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60 Years of Buffalo Bill Days

Contributed by: Richard Gardner on 7/29/2006

This weekend of July 28-30 marked the 60th anniversary of the beginning of Buffalo Bill Days, one of the longest standing community celebrations in Golden. Over this time it has taken on many forms to honor the man whom many pioneer Goldenites admired and who once worked among them as a boy, and to honor the Western heritage the town and he share. The origin of this celebration itself has long faded in memory, so the occasion of this milestone is certainly a good reason to tell all about how this celebration began.

The first Buffalo Bill Days was held in Golden on Aug. 15-18, 1946, focused in downtown Golden where it has always been. Previous to this, since June 1936, the city had celebrated Golden Days, began by the Mt. Lookout Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution to honor our pioneer heritage. Golden Days included a gala parade and street festival each year and was quite popular.

However, 10 years after it began folks decided well to transform Golden Days into the Jefferson County Fair, and to give the festival a permanent home southeast of town. Civic leaders searched out what new celebration could take its place, and the Golden Chamber of Commerce, noting the pending 100th birthday of Buffalo Bill, quickly seized the opportunity to create a whole new celebration of the frontier west for Goldenites to enjoy.

Buffalo Bill in Golden

William Frederick Cody, famously known as Buffalo Bill, certainly was no stranger to Golden. Long before he gained fame, he first came to Golden in 1860, as a young teenager during the gold rush. His father, a Kansas abolitionist, had been nearly beaten to death and young William was here to try earning some money to support his family. Cody was quite a prodigy at the reins of horse teams and quickly found work, and he drove routes on freight and stagecoach taking him through Mt. Vernon Canyon.

His route took him through Golden, down the same Washington Avenue the parade in his honor takes today, and likely the Golden pioneers knew him, particularly stage stop proprietors. After leaving for the Pony Express and after many ensuing years, during which time his Wild West show (when coming to Denver) painted the largest advertising murals downtown has ever seen, the now famous Buffalo Bill returned to town in 1907, resting at the Avenue Hotel (now Spirits in the Wind Gallery at 1211 Washington Avenue).

He was fondly retracing the wagon route of his youth, only now by the luxury of the automobile, showing how his memories of Golden were good ones. In 1917 Cody was buried atop Lookout Mountain, adjoining the thoroughfare he'd worked in frontier days. The once anonymous youth trying to earn a living to send home had become Golden's adopted celebrity.

Day 1 - August 15th

Everett Barnhardt led the efforts to organize the first Buffalo Bill Days, as the event was quickly christened. What it became was the largest organized event yet held in Golden's history, spanning four days and many different activities. Festivities began at 5 p.m. Thursday, August 15, with the Buffalo Barbecue and American Legion Bazaar at the Labor Temple at 1119 Washington Avenue (now the Buffalo Rose), featuring a chuckwagon of delicious prime barbeque buffalo meat, a rare treat sponsored by the Taylor-Miller Post of the American Legion and provided by Ernie Waters, cooked at the LaRay Hotel at 1310 Washington Avenue (now the Table Mountain Inn) by expert chef Marlin Patty of the hotel's El Burro restaurant. Waters also provided his newly-built but yet to be occupied Piggly Wiggly at 807 13th Street for the Legion's big bingo game.

Along Washington Avenue was the Norton Carnival, featuring a merry-go-round, ferris wheel, mix up, octopus, double loop-o-plane and 10 concessions.

Day 2 - August 16th

The second day of Buffalo Bill Days continued the Buffalo Barbeque, Carnival and Legion Bazaar all day. At 6:30pm lined up the first Buffalo Bill Parade, chaired by F.A. "Heinie" Foss, which offered entrants some 30 cash prizes totalling $211.50, ranging from $20 for the best Buffalo Bill costume to $5 for the best riders (boys and girls), best dressed cowboys and Indians, and more. Judges for the parade were Sheriff George Koch, Deputy Sheriff Eddie Frisby and Judge C.D. Stoner. This first parade featured horses, costumes of many kinds, horse-drawn and mechanized floats, color guards, and marching and riding bands, and stretched nearly a mile long. R.L. Boyd of Denver was the best Buffalo Bill, while O.B. Hall was the best cowboy, and Mrs. Bell the best Indian.

The best float was from the Rooney Ranch, earlier home to champion 11-year-old trick rider Edna Belle Rooney, who had been recruited by the Wild West Show. Katherine Bolitho of Golden and A.E. Sickler of Lakewood were the best on the horses in this modern Buffalo Bill event. The evening was capped by the Veterans of Foreign Wars post dance at the Golden Chateau at 50th and Easley (now the Golden Elks Lodge), lasting until 1 in the morning, chaired by J. Wilbur Hall with music provided by Bob Williams and his 6-piece band. As was told in the Jefferson County Republican newspaper, "It will be an occasion long to remember, this dance, which will in reality observe the return to pre-war days. It will be an event for returned G I's and their sweethearts to recall that it was just one year ago at this time that the Japanese surrendered."

Day 3 - August 17th

The third day of Buffalo Bill Days was packed full of fun. Aside from the continuing Buffalo Barbeque, Carnival and Legion Bazaar, festivities spread to Creighton Field at Applewood where a benefit air show and races were performed. Chaired by H.S. Hamlin Jr. and George Barley, the air show featured the newest models of aircraft to demonstrate their versatility and usefulness. It also featured paper cutting and dusting demonstrations, landing contests and aerial acrobatics, with a finale of 3 races featuring planes zooming around an aerial triangle some 100 feet above the ground.

Veteran Navy pilot Claud Owens of Golden flew every possible manuever in his Piper Cub, while acrobatic pilot Walt Williams flew his BT-13 "Vultee Vibrator", which he took every day to work from his Lakewood home to the airfield. It was the first air show in Jefferson County's history, befitting an earlier time when the first plane that flew over Jefferson County dropped flowers on Buffalo Bill's grave.

Later in the afternoon, in front of the LaRay Hotel, came the Buffalo Bill Days beauty contest, for "choosing Miss Golden of 1946 and her sister of one hundred years ago, Miss 1846". Judging the contest were representatives from the six fraternities of the Colorado School of Mines: Bob Bernstein, ATO; Bob Zimmerli, Beta; Bill Muir, SPE; Tom Phipps, SAE; Bill Spain, SN; and Kinswell Smith, KZ.

Cash prizes from $15 to $7.50 were awarded by Colorado Central Power Co. for first, second and third prizes, while Linder Hardware offered $7.50 for the tallest beauty and $5 to the shortest.

At 5pm came the Soap Box Derby, under direction of downtown Chevrolet dealer Steve Frederick. Brave entrants raced from the topf of 14th Street down to the river, with the winners for best appearance and speed getting $10 from Craig-Frederick Chevrolet (now Stevinson Chevrolet), and the worst car awarded $5 from the Golden Furniture Company. Judging the event were Ford Wolf, Steve Frederick, George Duvall and Judge Osmer Smith.

The fraternities then were pitted against each other in a Tug 'O War atop the Washington Avenue Bridge, chaired by their professor Robert Baxter. The Golden Fire Department, in its pledge to offer "physical and moral assistance" for this event, did so in this way:

"Water from the fire hose will be aimed at the center of the rope in such a fashion that the losing team will really get a drenching. Youthful brawn will vie for the opportunity of thoroughly dousing their fellowmen, and it will be an hour of hilarious merriment and expectation to watch these young gladiators pit their strength against one another."

At 9pm everyone was treated to a spectacular fireworks display shot from Cemetery Hill in north Golden, which was run by Professor and onetime state senator Dave Johnston. The day was completed by an old-time square dance afterward.

Day 4 - August 18th

The final day of the first Buffalo Bill Days featured a sport played here well back into Buffalo Bill's living years, baseball. Spec Williams and Orin Nelson were in charge of the league of teams playing against one another at Mines Park. While the teams were playing there was an overheard acrobatic sailplane display by Art Maynard, sponsored by the Colorado School of Soaring.

Buffalo Bill Days ended with a wild west display that was not exactly choreographed: there was a "good old-fashioned rough and tumble brawl" between 12 men, for from the carnival and eight from eastern Jefferson County.

The Jefferson County Republican newspaper, which provided most coverage of Buffalo Bill Days, noted that while the cause of the melee was not known, "the opinion of observers seemed to be that it was inspired by too much firewater. For a hectic few minutes, the frontier battle went round and round in the vicinity of the Merry-go-round."

When all was done, a new community celebration was born.


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Showing 1 of 1 comments
Submitted By: mike melnick
posted on 8/1/2006 @ 11:47:35 AM
Rated Story
While I had enjoyed this weekend event since my youth and made it a family tradition by taking my 3 and 5 year old girls, I am not sure i will anymore. I was embarrassed by the older kids and some of thier parents who pushed ahead of the small kids to get candy and practically attacked the people who were giving away bottles of water. They didn't even allow them to hand them out. They just took them. Golden is a great place but I don't think i want my young girls subjected to this "mob" mentality over getting candy. If they need it so bad go to the store.
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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Richard Gardner

Golden , CO

Richard Gardner has posted 97 stories and 1 comment since joining on 9/15/2005. Richard Gardner 's average story rating is 4.95.
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