Visibility worsened in the Grand Valley on Saturday after a dusty sunset, above, the previous day, as seen over Colorado National Monument. Strong winds from the west resumed, kicking up more dust. Smoke from a rapidly growing wildfire to the south, in western Montrose County, added to the haze.

Two-year-old Eli Felcman and his mother Nikki Felcman are greeted by Geno the Clown at the 67th annual Western Colorado Shrine Club Circus Friday morning at the Mesa County Fairgrounds. Two shows are offered Friday and Saturday at 10 a.m. and 8 p.m.

The last light of the day washes over the red rock cliffs of Fisher Towers in Utah, with a reflection in the Colorado River below.

Baseball player Robert Baker with the Cisco College team hands back an autographed baseball to Layton Hansen, 6, of Grand Junction that had been signed by all the players at the table while Dylan Roahrig, 10, waits with his own autographed baseball for his friend to move to the next group of players.

These two baby turtle doves were perched in a tree along South 7th Street in Grand Junction as the mother sat close by checking out the photographer.

Bonnie Stenger’s yard was dirt and gravel when she and her husband Dennis bought their G Road home more than five years ago. Through the years they have shifted soil, created walkways, planted, transplanted, watered and weeded to create their garden, which is part of the 21st annual Grand Valley Garden Tour set for June 2–3.

“I see things I like, so I plant it,” Bonnie Stenger says. “I think the secret with gardening is not everything’s going to make it, so you just have to accept that and be willing to try.”

Firefighters with the Grand Junction Fire Department work putting out a training fire in an abandoned building at the corner of Ninth Street at Struthers Avenue in Grand Junction on Thursday afternoon.

Glade Park Community School’s musician-in-residence Deb Bukala sings a John Denver song for the gathering of students, their families aand friends, and the school’s staff during the end of the year celebration and graduation of the school’s first fifth grade class at the amphitheater near Fruita Reservoir #1 on Thursday.

Elizabeth Leming shakes hands with school board member Harry Butler, after winning an award at the Opportunity Center during the school year-end celebration. at the Opportunity Center, 1129 Colorado Ave.

Outfielder Robbie Dodds, left, of the Spartanberg Methodist College Pioneers uses a young admirer’s back to sign the boy’s new clinic T-shirt as several members of the South Carolina team stay late after the JUCO Kids Clinic to sign autographs.

Best friends Katlyn Erwin, left, and Rebekah Gallegos, both 9, enjoy bowls of vanilla Ice cream topped with chocolate syrup and whipped cream at Wednesday’s ice cream social at Scenic Elementary School. The two girls are in the third grade at the school.

Eighth-grade students at Redlands Middle School scream and cringe as a blast of cold water hits them from a hose held by science teacher Chris Emmons. The Grand Junction Fire Department provided the hose and water from a hydrant to soak the entire grade of students at the school.

A couple watches the solar eclipse from Antelope Point with the water of Lake Powell and Antelope Island in the foreground.

Views of the solar eclipse from Lake Powell

Brett LaBonte, right, Dillon Fante, center, and Owen Taylor of the Grand Junction baseball team rub a special mud Wednesday into the leather of the 40 dozen baseballs that will be used during the Junior College World Series at Suplizio Field.

Visitors received free hotdogs under the stands in the concession area.

Jamie Hamilton hands a signed ball to Pat Hutchinson.  Home Run Heros for the year were from left, Pat Hutchinson, Tom Worster and Lynne Sorlye

Construction work on Hwy 6 & 50 at 25 Road in GJ.

Sarah Shrader, second from right, reacts to the proposed Mesa County Valley School District #51 budget cuts as District Superintendent Steven Schultz gives a presentation during Tuesday’s school board meeting at Basil T. Knight Center.

Hikers pause along the Navajo Loop Trail’s Wall Street switchbacks below Sunset Point to take photos or admire the majestic giant hoodoos, which are eroded limestone formations, in Bryce Canyon National Park.

Jamie Hamilton, tournament chairman of the Junior College World Series, receives an oversized check from Grand Junction Lions Club member, Sean Hazelhurst in the Lincoln Park Tower Tuesday afternoon.

Public safety building

Boland Unfug, 10, catches up with Governor Hickenlooper at the old courthouse where his Legislative Assistant Cally King, right, sorts bills he is about to sign. Boland’s mom, County Administrator Chantal Unfug, was on his staff when he was Denver’s mayor.

Katie Anes and Callie Gafford at Confluence Park

A prairie dog looks curiously as cars pass on 29 Road where this rodent has a burrow. These animals are a type of ground squirrel found in both rural and urban areas and are common along roadways in Grand Junction.

Grand Junction City Park and Recreation crew members hang a JUCO banner on the side of the new sports tower at Suplizio Field.

Gov. John Hickenlooper speaks Sunday evening at St. Martin Place, a new 16-unit complex for homeless veterans in Grand Junction. He congratulated local agencies for their efforts to eradicate homelessness.

Gov. John Hickenlooper in Mesa County

Patti Virden, principal of Rocky Mountain Elementary School, poses with members of the Grand Junction Gladiators Monday morning.

Donna Drexler, left, leads a group dancers at The Prom, the 6th annual party for mentally and physically challenged individuals at Two Rivers Sunday night.

Kali Gromki, 17, approves of her hairdo as she raises her arms in joy at the Fellowship Church where many of the prom attendees had their hair nails and makeup done.

Mercedes Castor fits a necklace for Teresa Carnahan at Mesa Developmental Services while getting ready for the Prom.

Jerry Stehman is the owner of Jerry’s Outdoor Sports, 507 30 Road, and is moving the store across the I-70 Business Loop

Tyler Wallace, one of three valedictorians for the class of 2012, speaks Sunday during commencement exercises at Montrose High School.

Strengthened by the power of a newly received diploma, Parker Peterson shows some bicep at Rifle High School’s graduation Sunday.

Photos by Dennis Webb—Heidi Acosta applauds for classmates Sunday at Rifle High School’s graduation. Acosta said she worried about her prospects for graduating after getting poor grades her freshman year. But she buckled down with encouragement from teachers and her parents, and will go on to college, with plans to study youth education.BELOW: Rifle graduate Parker Peterson demonstrates the power of a newly received diploma. Commencement speakers invoked humor Sunday, and hit a somber note in remembering a class member who died last year after contracting the flu.

A beaming Annie McNeel hugs Coal Ridge High School principal David Morgan upon receiving her diploma Sunday.

Coal Ridge High School 2012 class president Jaime Cisneros Magana smiles in amazement as he views the Sunday evening solar eclipse through a welder’s glass after the graduation ceremony. BELOW: Annie McNeel hugs Coal Ridge High School principal David Morgan upon receiving her diploma Sunday. Ninety graduates received diplomas during commencement exercises at the high school east of Silt.