In most of the country, a garage is where the car sleeps. In Fruita, it’s the trailhead — where the bikes hang, the raft dries, and the dog waits. It’s the door your family actually uses.
I’ve spent two decades looking at the largest moving object in American homes, and nothing works harder than a garage in this valley. Wind that sandblasts everything it touches. Grit in every moving part. Triple digits in July, single digits in January.
So I look at houses differently than most people. At the end of this month, all of us get to look at fifteen of them.
The 45th Annual Parade of Homes runs September 25–27 and October 2–4 — fifteen homes, six days, throughout the valley and right here in Fruita. It’s self-guided, and it’s the Housing & Building Association of Western Colorado’s fundraiser for attainable housing.
Here’s my honest suggestion. Most people tour a Parade home and look at the countertops. Countertops are easy to love and easy to replace. Spend your attention somewhere else.
Look at the transitions. Anyone can make the middle of a wall look good. Craftsmanship lives at the handoffs — where tile meets wood, where trim meets drywall. Those seams tell you whether a builder ran a jobsite or just scheduled one.
Look at what has to survive Fruita. Ask what was specified for this valley versus what came out of a catalog. Window seals, exterior finishes, weatherstripping. Our wind and our UV are the reason a component rated for twenty years elsewhere gives you eight here.
Look at what moves. This is my bias and I’ll own it. A garage door weighs two to four hundred pounds and cycles about 1,500 times a year — the biggest, heaviest, most-used machine in the house, and the one thing nobody inspects. So ask: Is it insulated, and what’s the real R-value? What’s the cycle rating on the springs? Was the opener sized for that door, or was it whatever fit the bid?
You’re not being difficult. You’re being a good customer. The trades a builder chooses for the parts you don’t see are the truest thing you’ll learn about them all day.
That’s the real reason to go — not the finishes, the people. These builders are our neighbors, and this is the one weekend a year they’ll stand in a room and answer anything you ask.
Kooler Garage Doors is proud to sponsor this year’s Parade of Homes Scavenger Hunt. Your entry form is inside the Parade magazine you receive with your ticket. Complete it as you tour, then drop it off at our shop at 595 25 Road or at a Parade Home — the HBA is awarding a $500 gift card to the winner. Come say hello.
Tickets are $20 per person, on sale at gjparade.com and at Grand Junction–area Safeway stores; one ticket covers both weekends. Questions about the 45th Annual Parade? Call the HBA of Western Colorado at 970-245-0253.
Matt Kuehlhorn is the founder of Kooler Garage Doors, serving the Grand Valley. He believes a home should give you certainty, not surprises.
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