Boulder Daily Camera, Boulder & County News, October  13, 2008

5 Questions for Celeste Woodley, Chairwoman of the Older Boulder Committee

Celeste Woodley, 84, is the chairwoman of the Older Boulder committee, one of the groups helping plan Boulder's 150th anniversary celebration. The committee is distributing surveys to community members 65 or older, who have lived in or around Boulder for at least the last 50 years. The aim is to provide a historical look at life around the city. The group is circulating surveys at senior residences, city senior centers, service clubs and the Boulder History Museum.

1. How long have you lived in Boulder, and what do you enjoy most about the city?

I was born in the campus' University Hospital in 1924. My father graduated from CU, and he moved to Lafayette to open a drug store. Then we moved on to Denver, where I graduated from North High School in 1941.

I immediately came back to Boulder and graduated from CU in 1944. I then went into the Army and worked in Washington, D.C. In 1956, my husband and I decided to come back to Boulder.

The number one attraction for us has always been the mountains. Nothing compares to Boulder's backdrop.

2. How would you describe the community in Boulder?

I think it's interesting and interested in many things. I like very much that it's a community of diverse opinions. It's also a community where science is honored, and one of Boulder's finest attractions is our art and culture.

3. What will the Older Boulder committee contribute to the anniversary celebration?

The community will contribute a sense of history. We have made history and we are history. We've influenced the direction of this city and shaped policy, and I think the committee is trying to bring those realities into play.

4. Why did Older Boulder decide to take on the survey project?

We're particularly interested in the old-timers. We want to recognize these people and honor them.

This is a great opportunity for responders to tell the stories of their lives. We hope that this information will be available for future generations to answer questions about how people lived and what they thought of the city.

For another project, we have a group of 10 quilters making an anniversary quilt depicting Boulder's history.

If you are an "Older Boulder" resident of more than 50 years, and would like to be involved in this Sesquicentennial Project, click here to fill out the Older Boulder survey. There are instructions for what to do after you have filled it out, on the form.

Boulder Daily Camera, Lifestyles Columnists, Sunday September 9, 2008

Sesquicentennial celebration is in the works

by Silvia Pettem

Boulder residents have always acknowledged their city's major anniversaries. In 1909, they celebrated the semi-centennial, 50 years after gold prospectors incorporated "Boulder City" as a supply point for the mountain mines. Then came Boulder's centennial year, in 1959. Plans are currently underway for the upcoming sesquicentennial celebration of 2009.

A look back at the city's previous anniversaries is a good way to prepare for the future.

The semi-centennial was organized by Boulder pharmacist Eben G. Fine with the help of the Boulder Chamber of Commerce. In just a few weeks they raised money from local businesses, then set dates for the festivities and formed committees to make them happen.

Boulder's first citizens were at the top of everyone's list to be included in the celebration. In addition to locating Boulder's pioneer settlers, Fine was given the task of soliciting Native Americans from the Ute Indian reservation in southern Colorado.

Wasting no time, Fine invited Chief Buckskin Charlie and seven men, five women, three little girls, and a papoose from his tribe to be his guests for a week in Boulder. The Utes all came together on a train, then pitched their teepees on the bank of Boulder Creek. The first night, they danced around a University of Colorado pre-football-game bonfire.

As part of the semi-centennial celebration, the Boulder's guests participated in a mock stagecoach hold-up, then led a parade described by Fine as "one of the longest and most impressive ever seen in Boulder." After the Utes went back to their teepees, 400 people sat down to a banquet. "Fifty-niner" Emma Brookfield, along with 22 maids of honor, presided as Queen of the Festival, attended by nearly all of the city's long-time residents.

By the 1950s, Fine himself was an old-timer, but he never lived to see the centennial. In 1957, at the age of 91, he fell out of a second-story window and died. Planning for Boulder's 100th anniversary was already underway and went on without him. The 1959 events took place every weekend in June and July and lasted for an entire week in August.

The centennial celebration's biggest event, and largest money-maker, was a historical pageant called the "Boulderama." Every night for a week, 500 costumed participants acted out 100 years of Boulder history on a 300-foot stage in the Boulder High School football field.

There also were three parades, a beard-growing contest, and a staged kangaroo court. Businesses put up storefront decorations, and peddlers sold booklets and souvenirs. Three of the former maids of honor (Gladys Lumry, Leona Hubbard, and Elvina Korte) still lived in Boulder.

A time capsule, buried at the time in front of the municipal building, is scheduled to be removed in 2059 to ensure that Boulder residents don't forget their next big anniversary, the bicentennial.

Looming on the horizon for today's Boulder residents is the sesquicentennial, to include programs and events on Boulder's past and again honor Boulder's long-time residents and businesses. Planning committee meetings are already in progress. If you would like to join in, contact Marilyn Haas at info@boulder150.com

Silvia Pettem's history column appears every Sunday in the Camera.

Boulder Daily Camera, Sunday, December 30, 2007

Fab 150th planned
Organizers prepare for city's sesquicentennial

It was 1959, and the city was celebrating its 100th birthday.

Today, planning is under way for Boulder's 2009 sesquicentennial -- a 150th-anniversary bash meant to honor Boulder's journey from a mining-supply camp to a high-tech university town surrounded by open space.

As organizers roll up their sleeves, they'll be looking back to two previous celebrations -- in 1909 and 1959. Both parties -- and the way they were celebrated -- provide insight into just how much Boulder has changed. To read the rest of the article, click here.