Hudson Gardens is gem for generations

BY SONYA ELLINGBOE SELLINGBOE@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

I spent a happy Monday afternoon soaking up Colorado sunshine and the beautiful views at Hudson Gardens with my grandson. And I wanted to remind readers that it’s a really lovely way to spend a few hours — just being there! It’s free, beautifully maintained by South Suburban Parks and Recreation District and o ers an ever-changing menu of growing things. Soon, the Rose Garden will be blooming, as will the Water Lily Pond and trees and shrubs ... including fragrant lilacs.

In 1940, Col. King C. Hudson was stationed at Fort Logan in Denver and his wife, Evelyn, joined him. He was ready to retire soon and the couple decided they would like to live in the area and start the restaurant she had been wanting to operate after a career in the foods business in Chicago. (Marshall Field’s tearoom in particular.) ey looked at various properties and decided on a large plot of farmland in Littleton, near the bank of the South Platte River.

Local old-timers in this primarily agricultural community shook their heads over that restaurant idea. “People will never come this far south to have dinner,” they said.

First, the Hudsons built a log home for themselves, close to the riverbank, then they designed and built the log Country Kitchen Restaurant on Santa Fe Drive.

e pair had traveled widely in Europe and Asia and she had written a series of “Tummy Travel” books about food they’d enjoyed. (Some reprints are available in the Gardens’ shop.) e restaurant opened with bu et assortments of foods re ecting various nationalities and added some more traditional menu dinners as well. e Country Kitchen was an immediate success, was recommended in the latest Duncan Hines travel guidebook that many driving travelers carried and, drew crowds from Denver, as well, who returned soon with more friends in tow. At rst, the pair would close the restaurant in the winter after the holidays and travel for a while, opening again in warmer weather, but eventually, it had a sta who could keep the operation running.

In the early 1950s, Marathon Oil and Martin Marietta both opened labs nearby, drawing employees who enjoyed good food. Our family came to work for Marathon and soon visited the Hudsons’ restaurant with our families. (Moving here, in the middle of the U.S., with Rocky Mountains close enough for a picnic excursion, seems to guarantee lots of company, which is usually ne, as long as there’s time to wash sheets in between!) e Hudsons continued to live in their riverside home. He raised purebred horses and she became interested in beautifying her city, contributing trees and planting materials to the new Arapahoe Community College campus and elsewhere. She also served on the Littleton Fine Arts Board, seeking ways to pay for sculpture and an art collection for the growing city.

Eventually, the busy couple retired, renting the log building to another food person, who operated as e Northwoods Inn, with a huge Paul Bunyan gure standing by their sign.

Thu 4/27

Tom Mcelvain Music @ 5pm

The Englewood Tavern, 4386 S Broadway, Englewood Jamie Lissow @ 6:30pm

Comedy Works South, 5345 Landmark Pl, Greenwood Village

Fri 4/28

Mark O'Connor @ 6pm Lone Tree Arts Center, 10075 Commons St, Lone Tree

Vamonos Pest/Mobro:

Vamonos Pest at Cherokee Ranch & Castle @ 5:30pm

Cherokee Ranch & Castle, 6113 N Daniels Park Rd, Sedalia

Wild Pink @ 6pm

Gothic Theatre, 3263 S Broadway, Englewood

R�N for Fire Heroes - Fire�ghter Strength Challenge & 5K @ 11pm / $30

Apr 30th - May 7th

1071 Round Top Lane, Castle Rock

Mon 5/01

Social Skills: Group for Teens (1317 yrs) S/S23 @ 5am

May 1st - Aug 31st

Parker Recreation Center, 17301 E Lincoln Ave., Parker

Kids’ Zone: Gym Jam (3-6 yrs) S/S23 @ 5am

May 1st - Aug 31st

Jamie Lissow @ 6:15pm

Comedy Works South, 5345 Land‐mark Pl, Greenwood Village

Tom Mcelvain Music @ 7pm Wild Goose Saloon, Parker

Dave Hadley: Water 2 Wine w/ June Star

@ 5pm Water 2 Wine, 8130 S University Blvd #110, Centennial

Ryan Chrys & The Rough Cuts @ 8pm Wild Goose Saloon, Parker

Miguel Mateos @ 8:30pm

Stampede, 2430 S Havana St, Aurora

Sat 4/29

The Slocan Ramblers: Five String Barn Concert @ 6:30pm

Five String Barn Concert, Castle Rock

Sun 4/30

Parker Recreation Center, 17301 E Lincoln Ave., Parker

BOOM Sports: (18 mos-6 yrs) 10 Punch Card S/S23 @ 5am

May 1st - Aug 31st

Parker Fieldhouse, 18700 E Plaza Dr, Parker

Preschool Month RegistrationMay @ 8am / Free May 1st - May 31st

Parker Fieldhouse, 18700 E Plaza Dr., Parker. 303-805-6315

Tue 5/02

Gymnastics: Ninja: Mighty Ninja (34 yrs) May @ 3pm

May 2nd - May 23rd

Parker Recreation Center, 17301 E Lincoln Ave., Parker

Denver Concert Band: Young Artist Concert @ 1pm / $22

Lone Tree Arts Center, 10075

Commons Street, Lone Tree. Info@ DenverConcertBand.org, 720-5091000

Ruston Kelly @ 6pm Gothic Theatre, 3263 S Broadway, Engle‐wood

Wed 5/03

Dear Marsha,: DM Acoustic @ Brewability @ 5:30pm Brewability Lab, 3445 S Broadway, Englewood

Whitechapel

@ 7pm Gothic Theatre, 3263 South Broadway, En‐glewood

Littleton YMCA Offering Free Family Fun on Healthy Kids Day @ 8am

Littleton Family YMCA, 11 West Dry Creek Court, Littleton

6 Million Dollar Band @ 7pm Wild Goose Saloon, Parker

Kelsey Cook @ 6pm

Comedy Works South, 5345 Landmark Pl, Greenwood Village

New Pornographers @ 7pm Gothic Theatre, 3263 South Broadway, En‐glewood

Ladies Night @ 5pm / $10 Stampede, 2430 South Havana, Aurora

Thu 5/04

Bad Omens: 107.9 KBPI Birthday Bash @ 6pm Fiddlers Green Amphitheater, 6501 S Fid‐dlers Green Cir, Greenwood Village

BY ELLIOTT WENZLER THE COLORADO SUN

Making, possessing and selling so-called ghost guns, the untraceable homemade weapons linked to several recent high-pro le Colorado shootings, will likely soon be illegal in the state.

Democrats in the state legislature Wednesday introduced a measure outlawing the rearms as part of their package of bills this year aimed at curbing gun violence in Colorado.

When guns are made by licensed manufacturers, they are required to have an engraved serial number. If that type of weapon is used in a crime, investigators can trace where it was purchased and by whom.

Additionally, anyone purchasing a gun in Colorado must go through a background check.

But the proliferation of make-ityourself gun kits and 3D printers has allowed an unknown number of untraceable rearms to be produced by people who are able to skirt Colorado’s universal background check system.

Under the bill, which is set to be introduced in the state Senate, people who already own rearms that have no serial number will have until the start of 2024 to have them engraved with a serial number by a licensed dealer. at transaction would require a background check and recording of the serial number. e bill would also outlaw the purchase and possession of any un nished rearms that don’t have serial numbers and can be easily assembled, and it would outlaw devices that would let semi-automatic ghost guns re at a rate similar to an automatic weapon.

Under the bill, people found to have created or be in possession of an unserialized rearm or gun frame would face a Class 1 misdemeanor for a rst o ense, punishable by up to 364 days in jail, and a Class 5 felony, punishable by up to three years in prison, for subsequent o enses.

“What we’re going to be doing is interrupting access to guns,” said Sen. Rhonda Fields, an Aurora Democrat. “It’s a very popular weapon for criminals to use because you don’t have to go for a background check. So we’re about to put an end to that so that we can interrupt the level of gun violence that we’re seeing in our state and across the nation.”

Other prime sponsors of the bill are Sen. Chris Hansen, D-Denver; Rep. Andrew Boesenecker, D-Fort Collins; and Rep. Junie Joseph, DBoulder.

“No law stops illegal activity,” Hansen said. “I have no doubt there will be people who will break the law. But, the point is, we have nothing on the books right now to address unserialized rearms.” e measure is expected to cruise through the Democratic-controlled legislature to Gov. Jared Polis, who supports the legislation. ere’s also growing, bipartisan support outside of the Capitol for regulating ghost guns. e mayors of Denver, Colorado Springs and Aurora wrote a joint opinion column in January supporting legislation that would restrict untraceable guns. e bill would also add crimes around unserialized guns and gun parts to the list of reasons someone could be barred from purchasing a rearm. e Gi ords Law Center is an o shoot of Gi ords, an organization that advocates for tighter gun regulations across the country and is named after former U.S. Rep. Gabby Gi ords. e Arizona Democrat was gravely wounded in a 2011 mass shooting that forced her to retire from Congress. ere are di culties around regulating the production of guns that can be made behind closed doors, but Anderman said the bill will focus primarily on sellers and distributors of ghost gun parts. is story is from e Colorado Sun, a journalist-owned news outlet based in Denver and covering the state. For more, and to support e Colorado Sun, visit coloradosun.com. e Colorado Sun is a partner in the Colorado News Conservancy, owner of Colorado Community Media.

Ghost guns have been associated with several high-pro le shootings in Colorado over the past year, including one in March when an East High School student with a history of making guns shot two administrators. e alleged shooter in the Club Q massacre in Colorado Springs also had a history of using a 3D printer to produce guns at home.

Eleven states — including Washington, Nevada, California and Rhode Island — as well as Washington, D.C., have enacted laws regulating ghost guns, according to Gi ords Law Center, an anti-gun violence advocacy organization that tracks statutes related to rearms.

Colorado’s forthcoming bill would make it illegal to use a 3D printer to produce a rearm but would not go as far as some states — such as New Jersey — that bar the distribution of instructions for how to make a gun with a 3D printer.

“As federal law has evolved and as the industry tries to get around these regulations we make updates to the law,” said Allison Anderman, an attorney with the Gi ords Law Center, who worked on the Colorado bill.

Regulations around ghost guns in other states are all relatively recent, making their e cacy di cult to gauge, Anderman said.

“We are trying to essentially go after the supply,” Anderman said.

In 2022, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives issued a rule requiring that kits that can be used to create rearms at home must include serial numbers. e bill comes as Democrats in the Colorado legislature have taken up four other measures aimed at preventing gun violence. e bills would impose a three-day waiting period for all gun purchases, raise the minimum age for buying guns to 21 and expand Colorado’s red ag law to let teachers, prosecutors and medical professionals also petition a judge to order the temporary seizure of someone’s guns.

A fourth bill would make it easier to sue the gun industry.