Good morning, Golden & the Front Range! This week’s kicking off with a full moon. And just not any moon…a wolf moon. 🌕 More on that and the latest Colorado wolf news below.
In today’s issue:
🛂 Passport-palooza
🧗 Determine Golden’s Future…then Climb
❤ Links of Love
📆 Upcoming Events
🌕 The Wolf Moon
🐺 …Speaking of Wolves
🔎 Around Golden
Weather Forecast
Monday ☀ | Tuesday ☀ | Wednesday ☀ |
|---|---|---|
36 🌡️ 33 0 in ❄️ | 38 🌡️ 24 0 in ❄️ | 45🌡️ 31 0 in ❄️ |
🛂 Passport-palooza
Twice a year (January & May), JeffCo holds a one day, no appointment necessary, passport processing event. This month’s is Wednesday (1/15) @ 8am-3pm. 🎉 To note, you must meet the following eligibility:
First-time adult passports
Adult passport renewals where the original passport is expired by more than five years (unfortunately, recently expired passports don’t qualify 😢)
Lost or stolen adult passport renewals
New and renewing children's passports 👶
Due to an overwhelming response, RSVPs are at capacity. However, you can still wait in line as long as you’re in line by 3pm.
For a list of what to bring and more info, click ➡ here.
🧗 Determine Golden’s Future…then Climb
The city will be at The Spot Climbing Gym on Wednesday (1/15) from 4-6pm collecting feedback on Golden’s Comprehensive Plan (the Plan).
📣 This is the LAST event of their community outreach. 📣
What’s this Plan?
This Plan has major implications on land-use decisions and policy, laying out the values and vision for guiding Golden’s future. The current plan was adopted back in 2017, and a lot has changed in Golden since then.
Why it matters?
These decisions can effect everything from housing affordability (i.e. what gets built) to bike lanes and transportation to the kind of recreational spaces Golden builds. Sharing your voice matters, and more importantly, it can make a difference(!) because community turnout for local outreach initiatives sometimes is low.
For some outreach events, only 0.01% of Golden participates. (The population of Golden is 20,242.)**
What do I do there? I hate public speaking.
No speaking required! It’s a “pop-up” event where you casually put stickers on a board ranking your priorities. You can add post-in notes with specific comments too! It’ll take you less than 5 minutes.
Find out more information ➡ here.
** For example, the Historic Preservation Board hired a consultant that created a report called the Historic Preservation Policy and Engagement Study Discussion and Recommendations. Below is the participation from the study, which will be informing how (i.e. with what enforcements) Golden can preserve it’s historic buildings. The more you know.. 🌈⭐️
❤ Links of Love
In November 2024, voters strengthened protections for marriage equality with a change to Colorado’s constitution. As your county marriage license office, we love to celebrate love, so we’re building a giant rainbow paper chain to show our community’s support—and we want you to be part of it! Add your name and we’ll create a link in the chain just for you.
✅ Takes 15 seconds to do.
📆 Upcoming Events
Happening this week:
🍷💵 Wine, Women, & Wealth (1/15 @ 6:30pm): If you’re looking to start off the year building your wealth or your business, this group is for you. They meet monthly and are hosted by financial experts. FREE to attend but make sure to register here.
🏂 Ski X Board Tune Night (1/15 @ 5-9pm): Ready to hit the slopes? For $30, get a beer, a wax, and an edge at New Terrain Brewing to get you ready for ski season.
⛏️ Avalanche Awareness for Ice Climbers with Golden Mountain Guides (1/16 @ 6-8pm): “A short 1 hour talk of utilizing the new Avalanche Terrain Exposure Scale, and how this helps ice climbs make safe decisions.” FREE event at Bentgate Mountaineering (1313 Washington Avenue). Says to sign up, but the link is broken.
Cannonball Creek Brewing’s 12 Year Anniversary Celebration (all weekend!): Drink anniversary beers, checkout the food trucks, and more…
1/17 - Limited Edition T-shirts & Live Music @ 7pm
1/18 - Photo Booth & Live Music @ 4pm and 7pm
1/19 - Live Music @ 1m AND for the kiddos…face painting and balloons, piñata @ 3pm for kids 10 and under
🍺🐶 Dog Adoption Event at Over Yonder Brewing (1/19 @ 1-4pm): meet adoptable dogs and enjoy beer knowing you’re supporting a good cause. $1 per full pour of a featured beer goes to Animal Rescue of the Rockies and Old Dogs New Digs.
Future Events:
🍷 Wine 101 Class at Abejas (1/20 @ 6-8:30pm) - Date night anyone?! “Will be covering Wine Basics and taught by Owner Brandon Bortles and Sommelier and General Manager Michael Ivey. Light food will be provided with the tasting portion.” Wine class AND light food from Abejas! 🙌 Get your ticket here for $30.
🍺 Golden Beer Talks: The past, present, and future of Colorado’s weather and climate (1/21 @ 6pm): Russ Schumacher, Colorado State Climatologist and Director of the Colorado Climate Center, will be speaking on the history of weather and climate observations in Colorado. Talk is FREE. Beer is not. Doors open at 6pm, talk starts at 6:30pm.
🎥 ⛰ Backcountry Film Festival presented by the Colorado Mountain Club (1/22 @ 7-9pm): Only a handful of tickets left for this film festival. $15 for CMC Members, $18 for the public.
🌕 The Wolf Moon
It’s thought that January’s full Moon came to be known as the Wolf Moon because wolves were more likely to be heard howling at this time. It was traditionally believed that wolves howled due to hunger during winter, but we know today that isn’t accurate.
Howling and other wolf vocalizations are heard in the wintertime to locate pack members, reinforce social bonds, define territory, and coordinate hunting.
🐺 …Speaking of Wolves
Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission struck down a petition by ranchers last week to pause the state’s wolf reintroduction program. Colorado began reintroducing wolves in December 2023, following a 2020 voter-approved initiative, with plans to release 30 to 50 wolves over five years to establish a self-sustaining population.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) is up in Canada as of Friday capturing 10-15 more wolves for reintroduction. The operation is expected to take two weeks, and only healthy wolves will be brought to Colorado after a thorough health inspection.
P.S. If you’ve never seen the wolves’ reintroduction as they sprint in slow motion out of their kennels, it’s pretty neat to watch. Gov. Jared Polis makes a cameo and opens one of the kennels.
Have a great week and see you again in your inbox on Thursday!
Your friendly neighborhood goose 🪿,
Kelsey
Publisher | The Golden Goose
