Golden hosts an amazing Halloween celebration in the historic downtown. It all started when the children from Mitchell Elementary (which used to be located downtown) began an annual tradition of parading along Washington Avenue, so they could show off their Halloween costumes. I wondered how long this had been going on, so I did some research. This was the first reference I could find:
55 Years Ago
HERE’S SOMETHING SPECIAL for the Avenue–the boys and girls of Mitchell Elementary School will parade along the Avenue in their Hallowe’en costumes Friday–tomorrow–between one and two o’clock. Won’t that be a sight? You know how great it is for children to dress up–and then to have the opportunity to show off those costumes in a parade. Come on down if you want to see this something special.…
October 28, 1971 Golden Transcript
From that humble beginning, the event grew and grew and grew. At some point, the other Golden elementary schools were invited.
I’ve been attending and photographing the event since the 1990s, and in that time, I’ve seen the addition of the Mines Band, a cappella groups, and flash mob dances. The City now (very wisely) closes the street for the ninety minute event.
With so many thousands of trick-or-treaters, Halloween has become quite expensive for the downtown merchants, but it is wildly cute. Thanks, merchants!
