Welcome to the holiday season

I hope everyone had a fun and adventurous Halloween. It was a long weekend with lots to do, so I’m sure there was something going on that made it memorable for you.

I always think of Halloween as the start of my Holiday Season. It’s followed by Thanksgiving, Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, some kind of celebration of the Winter Solstice and ends with New Years Day. That is unless you are a Christian who adheres to the 12 Days of Christmas starting on Christmas Day and ending on Jan. 5 or have a family like mine that all seem to have birthdays in January to celebrate or even if you are a thrifty romantic who plans ahead and realize that right after Christmas is a great time to save money on that upcoming Valentine’s Day present you need to buy.

Of course we don’t want to forget that other annual horror event, Black Friday. That’s the day after Thanksgiving when thousands of people try to trample each other and avoid catching the flu just to save 20 bucks on a flat screen T.V. they probably don’t need anyway. Ahhh, ’tis the season!

Since we can’t avoid the inevitable, and all of us would probably like to do a few fun things to celebrate the season, I’ll do my best to try to inform you of the best upcoming holiday events and share some shopping tips to help you keep your sanity over the next few months.

So, with that in mind, let me share a kind of “early bird” event that’s happening this weekend. It’s the 32nd Annual Craft Fair held at the Golden First United Methodist Church. It’s a two day event running on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 4 and 5, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

This is a great little fair that will give you a chance to shop with over 25 artists and vendors bringing a whole host of creations to the church’s event center. If you know someone who likes hand made and unique items, then go check this one out.

There will be folks there with wood and knit items, jewelry, holiday d cor, cards, photographs as well as home made baked goods. Plus there’s always a selection of fun and humorous items for a “White Elephant Party” with friends or at the office.

It’s a good idea to plan on being there for lunch, 11a.m. until 2 p.m. on both days. They have a kitchen right there and homemade style food will be prepared by women from the church. It boasts a fabulous menu with affordable prices. The highlight of that is always the selection of fresh baked fruit pies.

This is held in the basement event room which has it’s entrance on the northwest side of the church. Just go down the ramp, you can’t miss it. The Golden First United Methodist Church is located at 1500 Ford Street here in Golden, but the parking lot is actually on Jackson Street at the back side of the buildings. For more information give them a call at (303) 279-7811.

Free Night at the Museums

Just a reminder that as a part of the Denver Arts Week, Friday November 5 is Free Night at the Museums and it includes several right here in Golden. You can get free admission 5 -8 p.m. to the Colorado School of Mines Geology Museum at 1310 Maple Street, Dinosaur Ridge at 16831 W. Alameda Parkway, the Foothills Art Center at 809 15th Street and the Golden History Center at 923 10th Street.

This is an evening event so the museums are open later than usual. There are also a lot of other arts events and museums all over the Denver metro area so take a minute to go to www.denver.org/denver-arts-week and check it all out. It’s a pretty awesome and multi-encompassing week of entertainment.

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]

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