Evening Light on Castle Rock
Photo by Chris Davell
Click to enlarge
What's happening in Golden today?
Events for Tuesday, Aug. 20th
- All day - CURRENT EXHIBITS AT THE MUSEUMS
- All day - Live Workouts with Community Center Pros
- All day - Tubular Tuesdays
- All day - Community Center CLOSED for Maintenance
- 8-10AM - DeLong Park Weedbusters
- 8-9AM - What's Brewing Golden
- 9-10AM - Women's Exercise and Bible Study
- 9:15-9:45AM - Baby Time
- 10-11AM - Story Time and Craft
- 10:15-10:45AM - Preschool Time
- 1-3PM - Hand Embroidery Stitchers
- 2:30PM - Local Licensing Authority Meeting
- 3-5PM - Golden Mobile Office Hours - Brittany Pettersen
- 5:30-6:30PM - Rescheduled: Compressed Workweek Update - One Year
- 6-7:45PM - Golden Beer Talks
- 6:30-8:30PM - Team Trivia Tuesday
- 6:30-8:30PM - Trivia Tuesdays
- 6:30-8:30PM - Bar Bingo Night
For more information, click the item above or visit the Golden Today Calendar
6PM Golden Beer Talks: 50 years of Water Treatment
Sanitary wastewater treatment is not given much thought in our daily lives. However, it is an essential pillar for sustaining the high quality of aquatic and human health in our City and State.
This presentation will take the audience through a journey of more than five decades of sanitary water treatment with examples from Colorado and our City, and highlighting today’s engineering opportunities and challenges that will make you think differently about the value of “waste”water.
Tanja will be joined in her presentation by Brian Tracy, Deputy Director Public Works for City of Golden and Mark Koch, Environmental for Molson Coors.
Speaker Bio:
Dr. Tanja Rauch-Williams, Metro Water Recovery
Tanja is an Environmental Engineer who received her PhD from Colorado School of Mines in 2005. As a student she sampled wastewater from treatment plants in Boulder and Golden for research projects, and this passion has never left her.
She has worked for over 20 years with municipalities across the country on water, reuse, and wastewater infrastructure projects and has conducted various national and international research projects.
Since August 2023 she has served as the Chief Innovation Officer for Metro Water Recovery, the wholesale wastewater provider in Denver. She has lived with her family in Golden since 2001 and served several years on the City’s Sustainability Board. When not working, you may find her in South Golden Road’s Hockey Stop Park in the evenings playing Roller Hockey.
Also featuring Brian Tracy, City of Golden Deputy Director of Public Works and Mark Koch, Molson Coors Sustainability and Environment Director.
How This Works
The Buffalo Rose will open at 6:00 p.m. Food and drink service will begin at 6:00 p.m. and the program will begin around 6:30 p.m. Following the presentation, we’ll take a brief intermission for Q + A. We’ll wrap up around 7:45 p.m., but people interested in staying a bit longer to socialize will be able to do so. There is no cover charge and no purchase is necessary.
Buffalo Rose
1119 Washington Avenue (map)
8-9AM What's Brewing Golden
This monthly meeting will be on the 3rd Tuesday of each month from 8 - 9 am, hosted by the Golden Hotel. Each month you will hear an update from City Council, DDA, City of Golden Police, and the Chamber, along with a business spotlight. What's Brewing Golden not only offers an opportunity to hear from the City and Chamber, but is a great way for our business community to connect to one another and support one another.
This meeting is open to all businesses within the Golden area but with a focus on small businesses and restaurants within the City limits of Golden. This meeting is provided as a service by the Golden Chamber of Commerce. Chamber membership is highly encouraged but is not required to attend. Guests are welcome. Learn more.
Thank you to our generous host - The Golden Hotel!
Golden Hotel
800 11th Street (map)
3-5PM Representative Brittany Petterson Mobile Office Hours @ The Library
From Brittany Pettersen:
Dear Friend,
One of my most important jobs as your Member of Congress is to help you solve problems with federal agencies. [Today] my team is holding mobile office hours in Golden and will be available to help with passports, the IRS, veterans benefits, Medicare and Social Security, immigration, or any federal agency.
If you need assistance, please stop by to meet with a member of my team. RSVP here. Walk-ups welcome!
If you can't make it to our mobile office hours and need help with a federal agency or have any questions, you can always call my office at (303) 274-7944.
2:30PM Local Licensing Authority Meeting @ City Hall
Golden Diner - Google Street Images
The Local Licensing Authority will consider an application for a Hotel and Restaurant Liquor License by Refill Breakfast LLC d/b/a The Golden Diner.
The application is not posted on the City's website. To request it, use the City's Public Record Request form.
- Meeting Packet
- Watch the meeting streaming live starting at 2:30PM
- Attend the meeting @ City Hall Council Chambers - 911 10th Street - (map)
5:30-6:30PM 32 Hour Workweek Status Report @ City Hall
Photo by Joyce Davell
The City Manager will report on the progress of the 4-day/32-hour workweek pilot for City employees.
Learn more here (city website) and Learn more here (Guiding Golden)
Attend the meeting @ City Hall - Council Chambers - 911 10th Street - (map)
(The website does not say whether the meeting will be livestreamed or recorded.)
What’s Blooming Along Golden’s Trails? Western Ragweed!
Figure 1. Left: “Western Ragweed” — Ambrosia psilostachya DC. — in New Loveland Mine Park. Bottom right: three stems of Western Ragweed rising from the same roots. Top right: Bur-like pistillate (female) flowers.
By Tom Schweich
In full bloom this week along Golden’s trails and in open spaces this week is the much-maligned “Western Ragweed” — Ambrosia psilostachya DC. This plant is found in nearly every state of the Union, except perhaps Ohio and West Virginia, but is most common across the prairie from Kansas City west to the Front Range of Colorado.
Western ragweed (Ambrosia psilostachya DC.) is often disliked for several reasons. It is very allergenic, producing large amounts of a light-weight pollen containing a protein (adenosine) that our immune system reacts to, even though it is one of the four building blocks of DNA and essential for all life. Western ragweed can also be invasive and difficult to control, having a negative impact on agriculture. Finally, its rough, scraggly appearance doesn’t match our aesthetic ideas of a well-manicured landscape.
On the other hand, western ragweed plays a significant ecological role. It is a food source for wildlife and its seeds are particularly favored by species like quail, doves, and sparrows. It provides habitat and shelter for insects and small mammals, and the extensive root system can stabilize the soil, reducing erosion.
Our plant was described by Agustus DeCandolle (1778-1841) from collections made in Mexico by Jean-Louis Berlandier (1803-1851), who was a French-Mexican naturalist, physician, and anthropologist. Berlandier wrote that he found it between San Fernando and Matamoros in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas.
Both DeCandolle and Berlandier were interesting characters. DeCandolle was a Swiss botanist who introduced the word taxonomy and worked out a classification system based on the natural relations between plants. (Linnaeus’ classification of plants was entirely artificial.) Some of DeCandolle’s ideas about competition between plants influenced Charles Darwin’s thinking about evolution, as the two discussed their ideas over dinner in 1839 in Edinburgh, Scotland.
DeCandolle was also mentor to Berlandier and suggested that he travel to Mexico. In Mexico, which included Texas at the time (and I’m OK with giving it back), Berlandier studied geography, plants, and anthropology, accompanying Comanche leaders on a bear and bison hunt northwest of San Antonio. Because of his familiarity with the geography of Texas, Berlandier served as a captain and cartographer in Mexico's Army of the North during the Mexican-American War of 1846-1848.
Several plants are named for Berlandier. Most Colorado gardeners are familiar with “Chocolate Flower” or Berlandiera lyrata Benth., an excellent garden addition that is native to the dry rocky limestone plains of southeastern Colorado, but not native to Golden.
Live Music for Tuesday, Aug. 20th
- More Live Music
6PM Karaoke with Linda @ Dirty Dogs Roadhouse
6PM Open Bluegrass Pick Night @ Over Yonder Brewing
For more information, visit the Golden Today Calendar
Golden History: Grasshopper Incursions
Grasshopper enjoying Andi Pearson’s parsley and chives in north Golden
Click to enlarge
93 Years Ago
The August 20, 1931 Colorado Transcript included unpleasant memories of the grasshopper infestations that plagued early Golden farmers.
The years 1875 and 1876 will be remembered by the pioneers as “the grasshopper years.” Great clouds of grasshoppers, so thick that they obscured the sun as they flew and drifted with the wind, devastated all the country around Golden. When the pests finally moved on there was no green thing left behind–even the trees were stripped of their leaves.
R. Broad Jr. was a boy on his father’s ranch on Ralston creek at that time. “The hoppers descended upon a field of 160 acres of corn so thickly that they made a thick, squirming blanket,” he said. “When they left the field was a desert, even the corn stalks had been eaten down to the ground. We did not raise a single thing on our farm that year.
“The hoppers were bad in 1875 but worse in 1876. In both years Ralston and Clear Creek valleys were virtually denuded by the pests.“
Richard Broad decided to get away from farming. He owned a dry goods store and a bank in Golden from 1887 to 1930. He served as City Councilor, Mayor, and State Senator and published many Golden history articles in the Transcript. He is buried in the Golden cemetery.
Weather
Overnight: Mostly clear, with a low around 65. West wind around 7 mph.
Tuesday: A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms after 3pm. Sunny, with a high near 91. East northeast wind 3 to 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
Tuesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 66. Southwest wind around 7 mph.
Tuesday Night: Partly Cloudy, 66°F
Wednesday: Mostly Sunny then Chance Showers And Thunderstorms, 91°F
Wednesday Night: Chance Showers And Thunderstorms then Mostly Cloudy, 66°F
Thursday: Mostly Cloudy then Showers And Thunderstorms Likely, 84°F
Thursday Night: Chance Showers And Thunderstorms, 62°F
Friday: Partly Sunny then Chance Showers And Thunderstorms, 84°F
Friday Night: Slight Chance Showers And Thunderstorms then Mostly Cloudy, 65°F
Saturday: Mostly Sunny then Slight Chance Showers And Thunderstorms, 87°F
Saturday Night: Slight Chance Showers And Thunderstorms then Mostly Cloudy, 62°F
Sunday: Mostly Sunny then Slight Chance Showers And Thunderstorms, 85°F
Sunday Night: Slight Chance Showers And Thunderstorms then Partly Cloudy, 59°F
Monday: Sunny then Slight Chance Showers And Thunderstorms, 84°F
News Relating to Golden - August 20, 2024
PHOTOS: Mines welcomes students back to campus for 2024-25 academic year
By Tim Meyer
Colorado School of Mines Newsroom
Aug. 19 marked start of the new academic year at Colorado School of Mines — and the continuation of the university's 150th anniversary celebrations... View photos...
Supporters
Many thanks to the people and organizations who support What’s Happening in Golden? If you would like to support local news, please CLICK HERE!
Sponsors:
($100/month and up)
Buffalo Rose, Buglet Solar, Foothills Art Center, Golden City Brewery, Golden Cultural Alliance, Miners Alley Performing Arts Center, The Golden Mill, Golden Chamber of Commerce, Golden History Tours, Morris & Mae Market, Miners Saloon, Colorado Railroad Museum, Golden Hayride Outpost, Kona Bowls, Unite Fitness, Tom Reiley, Michael Mason, and Esther Kettering
Friends:
($50-99.99/month or $500/yr)
Tall Pines Painting, Baby Doe’s Clothing, Goozell Yogurt & Coffee Paul Haseman, Donna Anderson, Carol & Doug Harwood, Beth Bidwell, Stephanie Painter, Greg Poulos, and Joy Brandt
Supporters:
($25-49.99/month or $250/yr)
Laura King and Scott Wilson, Bobby German and Alison McNally, Ann Norton & Jonathan Storer, Forrest Jones, Barry & Liz Bettis, Cheryl & Tom Schweich, Marjorie Sloan, Chris and Joyce Davell, Rick Flint, Forrest Jones, AC Development, Cynthia Merrill Tamny, Stephen Pero, Meg Van Ness & Steve Kalasz, Steve & Karla Schaefer
Members:
($10-24.99/month or $100/yr)
Brad Miller & Julie Bartos, Holly Thomas, Jim and LouAnne Dale, Ann Pattison, Thomas Hoffman, Carol Abel, Brian Quarnstrom, Sandra Curran, Bobby German and Alison McNally, Kathy Smith, Karen Smith, Carlos & Nancy Bernal, Robert Storrs, Michele Sannes, Elaine Marolla, Dixie Termin & Ron Miller, E Tom Hughes, Crystal M Culbert, Patrick A. Madison, Alice Madison & Jim Kalivas, Deb Goeldner, Christopher Ball, 6th Chair Home Services, Dot & Eric Brownson, Rosemary Coffman, Emeline Paulson, Casey & Gina Brown, Sandy Schneider, Mark and Cathy Pattridge, Cheryl G Leidich, Jen Rutter, Carol Abel, Frani R Bickart, Jennings and Litz, Bill Sedgeley, Nancy Hughes, Justin L Wade, Kathi Eggers, Traci Case, Donna Owen, Leslie D Lutz, Karen Oxman, Catherine Skokan, Ross Fraser, Lynne Haigh, Elizabeth Hilliard, Frank Young & Terre Deegan-Young, Kathy Hirons & Jack Markin, Jess & Anthony Monasterio, Ella Lyons & Jeanne Fritch, Heather Duncan, Lee Ann & Pete Horneck, Carol Cameron, Cheryl Williamson, San Daugherty, Jim Garner, John and Carol McEncroe, the Golden Welcome Center, and the Golden Transcript
Followers:
($5-9.99/month)
Golden Community Garden, Lora Haimes, Mariane Erickson, J.J. Fraser
