OLDS: This week in the Clear Creek Courant…

BY TEDDY JACOBSEN SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA

Americana music festival set for Empire – Aug. 14, 2013

A new music festival, the Empire Americana Music Festival, was set for Aug. 17 at Minton Park. O cials expressed hopes that the event would keep Empire on the musical map after the blues festival moved to Idaho Springs.

New super for the Clear Creek School Board – Aug. 18, 1993 e Clear Creek School Board voted unanimously to appoint John Klieforth as superintendent. Klieforth had served the district for 22 years to that point, working as everything from teacher to athletic director to acting superintendent.

Lightning hits man on Evans summit – Aug. 18, 1982

Rowdy Roger Malchow, 25, of Beatrice, Nebraska, was struck by lightning near the summit of Mount Evans. He was taken to St. Anthony Hospital in Denver by helicopter after Clear Creek Sheri ’s Deputy Chris Tomford administered rst aid.

Idaho Springs businesses were victims of burglars – Aug. 18, 1978 e If You Don’t Shop Here First You Must Be Crazy Store and the Ben Franklin Store were the victims of two separate burglaries, according to police patrolman Doug MacConnell. e burglars took $200 in jewelry and $220 in cash and checks at the former store. e Ben Franklin Store burglars took two handguns and ammunition and helped themselves to a couple of candy bars and popcorn, all consumed on the premises. e Clear Creek Courant was created in August of 1973. ese items come from Courant’s historic archives. As it turns out, previous Courant writers had the same idea for the paper’s 25th anniversary. eir section was dubbed, “Olds: Not to be confused with news.” It lives on for an entire year to celebrate the paper’s 50th birthday. was a fascinating and enticing challenge.

Tell me about working with the cast?

Because this is a world premiere, we are developing these characters without precedent, and it’s been wonderful to work with a group of actors who are nding the humanity of these characters. It would be easy to create stereotypical characters, and I think my cast has done an excellent job of cutting through that to create fully rounded characters. Every character is both hero and villain, and, hopefully, the audience will nd a connection to each of them.

With a topic as challenging as the one covered in “Jeremiah,” how do you go about addressing it?

I think approaching the topic with understanding is the key. While I have my opinions about guns and gun control, the only way to tell a story that doesn’t alienate people is to re ect and understand all sides, and let those sides be re ected within the play.

What do you hope audiences come away with?

I hope every audience member sees themselves re ected in some way. I hope they have a conversation about guns. No matter what side of the gun debate they might be on, I hope every person can connect to the story being told in a way that maybe opens their mind just a little bit. If people are still thinking about this show the next day, I feel like we’ve done our job.

For information and tickets, visit www.benchmarktheatre.com/ tickets-jeremiah.

Go back in time at Corral Blu s e Denver Museum of Nature & Science, 2001 Colorado Blvd., is home to a new bilingual exhibit that earning about history is more fun when you experience it. at’s why the metro area has a wide range of places to experience Colorado’s history rsthand. Museums, tourist attractions and more provide venues for adults and children to get hands-on learning about Colorado history from the Jurrasic age to the 1900s.

From dinosaurs to mining and railroad history to early home and school life — the metro area has plenty of locations where families can have fun and learn a bit in the process.

Living history museums enable visitors to experience the everyday home life of ordinary people who toiled on Colorado’s farms, ranches, factories, mines, smelters and more, according to Kevin Rucker, a senior lecturer in MSU Denver’s history department.

For example, “visitors are able to visualize and empathize with what it took for women to take care of a household and raise families,” he said.

Rucker pointed to the Four-Mile House, Golden Prospect Park, Littleton Heritage Museum, Black Western History Museum, Molly Brown House as a starting point for all of the living history locations in the area. Colorado Community Media takes a look at some of the places in the metro area that provide hands-on history.

Who doesn’t love dinosaurs?

Morrison is home to two spots where families can learn about dinosaurs — Dinosaur Ridge and the Morrison Natural History Museum.

logic and paleontological features. Visitors can check out the area themselves or with volunteers and geologists to learn about the dinosaurs that roamed the area. ere’s a museum and gift shop at C-470 and Alameda Parkway, and Dinosaur Ridge has Dinosaur Days throughout the year.

Close by is the Morrison Natural History Museum on Highway 8 just south of downtown Morrison, where families can learn more about dinosaurs. e museum is also a research center, so in addition to visiting the museum, people can take archeological trips.

Stegosaurus Day is always fun for kids as they try their hands at peeling away rocks to nd fossils.

Gold rush

Clear Creek County has several locations to learn more about Colorado’s mining history. At the Phoenix Gold Mine southwest of Idaho Springs, history comes alive as visitors go underground in a gold mine, pan for gold to try to strike it rich themselves and more.

Mine owner Dave Mosch, whose family has lived in Colorado since the 1860s, called the Phoenix Gold Mine fascinating for those who haven’t seen up close what mining was like, especially in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He noted that the mining-support industry also brought people to Colorado — building houses, operating shops and providing personal aspects of life to miners.

“Colorado is a beautiful place, but what originally brought people here was the gold,” Mosch said. “ e more you understand mining, the more you understand the growth of our state.”

He and all of Clear Creek County are proud that the Colorado gold rush began in 1859 in the county.

Trains and more trains e founder of the Colorado Railroad Museum understood how big the railroads were to settling Colorado.

“Bob Richardson (the founder of the museum) realized that people needed to know how it all got started, how people traveled to Colorado and how hard it was,” Roni Kramer, director of education for the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden, explained. “It is important to see every aspect of people’s beginnings and how they got here on the train. Honestly, it’s such an interesting story.”

While adults may be more interested in historical tidbits, children have the opportunity to check out all areas of di erent train cars. ey ring bells, move through

SEE HISTORY, P13

Dinosaur Ridge has interpretive signs along two miles of trails that explain the local geology, fossils, and many other geo- Halloween fun at the Colorado Railroad Museum includes a zombie train ride.