Frolicking Around the Brewery

*Golden Eye Candy – Richard Luckin – Sunflower Sunrise – enlarge*

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN GOLDEN TODAY?

8:30-9:30AM Power Training (Virtual)
9:15-9:45AM Let’s Dance @ Golden Library
10-10:55AM All Levels Yoga (Virtual)
10AM and 1PM Wild West Walking Tour
10AM and 1PM Wild West Short Tour
12-12:30PM Mondays with the Mayor (Virtual)
1-4PM Wild West Pub Crawl

2-3PM Active Minds Monday – America’s Pastime: Baseball (Virtual)
4-5PM LEGO Build and Play @ Golden Library
6:30-8:30PM Golden Concert Choir Rehearsal @ Calvary Episcopal Church
7:30PM Movie Night – Smokey and the Bandit @ The Eddy

SEE THE COMPLETE CALENDAR OF EVENTS.

TRIVIA

7-8PM Colorado Trivia League @ Morris & Mae

THE REST OF THE WEEK

There’s a lot going on this week, so here’s a brief preview, so you don’t miss anything.

Tuesday:
Final Golden Bike Cruise for 2023 – Lighted Zombies Theme
City Staff will tell Council what they’re doing about homelessness
Library will host a hydroponic gardening session
School Board Candidate Forum
Homeowners will describe their experiences with heat pumps

Wednesday:
Stories Worth Telling – story-telling festival at the Buffalo Rose
“Community Conversation” about Affordable Housing – you must register to participate

Thursday:
Stories Worth Telling Film Showcase

Saturday:
Coors 150 Years celebration downtown

Sunday:
Autumn Fest at the History Museum & Park

But wait–there’s MORE…

GOLDEN HISTORY MOMENT
COORS @ 150

*Picnic Grove on the Coors Brewery Grounds. Note the family home, surrounded by brewery buildings. – enlarge*

You’ve likely seen this picture before. Have you ever wondered why there are people frolicking around the brewery and boating in the ponds?

When the brewery was new, Coors had a beer garden, picnic grove, and mini-amusement park on the grounds. The area had trees, picnic tables, and swings. The ponds, which Coors built to make ice in the winter, were open to boating and even swimming. Coors sold beer and other refreshments and they rented out the grounds for group picnics. The Colorado Transcript referred to the grove as “the Golden Park.”

Here’s a lovely description of the community’s 4th of July plans for 1878. Everyone met on Washington Avenue and formed a parade to walk over to the Coors property.

The afternoon exercises will begin at three o’clock, and consist of music, swinging, boating, dancing, sack racing and pole climbing for prizes. The programme of the celebration will be completed by a magnificent display of fireworks from the top of Castle Rock, seven hundred feet above the town, and a grand dance in the newly finished and elegant pavilion at the Golden Park grounds. At the Park in the evening the entire grounds will be brilliantly illuminated by Chinese lanterns.
Colorado Transcript – June 12, 1878

*The grove was slowly overtaken by factory growth – enlarge*

Eventually, the picnic grounds became the Coors’ private home and yard. Adolph Coors and his wife raised their family in the big house on the grounds. In later years, cottages were added as the next generation married and started families of their own.

*The brewery grew at a tremendous pace after World War II –enlarge*

The brewery buildings eventually crowded out both the old trees and the family cottages. The Coors mansion still stands in the midst of the brewery, but it is no longer occupied.

*After World War II, there was more of less constant construction at the brewery for many decades. – enlarge*

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!

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SEPTEMBER SPONSORS: Buffalo Rose, Buglet Solar, Foothills Art Center, Golden City Brewery, Golden Cultural Alliance, Golden History Museum, Golden Super Cruise, Miners Alley Playhouse, The Golden Mill, Golden Chamber of Commerce, Golden History Tours, Morris & Mae Market, Miners Saloon, Joy and Jack Brandt, Tom Reiley, and Gail Strout

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