UPDATED Editors note: John passed away Dec. 8 after sustaining multiple injuries in a car accident on Nov. 12. Please give here if you are able. Thank you. COOPER THE WHOOPER, a pile of welded and painted farm tools and spare parts, stands on U.S. 160 in the center of Monte Vista. Cooper was my first sighting of John Patterson’s “Farm Art.” Not everyone knows that, once upon a time, Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge hoped to be a location for the recovery of the endangered whooping crane. The first ever Monte Vista Crane Festival in 1984 was held to ...
