February is Heart & Soul of Golden month, which is the annual celebration of the many Arts & Culture organizations that call Golden home.
41 Years Ago
The Golden Cultural Alliance was founded in 1984. Then, as now, Golden had a surprising number of cultural organizations. The dozens of volunteers who ran those groups decided to band together and hold joint cultural events.
Beginning in January of 1985, they hosted a concert series, showcasing many area music groups. At each performance, they displayed some other art form–paintings, sculpture, quilts, etc. These concerts continued for several years.
Another early project was a walking tour through the 12th Street Historic District (courtesy of Golden Landmarks) and to various Golden cultural hotspots. Later, they published a cookbook as a fund-raiser.
GCA members stocked each other’s brochures and told their visitors about other cultural places to visit.
Since February is traditionally a quiet time in town, the Cultural Alliance proclaimed it to be Heart and Soul of Golden month and planned various special events. For many years, they held a Heart and Soul reception and named various volunteers to be the year’s “Sweethearts.” The Sweethearts served as the Cultural Alliance ambassadors for the year and made a point of attending every concert, exhibit opening, etc. I don’t have the complete list, but these are some of the Sweethearts:
- 2011 Carol Christensen
- 2010 Vern and Vickie Wagner
- 2009 Ted and Frani Bickart
- 2008 Bill and Charlene Pazar
- 2007 Tiberi Family – Diane, Henry, Anna, Joe, & Grace
- 2006 – skipped
- 2005 Jean & Ed Dorsey
- 2004 Joy & Jack Brandt
- 2003 Carol & Chuck Baroch
- 2002 Mary & Charlie Ramstetter
- 2001 Mary & Hal Shelton
- 2000 Donna & Tom Plummer
- 1999 Helen & Hal Leith
- 1998 Pete Smythe & Jacquie Craig
Golden’s cultural scene continues to expand, year after year. It’s a rare day when Golden doesn’t offer at least half a dozen cultural events, and collectively, the organizations host well over 700,000 visitors a year.
In celebration of Heart and Soul of Golden month, I’ll be publishing histories of several of the Golden Cultural Alliance members in the days ahead.
