Virtual Events
6-6:55AM Virtual HIIT
8:30-9:30AM Virtual Power Training
9-9:55AM Strength and Cardio
11AM-12PM Kimodo for Balance
Real World Events
Full Moon
10AM-12PM Rocky Mountain Quilt Study Group @ Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum
10:15-10:45AM Toddler Time @ Golden Library
1-2PM The Friday Tour – The Locomotive: Steam & Diesel Tour @ Colorado Railroad Museum
3PM Vaccine, License & Microchip Clinic @ Foothills Animal Shelter
4PM St. Patrick’s Day Pub Crawl @ Golden City Brewery
5-7PM Reception: Members’ Show & Power of Process @ Foothills Art Center
7:30PM Moon Over Buffalo @ Miners Alley Playhouse – FINAL WEEKEND!
Live Music
5-8PM The Greenhouse Band Trio @ Goosetown Station
7PM Emily Guagliardi @ Mountain Toad
7-10PM Dave Halchak @ Buffalo Rose (Sky Bar Stage)
7-11PM Band of Brothers @ Dirty Dogs Roadhouse
7-11PM Karaoke @ Wrigley’s
8PM Dual Headliners – Still The Same & Born to Run – Bob Seger and Bruce Springsteen Tribute Bands @ Buffalo Rose (main venue)
9PM Karaoke @ Ace Hi Tavern
COVID Update
No updates again this week! The Jeffco Public Health page has the following notice:
Due to an ongoing data issue at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, data will not be updated this week. If the issue has been resolved, the next update will be 3/24/2022.
Golden History Moment
Welcome to Golden
Mike Van Winkle
A sign arches over Washington Avenue. It was a big deal in 1949 when installed; it still is. At night it is lit up and easy to read. Unlike the HOLLYWOOD sign, Golden’s is back-to-back – it reads “Welcome” coming into Golden from the south and reads “Welcome” coming in from the north. Where else to do see a two-way sign arching over a main street? Nowhere, I know of.
At age six in 1953, I lived behind the Post Office off Jackson Street. Downtown was the playground for me and my two friends, Jimmy and Tony Ryan. “Playground downtown” implies fun and trouble. We did both. One day as we stood in the middle of the block at the Jolly Rancher Ice Cream Shop, we decided to cross the street. We should have done what our parents taught to do . . . we should have gone to the street corner. We should have waited for the light to turn green. We should have looked both ways and then crossed the street. We knew all this but we didn’t do it.
Instead, we noted the angle iron framing on both sides of the street supporting the great “Welcome” sign. You guessed it, we decided to climb the sign supports and traverse the street on top of the sign. What could be more fun than that? We’d cross the street and end up in front of Meyer Hardware. So up we went.
At the twelve-foot level a booming voice interrupted our innocent fun. “What are you kids doing up there? Get down, NOW!” It was the same voice Charlton Heston used to part the Red Sea in the “Ten Commandments” and belonged to Police Officer VanGerppen. He was a big man – John Wayne big at 6’4” and 240 pounds. And at six years old, he looked bigger than the Jolly Green Giant. Down we came and were told to “Stand in front of me NOW?” So, Jimmy, Tony and I stood in a straight line and were told “If you don’t want a criminal record, you better Get Home, NOW!” I think NOW was his favorite word. And boy, did we scamper. At least he did not tell my mother, which would have been far worse.
I learned two important things that day.
First: I can get home fast from anywhere NOW!
Second: The Welcome sign will always welcome you TO Golden. If you are six, have been part of the Ryan Gang, and flirted with a criminal record, Officer VanGerppen may not welcome you IN Golden.
Mike Van Winkle, along with his brother and three sisters, attended elementary, junior high and high school in Golden. Mike graduated from Western State and joined the Army, where he served in the US and Europe with the Army Band as a musician and instructor. He retired and returned to Golden in a second career with at the downtown Post Office in downtown. His father, Sam, and uncles, Forrest, Marvin, and Ernest opened and operated the Van Winkle Coal Mine at the south end of Illinois Street.
Thanks to Mike Van Winkle for this delightful story, and to Paul Haseman for editing and bringing it to me!
