The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel: A special event
More than 1,100 Special Olympics athletes (including their “unified partners” and coaches) from around the state converged on Grand Junction last weekend, dwarfing the number of junior college baseball players who competed in the Alpine Bank Junior College World Series earlier this spring.
It was the seventh straight year Grand Junction has hosted the Colorado Special Olympics State Games with events taking place at Stocker Stadium and Colorado Mesa University. While it’s not quite the institution that JUCO has become (60 years at Suplizio Field), the State Games has become a tradition that we hope will continue here for years to come.
There’s the obvious economic benefit of having people from all over the state spending a long weekend in town. But more impressive is the way the community comes together to support these special athletes, for whom the opportunity to compete is just as prized as the prospect of winning an event.

