Serving the community since 1866
WEEK OF OCTOBER 24, 2024
VOLUME 158 | ISSUE 43
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Ghouls just wanna have fun
Golden-based mountain clubs sell American Mountaineering Center Colorado Mountain Club moving to new Applewood-area headquarters BY CORINNE WESTEMAN CWESTEMAN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Six-year-old Mila Bouchez, who’s dressed as Pennywise from “It,” swats at bubbles with her Halloween bag during Ralston Elementary School’s Fall Fest on Oct. 12. Hundreds of students and their families attended the annual fundraiser, which goes toward some of the PHOTO BY CORINNE WESTEMAN teachers and aides’ salaries.
Ralston Elementary School families enjoy frightening fall fundraiser BY CORINNE WESTEMAN CWESTEMAN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Seven-year-old Finley Herlihy, who was dressed as a ninja, also liked the candy and toys she collected and was proud of her class’s haunted sunken pirate ship-themed station. The event’s silent auction is the PTA’s biggest fundraiser of the year. In previous years, it has raised almost $20,000 annually for new technology, maintaining full-time arts, music and physical education teachers; hiring paraprofessionals and aides; and anything else the school might need, organizers have said.
WESTMINSTER
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Once a year, Genesee’s ghouls and goblins take over Ralston Elementary School for a few hours, collecting candy and snatching up toys wherever they can and then reluctantly returning home with their parents.
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On Oct. 12, the school’s PTA hosted its annual Fall Fest, drawing hundreds of students and their families to a trunk-or-treat-style event with games, inflatable obstacle courses, a dance floor and more. Each class hosted a trunk-or-treat station with themes ranging from “Ghostbusters” to “Bad to the Bone” with games like skeleton Plinko and pumpkin bowling. Six-year-old Lilyanne Meinhardt, who wore a matching “Where’s Waldo?” costume with her mom, said her favorite part was the toys she won, along with the snow cones.
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A hundred years ago, it opened as Golden High School. Today, it’s the American Mountaineering Center, home of the American Alpine Club and Colorado Mountain Club. In coming years, it will likely be something else, to be determined. The American Mountaineering Center at 710 10th St. has been sold to AC Development, officials have confirmed. It was previously coowned by the two mountain clubs. AC Development, the real estate company the Coors family launched for the Clayworks district, stated in a recent press release it didn’t have any firm plans for the building yet beyond restoring and renovating it. However, officials promised to “work closely with the Colorado Historical Foundation” to ensure its significance is maintained. The multi-story building, which is listed on both the national and state registers of historic places, was built in 1924 and expanded several times over the decades. It operated as Golden Middle School until 1988, and became the American Mountaineering Center in 1993. Today, it serves as office space for several local businesses and nonprofits, including the mountain clubs. With the sale, the Colorado Mountain Club has confirmed it will be moving to new headquarters in the Applewood area in early November. It hasn’t finalized when it will reopen to the public at its new location. Madeline Bachner Lane, CMC’s chief executive officer, said moving out of the building her organization has co-owned for 30 years is bittersweet. “We are very aware of history we’ve had here,” she said Oct. 10.
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