Rico Town Park Wins Colorado Lottery Starburst Award, Pump Track Coming This Summer

Nearly $595,000 in Great Outdoors Colorado money arrived in Rico in March 2024 for a brownfield park project that, two years on, still lists a dirt pump track as a summer construction target rather than a finished feature. The Colorado Lottery handed the town a 2026 Starburst Award on April 2, recognizing the Rico Town Park and Recreation Hub as one of 18 projects statewide deemed exceptional uses of Lottery proceeds. The award does not come with additional funding.

Tom Seaver, Senior Executive Director of the Colorado Lottery, described the program's purpose plainly: "The Starburst Awards highlight projects that show the real impact of Lottery dollars across Colorado." For Rico, a Dolores County mountain town with limited commercial activity, the recognition matters both symbolically and as evidence of a multi-source funding strategy that assembled state dollars from at least two programs. Town Manager Chauncey McCarthy confirmed that projects drawing from GOCO or the Conservation Trust Fund, which distributes Lottery proceeds, can qualify for Starburst consideration, establishing that Rico tapped both streams to finance the park.

What those combined dollars have produced so far, and what remains unbuilt, has not been publicly accounted for. McCarthy told reporters the pump track is scheduled for construction this summer but provided no completion date, cost breakdown, or contractor. The $594,990 GOCO grant is nearly two years old, and Rico has not disclosed a project budget or spending summary showing the current state of work.

The economic rationale for the investment depends on outcomes that have not been publicly defined. The park, built on a remediated brownfield, is positioned as a year-round outdoor recreation hub capable of broadening seasonal visitation and supporting nearby small businesses. The Economic Development Council of Colorado named Rico its Small Community of the Year in 2025, crediting park improvements and the town's acquisition of a community church building. Both that recognition and the Starburst Award measure reputational progress; neither documents visitor counts, event-days booked, or revenue generated.

Maintenance and operating costs represent the funding gap state grants typically leave behind. A pump track, parking, and multi-use park infrastructure require ongoing upkeep that GOCO and Conservation Trust Fund grants do not cover once construction closes. Rico has not disclosed a long-term maintenance budget or identified a dedicated operations funding source, a cost that will eventually land on local taxpayers.

The brownfield conversion itself is real progress: remediating a contaminated site and preparing it for public use is expensive, complicated work, and Rico completed that foundation. Back-to-back statewide recognitions confirm the project has traction. The next accountability test is concrete. McCarthy's office should publicly commit to a specific, measurable benchmark, whether seasonal visitor totals, event bookings, or documented revenue impact on businesses along Rico's commercial core, and report against it on a defined schedule so residents and grant administrators can judge whether the public investment performed as promised.