Press Release

Party Time! History Colorado Rolls Out Birthday Festivities Statewide

Create an epic day (or week!) worthy of this momentous occasion. h-co.org/coloradoday

Denver, Colo. (July 21, 2020) — This fine state could use a break. Colorado deserves a party unlike any other this year.

Press Contact:
John Eding, Manager of Communications and PR
303-866-3670 | john.eding@state.co.us

Starting Monday, July 27, History Colorado lets the good times roll all the way to its big day on Saturday, August 1. Everyone in Colorado is invited to celebrate their state with a birthday bundle of festive occasions, both online and in person. Our annual day of free admission at all eight of our museums throughout the state, including the History Colorado Center in downtown Denver, makes its triumphant return. And this year it has a sidekick:

For the first time ever, Colorado Day festivities will also include a full week of digital delights. A combination of live virtual events, carefully crafted videos, an online Birthday Bash bursting with fun and games, and a Spirit Week of playful prompts on social media ensure this year's celebration will be one for all and one for the record books. Special guest Governor Jared Polis will pop into our social media channels, and our five members of the State Historian’s Council will describe their favorite things about the state on our blog. New videos will showcase the great outdoors, while perfect recipes and downloadable crafts are also available.

Summer living is easy. All online elements await at h-co.org/coloradoday, including registration for the virtual birthday party at 9 a.m. on Saturday, August 1. Free admission to museums can be booked via h-co.org/welcome. All visitors who select tickets for Saturday, August 1 in the online reservation system will be able to book at no charge.

At the beautiful History Colorado Center, a historic day of entertainment awaits throughout four floors of interactive exhibits—including the final weekend for Beer Here! Brewing the New West, and the critically acclaimed art exhibit Hecho en Colorado—plus the whimsical John Denver Experience in our sun-soaked Anschutz Hamilton Hall.

Amid all the fun, History Colorado also gets down to business: on Colorado Day it will pass the role of official State Historian from Dr. William Wei to Dr. Duane Vandenbusche.

Denver7 and History Colorado are partners once again for this year’s Colorado Day festivities. Many thanks to Denver7, our Media Sponsor, for their continued support of the work we do together to bring the past and present to our communities while looking toward the future.

History Colorado’s virtual birthday bash is presented in partnership with Betterish.

Colorado Day
Saturday, August 1, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.
History Colorado Center, 1200 Broadway + Seven additional museums statewide
Free admission! | Timed tickets must be reserved in advance at h-co.org/welcome.

About History Colorado
History Colorado’s eight museums around the state are open to visitors. Inclusive, values-driven, and intentional, History Colorado has responded to the COVID-19 pandemic with an agile reorganization. Its blitz has created new educational channels for adults and youth (including at-home summer-camp kits now available), full-length episodes of its podcasts, a series of Archaeology & Preservation webinars, a weekly digest with over 28,000 subscribers, and one of the nation’s most comprehensive collecting initiatives: a partnership with dozens of schools, communities, and more than 40 newsrooms called History in the Making. While working from home, its State Historical Fund staff distributed more than $1 million in grant dollars to community projects across the state this spring. It continues its grant funding on schedule.

History Colorado’s outlets are publishing Black voices and confronting entrenched racism in historic preservation. It has employed artists of color to create new works that will be added to Colorado’s collection, and opens Women Behaving Badly by Black artist Adri Norris on July 23. Within the last year History Colorado has added curators of Latino Heritage and LGBTQ+ History to its staff, and added a full-time position to its Museum of Memory team, which works proactively to incorporate underserved communities and voices into its contemporary collecting initiative and other efforts.

History Colorado’s mission is to create a better future for Colorado by inspiring wonder in our past. We serve as the state’s memory, preserving and sharing the places, stories, and material culture of Colorado through educational programs, historic preservation grants, collecting, outreach to Colorado communities, the History Colorado Center and Stephen H. Hart Research Center in Denver, and nine other museums and historic attractions statewide. History Colorado is one of only six Smithsonian Affiliates in Colorado. Visit HistoryColorado.org, or call 303-HISTORY, for more information.


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