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Bag of Books for $8, 1993 Prices at GCB, Elvis Music, and Mischievous Halloweens Past

Fall Foliage in the Golden Cemetery – click to enlarge

Last Day of the Month

Many thanks to the people who sponsored GoldenToday for the month of October! Please consider sponsoring us for November–or signing up for a regular monthly contribution. It’s easy to set up a monthly payment (and just as easy to stop it, if you change your mind). Click here to find out how.

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Virtual Events

1:30PM Creature Features Marathon
Skipping the Halloween parties?  Staying in with the porch light off? A fan of “bad” horror movies? Well, do we have a  Treat for you…no Tricks! Halloween Eve and Halloween Day starting at 1:30 p.m. Also, vintage creepy Halloween cartoons!  And classic classroom Halloween safety films. Golden Community Television – Also streaming on https://gco.tv


Non-Halloween Events

10AM-3PM Brunch at the Rose @ Buffalo Rose
12PM CSM Women’s Soccer – Orediggers vs Colorado Mesa @ Marv Kay Stadium
2PM The Crucible @ Miners Alley Playhouse
11AM-5PM Fall Whale of a Used Book Sale @ Jefferson County Fairgrounds


Halloween Events

Anniversary/Halloween Party @ Golden City Brewery – click to enlarge

11AM 28th Anniversary & Halloween Party – $2 pints and $4 growler fills! @ Golden City Brewery
11AM Halloween @ Mountain Toad Brewing
12-2PM Halloween Trick or Treat @ Gateway Village (map)
1-4PM Lariat Loop Halloween Hill Climb and Brews @ Beverly Heights Park and Mountain Toad Brewing
1:30PM Costume Contest for Kids @ Launch Espresso Food Spirits
2-3PM Dog Halloween Costume Contest @ The Golden Mill
2-3PM Halloween Costume Parade @ The Golden Library (map)

5-8PM Trick or Treat So Golden Can Eat
This year, Mines Undergraduate Student Government (USG) is partnering with three different local organizations to donate non-perishable food items to those in need: BGoldN, Christian Action Guild, Calvary Church.

6-11PM Halloween Extravaganza & Elvis Costume Contest @ The Buffalo Rose
Live Music by Shelvis and the Roustabouts. Dance floor is open!


Live Music

4PM DJ & Sax @ Buffalo Rose (Sky Bar Stage)
5PM Jenny and the Owl @ Goosetown Station
8PM Karaoke Contest at Ace Hi Tavern
8PM Shelvis & The Roustabouts @ Buffalo Rose (main venue)


Golden History Moment

Trick or Treating at the Mortuary – 2010 – click to enlarge

58 Years Ago
The October 31, 1963 Colorado Transcript included an editorial expressing approval for the practice of trick-or-treating. The editors felt that it was a good alternative to the recurring vandalism of earlier Halloweens.

Time was, not too many years ago, when soaped windows and spilled garbage cans were as inevitable as the dawn of the morning following Halloween. Dad would most likely have to get the ladder out and bring the fence gate down from the roof the house and the little “buildings” [outhouses] had to be set upright before normal family routines could be resumed. There was also a great deal of vandalism, probably far more than today.

About 25 years ago things began to change. Kids were stopped from a window-soaping job by the offer of a kindly housewife to exchange some cookies or candy in exchange for the youngster’ promise to lay off the soap.

As the years passed this nice custom developed into quite a thing. Kids didn’t even take soap along with them any longer–they were too busy collecting goodies in pillow cases, shopping bags or anything else for all the booty they collected while making the rounds. “Tricks or Treats” was the option, and most households paid off.
Colorado Transcript
– October 31, 1963

A review of earlier Transcripts provides plenty of evidence of the referenced mischief:

1915 – 4 persons injured in a Halloween “auto party”
1926 – a reward offered for the return of an iron gate taken on Halloween
1927 – soaped windows and “roughness” on the part of larger boys
1929 – playground equipment destroyed, windows soaped
1933 – pranksters’ fires menace property

Perhaps the men who have boasted to their sons of their youthful Hallowe’en pranks now regret it.
Colorado Transcript –
October 31, 1929

Cartoon courtesy of the Friends of the National World War II Memorial

In 1942, there was a national campaign, asking students to put a stop to Halloween vandalism as a gesture to helping with the war effort. It seems to have been successful in Golden–the Chamber wrote letters to the schools afterwards, thanking the students for the “patriotic” Halloween.

The anti-vandalism efforts continued after the War. In 1958, the Jefferson County Student Council promoted a “Be The Best, Not The Worst on October 31st” campaign.

With the onset of the Baby Boom, adults began to take charge of Halloween. Instead of letting kids run around town, pranking and vandalizing, parents and civic organizations gave big parties, with lots of candy. Door-to-door trick or treating became standard practice. The downtown Halloween extravaganza began in the early 1970s.


Thanks to the Golden History Museum for providing the online cache of historic Transcripts, and to the Golden Transcript for documenting our history since 1866!

Highlights