CLASSIC: The Holmes House, 720 11th Street, is one of Boulder’s homes featured on the Dec. 5-6 home tour.
Several holiday-themed events and music, including Historic Boulder’s “Home for the Holidays” house tour and the Boulder History Museum’s Winter Fest Gingerbread Contest, will help celebrate the Dec. 5-6 closing of the city’s 150th anniversary.
A year of special Sesquicentennial programs and events has commemorated Boulder’s founding in 1859.
On Saturday evening, Dec. 5, the Boulder Sesquicentennial Celebration and the Boulder History Museum will have an entry in the annual Lights of December parade, which loops around the Pearl Street Mall from 6 to 7 p.m.
Home tours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 5, and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 6. Homes will include: 2940 20th St., circa 1874; 541 Highland Ave., circa 1890; 977 9th St., circa 1905; 819 6th St., circa 1954; 720 11th St., circa 1922; and 125 Bellevue Dr., circa 1963. A shuttle will be available to the Bellevue Drive home, weather permitting, leaving from King Avenue south of Baseline Road near 15th Street.
Tour tickets cost $14 for Historic Boulder members, $17 for nonmembers in advance of the tour and $20 for nonmembers during the tour. Tickets can be purchased in advance at the Historic Boulder office, 1123 Spruce St., the Table Mesa and 30th Street King Soopers stores, the Boulder Book Store, the West End Gardener, at Page Two in Gunbarrel and at Timbalier Dry Goods in Lafayette.
Tickets for the house tour also will be sold at Historic Boulder’s Holiday Boutique, held this year at the Millennium Hotel’s Century-Millennium conference rooms from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 5. The Holiday Boutique also will be open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 6 at the Millennium Harvest House.
In the Lights of December Parade, members and friends of the Boulder 150 Committee and Boulder History Museum will wear historic or unusual hats and display the Boulder 150 banner. The parade also features local school groups, athletic groups, scout troops and businesses.
The Boulder History Museum’s Third Annual Gingerbread House Contest will be on display Sunday, Dec. 6 in the hotel’s Century-Millennium conference rooms. Winners will be announced at 4 p.m. The all-edible houses must be delivered to the hotel conference rooms between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Dec. 6. Winning entries will be displayed later in the week at the hotel.
Pre-registration for the Gingerbread House Contest is required. Entrants should go the to the Boulder History Museum’s web site at www.boulderhistory.org for details.
The Boulder Sesquicentennial Closing Ceremony will be 3 to 6 p.m. Dec. 6 at the Millennium Harvest House with opening remarks by Dan Corson, chair of the Boulder 150 Committee. A presentation by Dan Pirrallo, general manager of the Millennium Harvest House, will mark the hotel’s 50th anniversary this year.
Calico and Boots, a Boulder-based square-dancing group, will perform a demonstration of traditional and modern American square dancing at 3:30 p.m., followed by Boulder’s Ars Nova Singers performing at 4:15 p.m. with a community sing-along scheduled from 4:45 to 5:15 p.m. and led by local singers Melinda Mattingly and Evanne Browne. Tom Riis, music professor and director of CU-Boulder’s American Music Research Center, is coordinating the program.
The Sesquicentennial quilt panels will be on display, and the talented quilters who designed and made the quilts will be present to describe the inspiration for these five panels.
Two special plaques, commemorating Sesquicentennial events, will be presented to city officials from 5:15 to 6 p.m. The Sesquicentennial quilt panels also will be presented to the city.The panels cover Boulder’s history from 1859 to present depicting transportation, open space and recreation, arts and culture, commerce and technology and education.
The Sand Creek Massacre Spiritual Healing Run Plaque, commemorating the run Aug. 8 by members of the Northern Arapaho Tribe that ended in Boulder, will be presented to the city. The Sesquicentennial Plaque, illustrating the Sesquicentennial poster created by Boulder artist Steve Lowtwait, will be presented to the city.
Light refreshments will be served after the dedications. For information on Boulder’s Sesquicentennial Closing Celebration and stories about Boulder’s 150th anniversary, go to www.boulder150.com.