to Colorado in 1902 after immigrating to the U.S. from Italy and became a “humanitarian champion of immigrants and children.”
That bill also notes Columbus’ legacy on the Indigenous people he encountered when he first arrived in the Americas.
“In 1492, he was welcomed by the indigenous Taino people to their homeland on the island
of Quiqueya, which Columbus renamed Hispaniola,” the bill states. “Fifty years later, the Taino people had been nearly exterminated by Columbus and his successors.”
The Arapahoe County Board of County Commissioners in 2023 made a proclamation declaring Arapahoe Day to celebrate the culture of the Arapaho people as well as remembering the Sand Creek Massacre.
“As a County we pay tribute to our namesake, the Arapaho Tribe, who lived on these lands long before we became a County, and recognize and celebrate the unique heritage, cultures, languages, contributions, and resiliency and diversity of First Nations,” the board said in the proclamation. “We remember the Sand Creek Massacre where U.S. soldiers attacked and killed 230 peaceful Native people, including Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians, in southeastern Colorado territory, and that for centuries, Indigenous Peoples were forcibly removed from ancestral lands, displaced, assimilated, and banned from worshiping or performing many sacred ceremonies.”
The Sand Creek Massacre is one of the bloodiest days in Colorado history, when on Nov. 9, 1864, American troops killed around 230 Cheyenne and Arapaho people near Fort Lyon in what is now Kiowa County.
“We encourage all people to join us in this special observance, and to recognize the important role our original residence has played and continue to play in the success within Arapahoe County,” the proclamation stated.
All Arapahoe County buildings are closed Monday, as are most other government buildings around the state observing Cabrini Day.
Anthony Sutton is a business strategist and writer with a passion for management, leadership, and entrepreneurship. With years of experience in the corporate world, he shares insights on business growth, strategy, and innovation through management-opleiding.org.
