Virtual Events
Colorado Environmental Film Festival Starts Today!
9-9:55AM Silver Sneakers Classic
9:15-9:45AM Baby Time @ Golden Library
10-11:30AM Virtual: Microsoft Word Basics
10AM Call In: Mid-Morning Meditation
10-10:55AM Awareness Through Movement
10AM Everything Dinosaur Talks – Iguanodonts
11-11:55AM HIIT & Sculpt
3-5PM Virtual/Call In: Hard Times Writing Workshop
6-7:30PM Ask a Lawyer – Know Your Rights as a mobile home owner
A Housing Lawyer will answer YOUR QUESTIONS about YOUR RIGHTS as a mobile home park resident Free Webinar! Register in advance at www.9to5.org/mhparights to get the Zoom link
Or call in at 669-900-6833 (Meeting ID: 850 9562 8704)
Spanish interpretation will be available Interpretación al español disponible
This training is co-hosted by Together Colorado, 9to5 Colorado, Colorado Coalition of Manufactured Home Owners (CoCoMHO), Jefferson Unitarian Church Community Action Network (JUC CAN), and Golden United. It is made possible by a grant from Community First Foundation.
7-9PM Galloping Gourmet: Dining with Buffalo Bill
Join the Buffalo Bill Museum as we commemorate the showman’s birthday by looking at some of his influences on cuisine. Author, historian and former Buffalo Bill Museum & Grave Director Steve Friesen, who is working on a culinary biography of Cody, will present his research.
Real World Events
9:15-9:45AM Baby Time @ Golden Library
10:15-10:45AM Toddler Time @ Golden Library
11AM-12:30PM Golden Community Table @ First United Methodist Church
11:30AM-1PM Library for All: Interactive Programs for Adults with Disabilities
2-9PM Raise a Pint, Lend a Hand: Black Girls Do Bike @ Holidaily Brewing
4:30-6:30PM Volunteer Recruitment Fair @ Jeffco Open Space
6-9PM Mini Paint Night @ Golden Game Guild
6PM Mobility & Transportation Advisory Board Meeting @ City Hall
MTAB will discuss methods for managing traffic along the Creek, hear a presentation by a new group called Bike Walk Golden. They will also review their 2022 work plan.
6PM Runners Roost Run Club
7PM Antigone @ Golden High School
7:30PM Moon Over Buffalo @ Miners Alley Playhouse
Live Music
6-9PM Sapsucker @ New Terrain Brewing
6PM Open Pick Night @ Over Yonder Brewing
8PM Karaoke @ Rock Rest Lodge
Last Night’s CoorsTek Meeting
CoorsTek requested a postponement of their meeting with the Planning Commission. The City intends to facilitate some public meetings, so residents can learn more about the project, ask questions, and provide input. The current plan is to reconvene with the Planning Commission in April.
Clay Mine Update
The Golden Transcript published a good article last week, describing the status of a proposed clay mining project on the west side of Highway 93. The Denver Brick Company (which is actually based in Texas) has applied mine 85.5 acres of that hogback.
A group of Golden citizens called Protect the Hogback has asked the Colorado Division of Reclamation to deny the permit. There will be a formal hearing in April, but there is an informal, educational, online meeting tomorrow (Friday) afternoon from 3-4PM. They hope that other concerned citizens will join the Zoom call. Learn more and find the meeting link….
Golden History Moment
Heart and Soul of Golden
Continuing with this month’s highlighting of Golden’s cultural organizations, here’s a shout-out to a long-ago business that no doubt would have belonged to the Golden Cultural Alliance if it had existed back then.
The Ace Hi Tavern building was originally the Golden Opera House. Does it seem strange to think that a small, western town like Golden would have needed an Opera House? Were we really such opera devotees? (No.)
Opera Houses were very popular in the half century or so after the Civil War. Big cities had them as well as small towns, but in big cities they probably had multiple entertainment buildings that specialized for theater, symphonies, and operas. In smaller towns, one structure hosted all entertainment needs. According to Ann Satterthwaite’s Local Glories: Opera Houses on Main Street – Where Art and Community Meet, Colorado built 132 opera houses in 68 towns and cities between 1860 and 1920. Golden’s was built in 1879. The first floor had stores (sometimes restaurants) and the performance area was on the second floor.
Many troupes of entertainers traveled the country and scheduled stopovers in opera houses as they went. Over the years, the Golden Opera House hosted plays, comedians, orchestras, singers, vaudeville shows, dances, church services, political meetings, dance classes, and graduations (both Golden High School and the School of Mines). Minstrel shows were very popular, and we hosted many, many productions of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. The Golden Opera House hosted Blind Boone, Henrietta Vinton Davis, and William Jennings Bryan.
Public tastes and needs changed as technology developed. When the Golden Gem theater opened in 1908, motion pictures suddenly became the most interesting thing to watch. When the Gem moved into the big, modern building at 13th and Washington, it offered a newer, nicer auditorium than the aged Opera House. Then radio came along. Then television. The Opera House was used less and less over the years, though the Fire Department still used it for dances in the 1930s.
In 1956, the building incurred severe damage in a windstorm and the city condemned it. One of the first floor tenants bought the building and had it repaired. She divided the seldom-used performance space on the second floor into individual offices. The Ace-Hi Tavern was already in operation by then. In 1961, the Stillman family bought not only the bar but the entire building. It is now owned by the third generation of that family.
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!
