Parades aplenty

Golden has a lot of wonderful things going for it and those of us who live here appreciate it’s small town feel while still being minutes away from a major city and it’s urban atmosphere. We kind of get the best of all worlds here and most of us enjoy being able to take advantage of all the things that Denver has to offer and then come home to a place separated from the hustle and bustle by a couple of flat topped mountains.For many years one of our television networks has been sponsoring a huge parade in downtown Denver so we are all familiar with the Parade of Lights that will be taking place this coming weekend, on Friday and Saturday, December 5 and 6. It gets a lot of promotion so everyone knows about that one. But what you may not know is that Golden has more parades than almost any other place on the planet! Ok, I haven’t really researched this but we seem to have some kind of parade going on from classic cars to homecomings almost every week around here.Well, the Holiday season is a perfect excuse to have a parade and with that thought in mind the Golden Chamber of Commerce decided a few years ago that if one parade is good, then three parades is great!So, as a part of our Olde Golden Christmas celebration during December they will be sponsoring a parade every Saturday before Christmas. Those dates are December 6,13 and 20.Now, our parades may not be epic 4 hour events with giant balloons the size of a city block and marching bands flying in from all 50 states to play Christmas songs, but they do have a certain small town charm that you won’t find everywhere else. They start at 11 a.m. at 10th and Washington by the Golden Visitor’s Center and travel 3 blocks up Washington Avenue to 13th street. What they lack in size they make up for in character because everything is home made from floats to costumes and you never know what kind of crazy thing our local businesses and organizations will come up with. Let’s face it, we all love to see a bunch of dogs heading down the street with reindeer antlers on them, don’t we?All of this is to help draw your attention to what shopping in Golden is all about. I’ll tell you, I take at least one day every month to roam around town and check out what’s new and happening and if you can’t find an excellent gift or have a terrific dining experience here in town, then you won’t be happy anywhere. There’s a lot of great places in a very small space here in Golden.Think of it like this, our entire downtown is about the size of a big shopping mall, so you can park and walk around just like you would at one of those places. But the difference is that almost all of our shops, restaurants and bars are independently owned and operated by people here in Golden and all of the revenues from these places end up coming back to our own community. Plus our business owners have the freedom to operate and sell or cook what they want rather than just put stuff on a rack that some corporate headquarters in another state sends them by the truckload. You will find unique things here in Golden that you just don’t see everywhere else.Yes, Santa Clause is coming to townSanta likes it here in Golden so he’s going to be making several appearances all season long. He’ll be leading the Candlelight Walk on Friday, December 5, then heading over to the Colorado Railroad Museum for live performances of The Polar Express complete with a train ride to the North Pole. These performances are scheduled for Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through December 28 with additional shows scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, December 22 and 23. Show times are 4:30, 6 and 7:30 p.m., and there are several ticket options available. You can find out all the details on their website at www.coloradorailroadmuseum.org/polarexpress or by calling (303) 279-4591.

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 multi-media production. He can be reached at [email protected]