The end is Sneer

If you’re planning on drinking your winter blues away at Snowdown this year, you’ve likely already been to Magpies Newsstand to grab your board games gear to celebrate. As Snowdown merch central, they have t-shirts, hats, buttons, posters and info pamphlets. Get your butt down there if you haven’t already, as supplies are dwindling! 

However, if you go to Magpie’s in search of the venerable Snowdown Sneer, the satirical newspaper that mysteriously shows up around town (almost) every Snowdown, don't get your hopes up just yet. Not even the Snowdown Board of Directors knows when it will be out. And, despite rumors the Sneer was going all digital this year, unofficial sources (this is the Sneer, after all) say it will be coming out in good, old-fashioned paper form. 

Chip Lile, Snowdown board president, says the Sneer “usually just kinda shows up.” 

An anonymous group compiles the Sneer each year. At some point in time it was associated with Snowdown’s management team, but over the years an unknown group of locals has taken on the mission, he said. 

“We are aware of it, we appreciate it, but we have nothing to do with it,” said Lile in a wise move to deflect any criticism or confrontations with those lampooned in its pages. (Although, it’s a well-known fact, you haven’t really made it in Durango until you make it into the Sneer.)

After the Sneer’s hiatus in 2023, Snowdown fans were thrilled to get their hands on a copy of the 2024 edition of the beloved Onion-esque tabloid. Hopefully, they will be able to add the 2025 edition to their collection. 

“Snowdown is such a beautiful thing in our community,” said Lile. “There are so many people working behind the scenes who have so much passion for it.” 

So there you have it – sort of. In the past, it’s been available at Magpies or as a special section in the Durango Herald. Keep your eyes peeled.

– Maddy Gleason