Level Blue, Live Music, and Free Pancakes

Icicles on a pine bough wit Mt. Zion in the background — *Golden Eye Candy – Chris Davell – Icicles on a pine bough with Mt. Zion in the background – click to enlarge*

COVID Updates

20.7% — *% of Jeffco residents (16+) who have received the first shot – source*

Appointments to Get the COVID Vaccine (Eligibility)
State of Colorado’s Find Out Where You Can Get Vaccinated page
Safeway | King Soopers | Lutheran Medical Center | JCPH Clinic in Arvada (70+ only)

State Hotline to answer questions, including location of vaccine providers: 1-877-268-2926. It is staffed 24 hours a day.

Golden Testing Sites
Mines COVID Testing | Jeffco Fairgrounds COVID Testing

status dial - level blue — Visit the Jeffco Public Health website for information about Level Blue

Jefferson County Case Summary:
Cases in Jeffco – Weds: 36,859 | Thurs: 36,988 (+129)
Deaths in Jeffco – Weds: 751 | Thurs: 754 (+3)
Currently Hospitalized in Jeffco – Weds: 30| Thurs: 33 (+3)
Known Cases in Golden – Mon: 1488 | Thurs: 1500 (+12)
Recovered – Weds: 35,270 | Thurs: 35,351 (+81)

Virtual Events

10:30-11:30AM Virtual Pet Show and Tell
10:30-11AM Call In: Mental Fitness Fridays
4-5PM Virtual: Friday Crafternoons

Backcountry Film Festival Runs Feb 15-March 1

Real World Golden

Waxing moon over South Table Mountain by Robert Saieg – click to enlarge

The moon will be full tonight.

6PM Live Music at Golden Moon Speakeasy: Ryan Flores
6:30PM Live Music at the Buffalo Rose: Face – SOLD OUT

Golden History Moment

*Aunt Jemima as shown in the March 5, 1953 Colorado Transcript*

PepsiCo/Quaker Oats recently decided to rebrand Aunt Jemima pancake mix and syrup because the fictional character is considered to be a racist stereotype.

68 Years Ago
In February of 1953, Golden was all a-twitter because Aunt Jemima would be coming to town on March 7th. The first announcement appeared in the February 19, 1953 Colorado Transcript. It said “she will be welcomed by Mayor Everett Barnhardt and representatives from Golden civic clubs in an official ‘Key to the City’ presentation early Saturday morning at City Hall.

It’s not entirely clear that they knew she was a fictional character. The article goes on to describe her as “a leading culinary expert for more than half a century.”

The excitement continued in the February 26th edition, which reported that a reception committee would meet her at 16th and Washington. A parade, including the Colorado School of Mines band, would escort her down Washington Avenue to City Hall. There, she would receive the key to the city and a bouquet of flowers. After that, she would be driven to Safeway, where she would distribute free pancakes.

*March 5, 1953 Safeway Ad from the Colorado Transcript*

The March 5th issue provided the final details regarding the parade. A local woman, who had won a race sponsored by Quaker Oats, would be riding with Aunt Jemima in the car, and clowns would accompany the parade and scatter free Quaker Oats products to the crowd. In addition to the free pancakes at Safeway, 400 children would receive free comic books and adults would be given free recipe books.

The party seems to have been a success. The March 12th Transcript says that “a few hundred people” were downtown for the 8AM parade and “approximately 1500” people went to Safeway for the pancake shindig.

Golden certainly knows how to show a fictional character a good time.

Many 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!