Longmont Kicks Off Year of Celebration
As Longmont prepares to commemorate the 150th anniversary of its founding in 2021, two events are planned next week to kick off a year of celebration.
First, Longmont Mayor Brian Bagley will proclaim February 2 as Longmont Day and 2021 a year of celebration of Longmont’s sesquicentennial during the regularly scheduled City Council meeting on Tuesday night at 7 pm.
In a second event on Thursday, February 4 at 7:30 pm, at the Longmont Museum, Mayor Bagley will join Museum Curator of History Erik Mason for the Happy Birthday Longmont event, and read his Longmont Day proclamation.
Following the proclamation, Mason will host an evening charting Longmont’s history, chats with various community members, a video tribute from Vance Brand, the opening of a time capsule and the singing of Happy Birthday (with cake, of course). Members of the Longmont Symphony have been invited to provide some music as well. Mason also will host a virtual multimedia event featuring tales from Longmont’s colorful history.
“This is only the beginning of a year-long celebration,” Longmont Mayor Bagley said. “The pandemic has forced us into hosting more virtual events but it will not curtail the community’s excitement of Longmont’s 150th birthday. We hope to host more in-person events if the pandemic subsides later in the year.”
The mayor’s proclamation in part reads:
WHEREAS, on February 2, 1871, the incorporation papers for the Chicago-Colorado Colony were filed in Denver, and that Colony founded the town of Longmont in the spring of 1871; and
WHEREAS, over its 150-year history, Longmont has grown into a city of almost 100,000 residents who work together to sustain a caring, inclusive community, proud to embrace, support, respect and celebrate each other,
NOW, THEREFORE, I, Brian J. Bagley, Mayor, by virtue of the authority vested in me and the City Council of the City of Longmont, do hereby proclaim February 2, 2021, as “Longmont Day” and 2021 a year of celebration of Longmont’s sesquicentennial.
The multimedia event at the Museum features a new book by Longmont Museum Curator of History Erik Mason. Through text and nearly 300 historic photographs, it tells the stories of the many people who have called Longmont home. Discover Longmont’s origins as the Chicago-Colorado Colony, its development as a hub for agriculture, including flour mills, a vegetable cannery, and a sugar factory, and the transition to today’s high-tech center. This richly illustrated and comprehensive history is a delightful treasure trove for anyone wanting to learn more about Longmont and the St. Vrain Valley and to celebrate its past.
To see the Longmont City Council meeting and hear the reading of the mayor’s proclamation, visit longmontcolorado.gov/departments/city-council/city-council-meetings and follow the instructions.
To watch the Museum celebration, sign in online or watch Longmont’s cable channel 8:
View a timeline of Longmont’s history at longmontcolorado.gov/departments/departments-e-m/museum/collections/history-of-longmont.
