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Last Look with the Curator; the Beatles, the Stones, and SERI

Golden Eye Candy – Frank Hanou – Night View at the History Park – enlarge

What’s Happening in Golden Today?

8AM Saturday Morning Run and Social Walk @ Golden History Park
10AM-3PM Brunch at the Rose @ Buffalo Rose
10AM-3PM Saturday Train Rides @ Colorado Railroad Museum
10AM Wild West Walking History Tour
10:15AM Family Time @ Golden Library
12-2PM Full Walking Tour @ Dinosaur Ridge


12-2PM Last Look with the Curator @ Foothills Art Center
Join our Curator, Eriq Hochuli, as he leads an interactive group discussion on selected works from the 2023 Members’ Show and Power of Process: A Jeffco Student Exhibition.

12PM CSM Softball – Orediggers vs. CSU Pueblo @ Joe Coors, Jr. Softball Field
12-12:45PM Cooking with the Power of Lutein @ Natural Grocers
1PM Wild West Pub Crawl
2PM CSM Softball – Orediggers vs. CSU Pueblo @ Joe Coors, Jr. Softball Field
6-7:30PM Kirtan @ PranaTonic
7:30PM Shark Box Theater: Don’t Dress for Dinner @ American Mountaineering Center


Live Music

11:30AM-2PM Jon Ridnell @ Buffalo Rose (Sky Bar Stage)
11:30AM Facebagel @ Tributary Food Hall
5-8PM Live Music @ Eddy Taproom
5-8PM High Lonesome @ Goosetown Station
6-9PM YepOK @ Over Yonder

7-10PM Chuck Fisher @ Buffalo Rose (Sky Bar Stage)

7-10PM Jay Martin @ Morris & Mae

8PM Stone Beat Invasion @ Buffalo Rose (main venue)
9PM Karaoke @ Ace Hi Tavern


Golden History Moment

Four presidents involved in the evolution of SERI/NREL – from the “History” section of NREL’s website


46 Years Ago
The March 25, 1977 Golden Transcript announced the gladsome tidings that Golden had been chosen as the site for a new federal facility.

Proud, ecstatic, excited–those are the reactions of local officials to the announcement that a national Solar Energy Research Institute…. The Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) announced Thursday that the Golden site was picked unanimously from a field of 19 candidates.

SERI was established under the Jimmy Carter administration. In 1991, President George H.W. Bush elevated its status, making it the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

The organization started with a skeletal staff of 75, but the article quoted a local business leader as saying that they predicted 500 employees once the site was built out.

According to NREL’s website, they now have 3,227 “employees, postdoctoral researchers, interns, visiting professionals, and subcontractors.”


Both the State of Colorado and NREL have recently announced plans to expand the campus to create space for energy-related industries. This includes the former minimum security prison along South Golden Road.


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!


Highlights