47 Years Ago
The November 21, 1977 Golden Transcript gave a thorough, cheerful recap of the recent “Golden Civic Foundation-Daily Transcript Community Auction.”
Considering the swanky event that the auction has become, it’s interesting to see its humble beginnings. They held it in the vacant Hested’s store. It started at 10AM and went on “all day–” presumably until they had sold the 600 donated auction items.
They raised $20,000 that day, and Mr. and Mrs. Foss pledged to match every dollar raised. The Civic Foundation’s goal, at that time, was to benefit the Golden core area. One of their early achievements had been to acquire the property at 10th and Washington, now occupied by the Visitors Center. The property had two vacant service station buildings prior to the Civic Foundation’s purchase. They razed the buildings and landscaped the property. In later years, they helped the city acquire land for the parking lots downtown. They also helped finance redevelopment of the Mitchell School property.
Today, the Civic Foundation may be best known for their grants to Golden’s non-profit organizations. This year’s auction raised more than $280,000.
Thank you to Wendy Weiman for sponsoring Golden History Moments for the month of November.
