In-person Pilgrimage

Annual Amache Pilgrimage – May 21, 2022

To our Friends and Supporters:

We are currently planning for an in-person Pilgrimage following the typical Pilgrimage schedule, on the Saturday before Memorial Day weekend, May 21, 2022 (synopsis below). We will continue to closely monitor COVID-19 conditions to ensure the event can be held safely and will post any updates as soon as possible.

For more information, contact Calvin Hada at c.hada@comcast.net and view the Pilgrimage flyer.

We hope you and your families have stayed well and safe, and take this opportunity to express our heartfelt gratitude and thanks for your hard work and support. We look forward to reuniting with you as an even stronger community very soon.

Calvin Hada, President
Nikkeijin Kai of Colorado, previously Japanese American Association of Colorado

John Hopper, President
Amache Preservation Society

Pilgrimages to former WWII concentration camps for those of Japanese descent were started in the late 1960s. It took nearly a quarter century for former prisoners and their descendants to question why they had been imprisoned and begin searching for answers. Learn more on the Pilgrimage History page.

The annual Amache Pilgrimage typically takes place on the Saturday before Memorial Day weekend, which this year is May 21, 2022. Two bus pick-up points are available. The first pick-up will board at 6:00AM at Simpson United Methodist Church, 6001 Wolff Street, Arvada 80003; the second pick-up will be 6:30AM at downtown Denver’s Tri-State Buddhist Temple, 1947 Lawrence Street, Denver 80202. Attendees are encouraged to board at Simpson where parking is more plentiful. The roundtrip fee is $30.00. Snacks are provided and continuous educational programs run on overhead bus screens on the restroom equipped vehicle. There is time to share conversation with other passengers, some of whom were forcibly removed to Amache or to one of the nine other major US concentration camps. After a short rest stop in Limon, the bus will arrive at the Amache cemetery at approximately 11:00AM for a brief memorial service and oshoko (offering of incense) to commemorate those who died while imprisoned there or while serving in the US military. Attendees will then meet at Granada Undivided School, where lunch and a short program will be provided, and the bus will re-board by 2:30 for the return trip to Denver; passengers will be dropped off in reverse order of the morning, and can expect to arrive back at Simpson by 6:30-7:00PM.

Bus Information Thanks to generous support from Nikkeijin Kai, the charge for the bus is still just $30 per person. Reservations must be made and paid in advance. For bus reservations view the printable Amache Pilgrimage 2022 Flyer.

For attendees who are arriving by private car, hotels are available in Lamar, Colorado, 17 miles to the west on Highway 50. Staying overnight would give you more time to visit the site and Amache Museum. Another option is visiting the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site, located 35 miles northwest of Amache, where visitors can learn about the woman for whom the Amache Relocation Center was named and her Cheyenne sub-Chief father, Ochinee, who was killed at Sand Creek in 1864, or other area attractions.

For those flying in and renting a car, Colorado Springs is an optional airport that can save close to 100 miles driving distance vs. arriving in Denver. Pilgrims can drive from Colorado Springs south on Interstate 25 to Pueblo, Colorado, then due east on Highway 50 to Amache, planning to arrive at the cemetery by 11:00 a.m. on Saturday.

***FOR THOSE DRIVING PLEASE NOTE: ALTERNATE ROUTE DUE TO PARADE*** This year, the Lamar Days Parade will begin at 9:00 am on May 22, 2020 and will be along the route to Granada from Lamar. To avoid the parade, you can take a back road to Granada that used to be Highway 196 but is now a county road. You will need to turn at the Big Timbers Museum on the big curve that heads to Lamar. That road will take you to a point between Bristol and Granada, Colorado. You will take that road for 17 miles, and then at the stop sign you will turn right to go into Granada. Once in downtown Granada you need to turn right and head back West to the Amache turn off. This road used to be marked but now that it is a county road, it is not marked as well. If you end up in Lamar, you will be waiting for some time. The parade route will start on Highway 50 and move slowly West towards Lamar.