Best Photos of 2024
A full year in the Grand Valley and 5,800 edited photos (memories and moments) later, here are the best photos of 2024! Coalition of best overall photos, interesting assignments and most newsworthy events. Big thanks to all in the community, wouldn't really be able to do my job without the connections you've all helped cultivate, and trusting me and the Daily Sentinel to tell your stories.
Friends and family members of Mitch Meil, including childhood friend Austin Shepherd, holding onto the bumper, skate along First Street and North Avenue and while holding signs showing Meil’s face during a procession for their recently passed away “big bro” of the Grand Valley skating community, as described by friends, in Grand Junction, CO, on Feb. 1, 2024. Skaters held onto the backs and sides of cars, locked arms, and skated to attend the viewing at Martin Mortuary.
An inmate serving time in the Mesa County Jail shows her excitement at receiving a Christmas gift full of sweets and food that inmates otherwise can’t get in the jail, gifted to all inmates from the Mesa County Jail Ministry volunteers on Dec. 20, 2024
Colorado Mesa University student Vivianna Garcia, left, senior in the Animation, Film, Photography and Motion Design program, draws a caricature for Grand Junction High School students Kiera Reuss, middle left, and Madelyn Woodring during the annual Artober Fest on CMU’s campus on Oct. 18, 2024. Artober Fest, open to university students, high schoolers and community members alike, gives the opportunity for local college artists to show their talents with live displays and make a little profit off of their work by selling printed shirts and other pieces of artwork.
Contracted wranglers move toward a limping wild horse and its foal after the horse broke one of its back legs while running away from a helicopter during a Bureau of Land Management wild horse roundup in the Little Book Cliffs Wild Horse Range on Sept. 18, 2024. The horse, a 24-year-old mare who BLM said had poor body condition score, was euthanized soon after suffering the injury. Around 98 of over 220 hundred horses were removed from the range to meet the BLM's appropriate management level of around 100-120 horses. The removed horses will be fostered and put up for adoption.
Judah Frost, 15, left, pushes the ball over the net while his teammates splash around during the 2nd annual Dirty Classic Mud Volleyball Tournament at Cottonwood Park in Delta on July 5, 2024
Colorado Mesa players, including, Christian Speller, middle, celebrate and drink water from the Nyikos Cup after defeating Colorado School of Mines and winning the trophy back for the first time since 2021 after a game at Stocker Stadium on Oct. 5, 2024.
An aerial photograph of the Dolores River Canyon area taken from a plane during a flight with EcoFlight to photograph and survey the area proposed to become a national monument designation and Colorado’s largest national monument, a proposal that comes with pushback from locals, on Aug. 28, 2024.
Grand Junction’s Mathias Martinez, left, celebrates with Mason Anderson after a touchdown during the Tigers’ 48-13 rout of Gateway at Stocker Stadium on Oct. 4.
Colorado Department of Transportation workers and trucks, the Colorado State Patrol and various power companies joined in a funeral procession that drove from Grand Junction through Palisade in remembrance of Trent Umberger as well as Nate Jones, two CDOT employees who were killed in a crash while on duty in early September just outside of Palisade, photo taken on Sept. 11, 2024. Jones' CDOT procession through Grand Junction and Orchard Mesa followed a few weeks later.
Cal Carone, 4, smiles after petting Reese Murphy’s pig named “Haze” pig at the Mesa County Fair at the Mesa County Fairgrounds on July 18.
Former Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters speaks directly to the prosecution during her sentencing for election interference at the Mesa County District Court on Oct. 3, 2024. She was sentenced to nearly 9 years in prison.
Noah Stokes, who won gold in his weight class, lets out a celebratory scream after successfully deadlifting 295 pounds on his second attempt of three during the second day of the Special Olympics State Summer Games at Colorado Mesa University on June 8, 2024.
Ogoe, left, is embraced by Laura McLean after receiving her medal for first place in a freestyle race during second day of the Special Olympics State Summer Games at Colorado Mesa University on June 8, 2024.
Lala, a 16-year-old horse, shares an expressive smile alongside her rider, Rhiannon Row, during a dressage competition at the Mesa County Fairgrounds on June 1, 2024.
Colorado was one of many states to claim witness to the Aurora Borealis on May 11, 2024, better known as the Northern Lights, as a geometric storm colored the sky nearly every shade of the rainbow, stretching even as far down as south Alabama and Florida. Photo taken around 2:45 a.m. atop Colorado National Monument overlooking the Fruita area of the Grand Valley.
Georgia Highlands players celebrate at home plate after advancing to the semifinals of the Alpine Bank Junior College World Series with a walk off RBI-home run over Blinn College in a 15-14 thriller at Suplizio Field on May 29, 2024.
Colorado Mesa University students gathered to call for peace and protest against the increasing escalation of the Israel military in and around the Gaza Strip on CMU’s campus on May 10, 2024. Student chants called out CMU president John Marshall by name, as the students follow suit of protest groups on other U.S. college campuses and ask for the university to divest from supporting or funding groups with ties to Israel. CMU students specifically call for the university to divest from Northrop Grumman, who critics say is supplying weapons to Israel.
Aaron Frandsen, 15, has his reflection bounced off of a shiny piano while playing violin inside his family’s music room for a posed photo on Jan. 9, 2024. Frandsen has bilateral cochlear implants that allow him to hear and feel music in unique ways.
Around 30 Trump supporters gathered at Mesa Mall in Grand Junction, CO, for a ride-along parade with former state Rep. Republican Ron Hanks in support of former President Donald Trump only two days after his guilty verdict of 34 felony counts, photo on June 1, 2024.
Cameron Abshear reaches for a handhold for a posed photo on July 25, 2024, while practicing at Grip Bouldering as he prepares for the 2024 IFSC Youth World Championships in late August in Guiyang, China. Abshear, who has been climbing for more than 10 years, went from finishing near last in 57th in a national competition two years ago, to finishing fourth in this year’s competition
More than 300 students in grades 4 through 8 from around the Grand Valley competed with robots that they designed, built and programmed to complete specific tasks during the LEGO League Challenge at Fruita Monument High School in Fruita, CO, on Nov. 16, 2024
A rainbow shines over Grand Junction during a warm spring day after a short rain shower on May 12, 2024.
Liam Brearley does a trick during the Men’s Snowboard Big Air competition at the 2024 X Games in Aspen on Jan. 27, 2024.
City crews work to cut up a large tree blocking both south bound lanes of 12th St. at the intersection of 12th and Patterson Avenue after high winds snapped the tree at the base of the trunk during a severe thunderstorm that flooded roads, dropped pea to dime size hail and caused widespread wind damage in Grand Junction, CO, on June 20, 2024.
