VOICES The good old pioneer days I

For those of you who are history bu s, let me give you a brief history of Golden. Once upon a time, there was this big round rock ying around the sun. Eventually it cooled o and developed a climate. Once that happened, water began to show up and through some great mystery, life began somewhere. Eventually it spread all over the rock and this area became a wet tropical environment with these huge lizards roaming all over the place. At the same time, the upper layer plates of the rock began shifting and started sticking up out of the surface, eventually becoming really big mountains. en the climate dried quite a bit, the giant lizards disappeared and other animals took their place. Finally, people started showing up, and after that condominiums and breweries took over the landscape.

OK, what did you expect? I said a brief history. Hundreds of millions of years condensed into one paragraph. A few of the details had to be left out, right? But, that’s all right, there are plenty of other people around Golden that can probably ll in the blanks a lot better than I can. Read on and I’ll tell you about a few of them and where they will be gathering this coming weekend.

As everyone knows, a lot of Golden’s written history revolves around pioneers, gold rushes and settlers. Compared to the vast period I just described, it’s a mere speck of the region’s time frame but it’s an important period just the same. It’s where the history of Golden, as an actual town, began —back ere’s a log cabin, one room school house, blacksmith shop and more. is Saturday there will be people there in period dress to tell you all about the pioneer days and provide you with several demonstrations of things like how a blacksmith hammers metal into horseshoes. It’s basically history come to life with knowledgeable folks there to show you how things used to be. e Homestead Open House will be running from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and you can nd out more information by going to goldenhistory.org.

So, what was life actually like around here in those days? Well, you can nd out in person this coming Saturday, May 27 at the Golden History Park. ere is a free Homestead Open House that day with loads of activities for the entire family.

If you aren’t familiar with the place, it’s a part of the Golden History Museum and Park and is located at the intersection of Arapahoe and 11th streets. It’s a collection of original structures from the area put together in a park setting that depict many of the typical things you would have seen when Golden was just beginning.

OK, so this next one is sort of an odd combination, because it fuses some of the history of the 1800’s with that of the era when those huge lizards I mentioned used to be around here. Yes, it sounds like a Hollywood movie, but it actually works quite well.

On both Saturday and Sunday, May 27 and 28, the Colorado Railroad Museum will be running the Dinosaur Express Train. e idea here is for railroad tracks to meet dinosaur tracks for a day of exciting family fun. You can ride behind a coal- red steam locomotive that departs every half-hour from and follow the dinosaur tracks around the Museum’s 15-acre railyard. Dinosaurthemed activities will be hosted by experts from Dinosaur Ridge and the Morrison Natural History Museum. Plus, you can check out a Juras- sic style Lego layout created by the Denver Lego Users Group and even build your own dinosaur creations. A character named “Mr. Bones” along with their famous Spike the Railroad Dog will be there as well. Food, drink and tasty treats will also be available. e Dinosaur Express Train brings together two of my childhood favorites, that’s for sure. Keep in mind that capacity is limited, so advance ticket purchases are recommended. You can do that as well as nd out more information by going to www.coloradorailroadmuseum.org. Admission to the Museum is $10 for Adults, $5 for ages 2-17 and $8 for Seniors over 60. But it’s free for Museum Members and children under age 2 do not require a ticket. e train rides run $4 for Adults and $2 for ages 2-17. It is located at 17155 W. 44th Avenue, here in Golden. You can’t miss it. It’s the place with all the trains in front of it.

John Akal is a well-known jazz artist/drummer and leader of the 20-piece Ultraphonic Jazz Orchestra. He also is president of John Akal Imaging, professional commercial photography and multimedia production. He can be reached at jaimaging@aol.com.