Our adopted hometown of Cañon City celebrates its sesquicentennial this year!
That means the founders of our fair city formed it into an actual city a century and a half ago in 1872. The Colorado Territorial Prison (“Old Max”) had just opened here the year before, and Colorado would gain statehood 5 years later.
Cañon City 150 celebrations are already ongoing. A gala held on Thursday evening kicked things off in high style. Yesterday’s monthly First Friday festivities included historic trolley rides with people in old-timey costumes portraying real characters from our history. There’s a show at the Fremont Center of the Arts of “Then & Now” photographs, with many Main Street business sporting similarly-styled window clings showing that storefront as it once appeared.
Today is the biggie event, a City Fair and Jubilee being held at and around the high school stadium through the afternoon and into the evening.
Activities will include “Old Tyme Games,” a petting zoo, pony rides, historic wagons & tractors as well as a food court offering old time vittles. There’s even “Old Time Baseball” in the afternoon, with vintage costumes and players & audience alike getting into the swing of things.
As much fun as all of that sounds like, I will not be attending the event. I’m mildly crowd-averse and this sort of event promises fun for everyone — which promises a lot of “everyone”s will be there. I will not.
I will however attend the finale of the event: lighting of the new “C” on the hillside and the fireworks display shot from Skyline Drive. Our front porch and yard make for magnificent viewing when we have fireworks in town, and the big “C” hillside commemorating our city’s name will be plainly visible for that lighting ceremony as well.
Now, me, I love fireworks, both the colorful explosions and the thundering booms. I just wish the noise did not make our poor dog, Stella, freak out so badly. She’ll get to wear a new anti-anxiety “calming collar” this evening and try out a larger-sized Thundershirt for help her survive what seems like the end of the world to her.
Meanwhile, Cañon City carries on, 150 years young — the adventure continues!
Buller's back porch 