EARTH DAY EVENTS
Today is Earth Day, and there are many events scheduled:
9AM-4PM Earth Day Plant & Craft Sale @ Golden Gate Grange
9-10:30AM Rooney Road Earth Day Clean-up with Runners Roost
10AM-2PM Day Clean-up and Eco Fair @ The Eddy
10AM-2PM Earth Day Fair and Guest Speaker @ Colorado School of Mines Stratton Commons
10AM-2PM Weed Busters Earth Day Celebration @ DeLong Park (map)
DeLong Park is a pesticide-free pilot park with weed management done organically by volunteers. There will be nature-based activities for kids, including face painting, drawing, a scavenger weed hunt, magnifying glass bug hunt and more! And, of course, lots of educational handouts for adults regarding native plants, habitat gardening and avoiding pesticides. Come play and learn.
City staff will be available to discuss recycling and hand out items to encourage sustainability. Neighbors will be able to engage and form community support while learning the benefits of a pesticide-free park. For more information contact sturner@cityofgolden.com or goldenshealth@gmail.com.
1-5PM Adopt a Houseplant @ Golden Library
WHAT’S HAPPENING IN GOLDEN TODAY?
CSM Track and Field Mines Pre-Conference @ Colorado School of Mines
8AM Saturday Morning Run and Social Walk @ Golden History Park
10AM-noon Breakfast Burritos @ The Golden Mill
10AM-3PM Brunch at the Rose @ Buffalo Rose
10AM-3PM Saturday Train Rides @ Colorado Railroad Museum
10AM Preschool Nature Nuts: A Fat Bear is a Healthy Bear @ Lookout Mountain Nature Center
10AM-4PM Painting Flowers and Note Cards with Janet Nunn @ Foothills Art Center – SOLD OUT
10AM-4PM National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day @ City Hall
10AM-5PM Spring Gear Sale and Swap @ Golden River Sports
10:15AM Family Time @ Golden Library
11:45AM Preschool Nature Nuts: A Fat Bear is a Healthy Bear @ Lookout Mountain Nature Center
12-12:45PM Let’s Taco Bout Organics @ Natural Grocers
12-2:30PM Walk with a Geologist @ Dinosaur Ridge
1PM MAP Children’s Theater – Robin Hood @ Miners Alley Playhouse
1PM and 7PM Heathers: the Musical @ Colorado School of Mines Green Center
7:30PM I Hate Hamlet @ Miners Alley Playhouse (through April 23)
See the complete calendar of events.
LIVE MUSIC
11AM-2PM Jon Farmer @ Buffalo Rose (Sky Bar Stage)
11:30AM Chris Ruiz @ Tributary Food Hall
4-8PM Papamo and the Vipers @ Wrigley’s
5-8PM Live Music @ Eddy Taproom
5-8PM The Buzz @ Goosetown Station
7-10PM Conal Rosanbalm @ Buffalo Rose (Sky Bar Stage)
7-10PM Parmalee Gulch Ramblers @ Morris & Mae
9PM Karaoke @ Ace Hi Tavern
GOLDEN HISTORY MOMENT
Sewers of Golden, Part 2
See Part I in yesterday’s post
After 40 years of living with outhouses and open sewers, Golden residents were coming to appreciate the value of underground sewers. By 1900, we had hundreds of feet of buried sewer pipes, but they were all privately installed and owned. People who had sewer lines running past their property were often able to connect to the pipe, but most homes and businesses in Golden had no access to a sewer.
At last, town leaders began to urge the development of a wide-reaching city owned system.
All the sewers in the city thus far have been inaugurated by private enterprise and money, and we believe…that the time has arrived when Golden should begin the establishment of a complete system of sewers.
The Colorado Transcript, February 4, 1904
In 1906, City Council hired an engineer to survey a potential sewer system. In 1908, they voted in favor of installing sewer lines on the south side of the creek. That was so successful that in 1910, they built another sewer system north of the Creek.
As the system was built out, individual property owners were assessed the cost of running the sewer lines past their property and connecting them to the system. Some property owners were reluctant to pay that assessment, and continued to rely on outhouses for many more years.
Golden continued to discharge its sewage directly into Clear Creek until Coors built a sewage treatment plant in 1953 and agreed to process Golden’s wastewater as well.
Bonus Story:
The April 27, 1970 Golden Transcript described how a group of Golden High School students celebrated the very first Earth Day. They surveyed a section of Clear Creek and…
found a spot where raw sewage was being dumped into the river. They reported their findings to officials who promised to check the story out, but several days later they admitted they hadn’t been able to locate the responsible party. Our young group revisited the spot, determined to work out a solution. Someone had a bright idea. Plug up the end of the sewage line. That action produced results. Soon a myriad of telephone calls began coming in, which finally led officials to the guilty contractor.
Happy Earth Day!
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!
