What’s Happening in Golden Today?
AM Saturday Morning Run and Social Walk @ Golden History Park
10AM Wild West Walking Tour
10AM, 1 and 4PM Wild West Short Tour
10AM-3PM Brunch at the Rose @ Buffalo Rose
10AM-3PM Saturday Train Rides @ Colorado Railroad Museum
10:15AM Family Time @ Golden Library
10AM-12:00PM Hack Your Coffee @ Natural Grocers
11AM-9PM St. Paddy’s Day Party @ New Terrain
11AM Women-Owned Market @ Holidaily Brewing
11AM Mindfulness and Gardening @ Golden Community Garden
Do you ever wonder why you feel better after playing in the dirt? Studies continue to show that gardening outdoors helps you exercise more, increases your fiber consumption, reduces your cancer risk, and improves overall mental health. As a nature-based therapist, I utilize the wonders of nature within my therapy practice to help clients gain mindfulness tools, regulate their anxiety, and increase their overall sense of feeling good about themselves.
If you are interested in integrating nature and gardening into a new or present mindfulness practice, join the Golden Community Gardens and Professional Mental Health Counselor and Nature Based therapist Nicole Jefferson, owner of Wilding Therapy as we explore ways the earth helps us with our overall health and well-being and how we can honor and support mother earth. Register Location – Park in the Community Center overflow lot just north of Public Works building. Lower gate to garden at west end of parking lot. Walk up the small hill and there you are!
12PM CSM Softball – Orediggers vs. Colorado Christian @ Joe Coors, Jr. Softball Field
1-3PM PAWS for Reading @ Golden Library
2PM CSM Softball – Orediggers vs. Colorado Christian @ Joe Coors, Jr. Softball Field
2:45PM Irish Dancers @ The Golden Mill
4-6PM Mountain Valley Winter Rodeo @ Jefferson County Fairgrounds
6-7:30PM Kirtan @ PranaTonic
7-10PM Parmalee Gulch Ramblers @ Morris & Mae
7PM The Spongebob Musical @ Golden High School
7:30PM Shark Box Theater: Don’t Dress for Dinner @ American Mountaineering Center
Live Music
11AM-2PM Jon Farmer @ Buffalo Rose (Sky Bar Stage)
11:30AM Lucas Wolf @ Tributary Food Hall
2-5PM JJ Brown’s Raw Soul Funk @ Goosetown Station
2:30-5PM Afrobeat & Positive Vibes w/ Atomga @ New Terrain Brewing
5-8PM Live Music @ Eddy Taproom
5-8PM Seeing Stars Band @ Over Yonder
7-10PM Chris Child @ Buffalo Rose (Sky Bar Stage)
7-10PM Parmalee Gulch Ramblers @ Morris & Mae
8PM The Schoffields @ Columbine Cafe
9PM Karaoke @ Ace Hi Tavern
Daylight Saving Time Begins
Set your clocks forward tonight! The time changes at 2AM.
Golden History Moment
Today marks the third anniversary of this daily column about Golden history. When I started writing it, the Covid epidemic had just begun. The County Health Department issued a press release on March 9th saying the the first case had been identified in Jefferson County. By March 12th there were four cases and they were all in quarantine. It was making me think about the 1918 influenza epidemic and its aftermath, so I researched and wrote the following piece.
100 Years Ago (103 as of 2023!)
The March 11, 1920 Colorado Transcript included a front page article entitled, “Up-to-Date Health Laws Proposed for Golden.” In the wake of the 1918 Influenza Pandemic, there was a new focus on public health measures. Golden’s City Council determined that we would have a board of health, consisting of three aldermen (as councilors were called at the time) and a physician appointed to be the City Health Officer. All physicians in town were to report contagious diseases to the Health Officer, who in turn would notify school authorities. The Health Officer would quarantine homes where such diseases were present, and the schools would make sure the kids didn’t show up in class. The Health Officer kept an eye on all epidemics in the state and reported to City Council when any were near Golden.
The original focus of the job was to contain communicable diseases, but it suffered from extreme scope creep.
Soon after the job was created, the City Health Officer also became responsible for testing the water in our reservoirs to look for signs of contamination. As automobiles became more common, more people were coming close to our mountain water supplies. In 1922, the Health Officer took legal action to prevent someone from building a gas station next to our reservoir on Lookout Mountain.
In 1925, he urged city council to ban those suffering with tuberculosis or other communicable diseases from camping in Golden. In 1926, he was investigating complaints about unsanitary corrals and outhouses in the city. City Council charged him with making an inventory of outhouses within the City limits and sending letters telling homeowners to get rid of them.
In 1927, he placed 100 houses under quarantine during a measles epidemic. In 1930, he ordered that all loose dogs be muzzled, as there were many rabies cases in the state. In 1946, in an effort to fight an impending polio epidemic, he worked with City Council to arrange for regular trash collection (a new concept at the time). The Health Officer also gave annual physical exams to every Golden High School student. For these many and varied duties, the City Health Officer was paid $50/year.
In the late 1940s, a Tri-County Health Association was formed. This group focused more on public policy and urging government to impose health laws. (Golden, and all other communities along Clear Creek, still sent their sewage directly into the Creek at this time.) In 1950, the Tri-County Health Association informed all cities with a population under 25,000 that they should dismiss their Public Health Officers in favor of letting Tri-County handle all health issues. Thus, Golden had its last Public Health Officer in 1950.
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!
