Chaco celebrates 35 years with wedding event in the Poudre canyon

James Johnson-Null and Monica Johnson-Null got married 26 years ago in their Chaco sandals along the waters of the Cache la Poudre River west of Fort Collins, Colorado.

It was a novel and fitting idea for two river rats who met and fell in love on the river while living in northern Colorado.

On Sunday, June 30, the two renewed their vows near the very same spot they married in 1998 during the "Chaco for Life 35th Birthday Celebration" at The Mishawaka in the Poudre Canyon.

James grew up in Loveland, went to college for nursing and was a senior river guide with Rocky Mountain Adventures back then. Monica, hailing from Pennsylvania, had moved to Colorado for graduate school at University of Northern Colorado in Greeley to study Outdoor Adventure Physical Education.

But they both grew up with a love for the outdoors.

They met in the same river raft class James was teaching, hit it off, had their "first date" at the Colorado Brewers Festival in Fort Collins before finally marrying on an easy to remember date — 7-11-98.

"After the brewers festival, it was all down stream from there," Monica said jokingly.

Getting married on the river with Chacos

"Having met on the river, we got married at Mountain Park campground, and (it) was near the first section of river we met on ... in that first raft together ... where he dumped me out into the water...," Monica said.

James had also introduced Monica to 'chacos' even before Chaco was Chaco — they we're known as Geckos in the early days.

They used a decorated raft that said "Just Married" on it, but as James said: "We originally planned to raft away from the ceremony, but the open bar sort of inhibited that."

One uniqueness about Monica's pair of Chaco sandals she wore on their wedding day was the customization of the pair.

"I really wanted white Chacos for the wedding," Monica said. "So I reached out to Chaco and asked 'hey, what do you guys think, we're both raft guides, can you guys make me a white pair?'"

At the time, Chaco was not using white webbing in its sandal designs, but said if Monica sent Chaco the white webbing, they would make her a pair of sandals. And the first-ever white webbing sandals were born.

To further Monica's custom Chacos, she had them beaded by James' best friend Kate for the wedding, personalizing the sandals even more.

The 1-inch webbing, ordered from the climbing department at REI where Monica was working at the time, had to be put on a men's sole due to the thickness of the webbing.

"I wear the sandals every year on our anniversary," Monica said.

Saying 'I love you' again on the river banks of the Poudre

The day had come and couples began arriving at The Mishawaka mid-afternoon on Sunday. The funky tunes from Tall Tall Trees echoed through the narrow canyon as the river flowed behind the stage.

Little kids danced while the adults picked out designs for a new pair of sandals. James and Monica arrived ahead of their 5 p.m., vow-renewal slot to do the same.

"I broke out my wedding dress from 26-years-ago, always hoping there'd be an opportunity to do that, and James is going to wear black, so we'll be pretty much matching like we did that day," Monica said.

Joining them were a few friends from their wedding day, all celebrating the couple's love for each other and Chacos.

As their day started, they hesitated little and went straight to ordering new pairs of sandals and having the florist make a bouquet for Monica and boutonniere for James.

"When Chaco posted the event and I sent it off to James saying, 'what do you think?' he was like 'absolutely, this screams us and is a week and a half before our actual anniversary anyway', and so we joked one day we should renew our vows," Monica said of coming back to Colorado for the event.

Monica and James talked about their collection of Chacos also. Monica said she has about eight pairs, roughly the same for James and even their twin boys have a few pairs — a true Chaco family.

James also talked about his days living in northern Colorado, visiting Mishawaka to see live music, rafting adventures on the Poudre River and once had made a run up to the original Chaco factory in Paonia after guiding on the Colorado River to pick up sandals for the shop.

Shortly before 5 p.m., the announcement was made for the first 17 couples to gather in the green room area and to wait for the queue to enter below the stage for the ceremony.

James and Monica walked down the stairs, Monica's arm through James', and made their way to their mark, with big smiles.

They stood ready to profess their love to one another once again as Jane Smith officiated the vow renewals and wedding ceremony.

The ceremony didn't last long, but as James and Monica lifted their heads after some tears, smiles and kisses, some words from their wedding day in 1998 welled up:

"As long as there is water in this river, I promise to love you."