Today is a Federal holiday, so we won’t receive mail today.
Today’s Heart and Soul of Golden event is the Winter Day Camp offered by Dinosaur Ridge.
9AM Dinosaur Ridge Winter Day Camp
Speaking of Day Camps, this is the time of year when parents begin the frantic–and sometimes competitive–process of lining up summer camps for their kids. For a list of the Golden-based camps, check our Camps and Classes page.
Since Goldentoday is a member of the Golden Cultural Alliance, I’ll seize this opportunity (slow news day) to mention that this month marks the 13th Anniversary for Goldentoday.com!
I began the website and email with the desire to help Golden’s cultural organizations. In 2007, there was no single, reliable place to help spread the word about their events, so I created this one. At that time, there was still a strong push to help downtown Golden recover its economic strength, so I began promoting businesses as well. Eventually I began paying more attention to the business of the city. It seemed that citizens never learned about changes until it was too late to comment on them. For that reason, I began summarizing the agenda for upcoming meetings. Most recently I’ve been sharing interesting vignettes from Golden history.
Such obsessively-local news isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but it seems to appeal to many. As of this morning, I have 940 subscribers. I hope to reach 1,000 this year. Please encourage your friends to subscribe!
11AM-10PM Make It Count MAGIC Monday at the Buffalo Rose (map)
Consider eating at the Buffalo Rose today. From 11AM-10PM, if you mention the Golden Backpack Program, the restaurant will donate 15% of your bill to this worthy organization. From 6-8PM, a magician will be entertaining the diners.
Preview of Tuesday Events
10:15AM Toddler Time at the Library
7:30AM Downtown Merchants Association Meeting at Cafe 13
9:15AM Baby Time at the Library
10AM Everything Dinosaur Talk: Iguanodonts
10AM Director’s Storytime and Craft at the Railroad Museum
11:15AM Toddler Time at the Library
6PM Golden United Housing Task Force Meeting
6PM Expedition Mail from the Himalaya – Mt. Everest 1921 – 1940
6PM Golden Library Tuesday Night Book Group: Silent Hearts by Gwen Fiorio
6:30PM Bingo at the VFW
7PM Geeks Who Drink Trivia in the State Room
7PM Parks, Recreation and Museums Advisory Board Regular Meeting
Golden began offering a high school education in 1873, when we opened the South School. By the 19-teens, that school was over-crowded, and local boosters began agitating for a new High School. After a lengthy publicity campaign, in 1921, Golden voters approved a $100,000 bond issue to fund it. They later approved an additional $30,000 in bonds to make the planned school even better. A new high school was a point of civic pride, and the local business community was strongly behind the plan.
There was some controversy about the location for the new school, with “southsiders” (people living on the south side of Clear Creek) favoring either the site of the current school (14th and Cheyenne) or in City Park (16th and Arapahoe). “Northsiders” pushed for a location north of Clear Creek.
In the end, they chose the site at 10th and Washington. The property had previously held a hardware store and livestock dealer called the Eagle Corral, which was razed to make way for the new High School. Shortly after the new school opened in 1924, the Golden Kiwanis Club decided to clean up the town dump across the street from the school and turn it into a city park, named after their first president, George W. Parfet.
In 1956, the School moved to its current location on 24th Street. In 2008, a new High School was built on the same property. In 2023, Golden High School will celebrate its 150th anniversary!
This history was compiled by reading historic Colorado Transcripts and Golden Transcripts. Many thanks to the Golden History Museum for putting the Transcripts online, and many thanks to the Golden Transcript for documenting our history since 1866!
Golden High School PTA Silent Auction
The online silent auction for Golden High School starts today. At noon today the online auction will go “live” with 20 items available for bidding. The online auction will close at noon on Thursday, and then many more items will be auctioned Thursday night at the Chili Cook-off at Golden High School. This is a great community event and fundraiser for the high school.
Visit the Silent Auction Buy tickets for the Chili Cook-off and Silent Auction: htps://www.goldendemonspta.org/
Today’s Heart and Soul of Golden events are brought to you by the Quilt Museum, Miners Alley Playhouse, the Library, and the Jefferson Symphony Orchestra.
Miners Alley is offering tickets for Buy One/Get One 50% Off for today’s performance.
1PM Sandra Dallas Book Signing at the Quilt Museum Westering Women
2PM Miners Alley Playhouse – Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune
2:30PM Golden Library Textile Society
3PM Jefferson Symphony Orchestra – Winter Concert
9AM-2PM Brunch at the Rose – Menu | Reservations
4PM Swing Night Supper Club at the Buffalo Rose
Sunday Music:
11AM Tony Rosario at Dirty Dogs Roadhouse
3:30PM Chrispy – One Man Live Looping Band at Mountain Toad Brewing
4PM Jeff White at Over Yonder Brewing
Preview of Monday Events:
Federal Holiday: Washington’s Birthday
9AM Dinosaur Ridge Winter Day Camp
10AM NREL Walking Campus Tour (not sure this will happen, because of the holiday)
11AM Make It Count MAGIC Monday at the Buffalo Rose – Golden Backpack Program
7:30PM Nar-Anon Family Group at Calvary Episcopal (map)
Today’s Heart and Soul of Golden events are brought to you by the Library, Dinosaur Ridge, the Quilt Museum, and Miners Alley Playhouse.
10:15AM Family Time at the Golden Library
10:15AM Walk With a Geologist at Dinosaur Ridge
12PM Relief Printmaking on Fabric for Quilters with Jonathan Nicklow at the Quilt Museum
1PM Hansel & Gretel – Miners Alley Playhouse Children’s Theater
7:30PM Miners Alley Playhouse – Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune
Tickets for this play are buy one/get one 50% off this weekend!
More Saturday Events:
9AM-2PM Brunch at the Rose – Menu | Reservations
9AM CSU Jefferson County Pollinators & Bee Club at the Fairgrounds
12PM Golden Philosophy and Spirituality Meetup Group
Saturday Music:
6:30PM Ragged Union and 300 Days at Buffalo Rose
8PM Bunny Blake at Buffalo Rose
8PM Crossfire at Dirty Dogs Roadhouse
9PM Karaoke at Ace Hi- Tavern
CHURCH DITCH
The Magpie Gulch Trail (and the pedestrian/bike bridge over Highway 58) is temporarily closed. The City announced in their January 28th newsletter that the cause of the closure was the Church Ditch Water Authority‘s plan to replace their culvert under 8th Street. Who are they, and what gives them the right to close a street or a trail? The answer is: they were here first, and they have the first claim on that right of way.
When white settlers first came to Colorado, this land was considered part of The Great American Desert. The pioneers hoped to farm the land, but before they could do that, they had to discover whether the land was arable. As it turned out, it was–Colorado is a great place to grow food, as long as we can get water to the fields. For this reason, people began to dig ditches almost as soon as they arrived in this region. Golden’s first settler was David Wall, a farmer. He dug a ditch in 1859 and used water from Clear Creek to water his field in the Goosetown area.
The Church Ditch was started in 1865. It was dug by hand, by crews of men with shovels. The builders diverted water from Clear Creek at a point about a half mile west of 6th Avenue/Highway 6. The ditch then skirted the south shoulder of North Table Mountain and headed north and east. It eventually extended 26 miles, and its water was used to cultivate dozens of farms along the way. In about 1907, Standley Lake (map) was constructed. It was originally intended to serve as a reservoir for irrigation water, but these days it mostly provides drinking water for Westminster, Northglenn, and Thornton. Church Ditch is one of its primary water sources.
In short–Church Ditch staked out that right of way in 1865. If they need to close a road to replace a culvert, that’s their prerogative. The road is only there by the permission of the ditch owners.
Preview of Sunday Events:
9AM-2PM Brunch at the Rose – Menu | Reservations
1PM Sandra Dallas Book Signing at the Quilt Museum Westering Women
2PM Miners Alley Playhouse – Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune
2:30PM Golden Library Textile Society
3PM Jefferson Symphony Orchestra – Winter Concert
4PM Swing Night Supper Club at the Buffalo Rose
