Alpine Drugstore (now Del’s Tonsorial Parlor) hosted a community Easter egg hunt in 1928. The location was a secret until the children arrived at the store. They then led the whole group over to Brooks Field (the Mines football field).
The Oasis Service Station at 24th and East Street (now Golden Auto Clinic) hosted an egg hunt in 1933, inviting children as follows: Parents may accompany their children if they wish. However, the children will be absolutely safe, as the hunt will be conducted away from highway traffic. The eggs will be hidden on the Oasis lawn, in adjoining fields and along the mountainside. Men will be stationed at different points to see that the children do not wander onto the highway. The Transcript later reported that 250 children had attended.
The first big community egg hunt was hosted by the Lions Club in 1943. They held it in two widely-spaced locations, with the younger children in Parfet Park (10th and Washington) and the older children at Pioneer Park (16th and Arapahoe). “Little Katherine Ellen Gillchriest” found the prize egg and won a subscription to the Transcript. (I wonder how little she was, and how she enjoyed her subscription.)
Notwithstanding the 1943 hunt, in 1953, the “First Annual East Egg Hunt” was advertised. The Chamber of Commerce, with assistance from the Lions Club and the Boy Scouts, hosted the hunt in Parfet Park. The Home Economics classes at Golden High School boiled and colored the eggs, and the downtown merchants purchased hundreds of candy eggs to augment the “real egg” supply. The Transcript later reported that 750-1000 children participated. They went through 45 dozen eggs and 60 pounds of candy eggs.
By the late 1960s, the Golden Optimists Club was partnering with the Golden Recreation Center (then located in the building that now holds the library). During those years, the eggs were hidden “along the banks of Clear Creek.”
In the early 1980s, the Kiwanis Club was holding an Easter Bonnet competition in front of the Hested's store at 13th and Washington. After that, the Blue Knights led a parade up the Avenue to Parfet Park for the Easter Egg Hunt. In that era, Donna Owen (Foss Drug/Chamber of Commerce) added plastic eggs to the candy and hard-boiled eggs. The plastic eggs contained coupons good for merchandise from downtown merchants.
The Kiwanis and the Downtown Merchants really upped their game in 1995. In addition to the egg hunt, there was a petting zoo at the Clear Creek History Park (as the Golden History Park was called at that time), a costumed Easter Bunny for photo ops, and horse-drawn wagon rides around the historic downtown.
The 1998 Easter Egg Hunt occurred on a snowy morning. The planners decided they couldn’t hold the event in the park, but the Golden Hotel was under construction at that time, and they allowed the event to take place in their parking garage.
The fun continues this morning, starting at 10AM in Parfet Park. Many, many thanks are due to the Kiwanis Club, Scouting America Troops 130B & 130G, and other community volunteers who make this delightful tradition possible.
