Since this year marks the 52nd year that the Golden Lions Club has been hosting our 4th of July festivities, I wondered how the town celebrated before 1972 (when the Lions took over), so I checked the early July Transcript for the previous year.
In 1971, Heritage Square hosted 4th of July festivities, including "stirring" band concerts and a "thrilling" fireworks display.
At that time, the park was presenting itself as an artisans village, "where gifted craftsmen create exciting goods right on the premises." Their 4th of July advertisement invited the public to
Tour our charming 19th century village
Browse our quaint shops
Enjoy old fashioned snacks, ice cream and candies
Relax in our beer garden
Dine and have cocktails aboard our antique narrow gauge train
Applaud nostalgia theater with turn of the century flavor
The next issue of the Transcript reported that 30,000 people had filled Heritage Square to watch the fireworks, and many more watched from the nearby roads and hills.
Heritage Square continued to celebrate the 4th with fireworks, even after the Lions Club started hosting festivals downtown. For several years, Golden had two fireworks displays!
The park expanded its array of attractions over the years, eventually including an amusement park, narrow-gauge railroad, music hall, go-karts, paddle boats, and an awesome alpine slide!
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!
