Dear Editor,

Now that the decorations are stored til the first weekend in December 2024, much appreciation must be given to the many folks that made the 25th Tommyknocker Events a HUGE success. It INDEED takes a Village!!

Mary Laffey designed our poster and fliers. JoAnn Kerr and her talented crew of decorators, Robbie Zmuda, Holly and Anne McPheeters, Shirley Voorhies, Jeremy Kaiser, Jennifer and Kevin Russel outdid themselves with festive Victorian Style décor in the iconic Teller House.

Thursday, 189+ Gilpin children and their teachers paraded down Main Street and placed handmade ornaments on the City Tree and were very well behaved at the Teller House party as professional storyteller, Dawn Cromwell of the Colorado Storytellers shared her wonderful Christmas stories and Randi Ebers, music teacher of Gilpin High led the school’s choir and orchestra in toe-tapping Holiday songs.

Father Christmas and Mrs. Claus wished all present Holiday Greetings and The Central City Elks Auxiliary handed out goodie bags as the children left the Teller to return to school. Community donors that assisted in funding events were: Ermel’s Thrift Shop, Alan Green Foundation, Gilpin County Education Foundation, CC Senior Elks, CC Business Improvement District, Peak to Peak Rotary, RCI Hospitality Holdings, City of Central and Main Street Central City. Our CC public works crew and Gilpin Sheriff’s Department kept our children safe on their parade down & up Main Street.

The Community Pot Luck was on Friday night following the official lighting of the City Tree by Mayor Fey, and the Candle Walk and Carol Singing led by Central City Opera Interns was GRANDE. Over 100+ people enjoyed food from the ‘best cooks in the Rockies’. The Velvet Dream, a Rock n’ Roll Band entertained with their premier performance.

Saturday and Sunday shoppers enjoyed a variety of vendors from Denver, Black Hawk, Central City, Bailey, Wheat Ridge, Littleton, Mead, Brighton, Engelwood, Aurora, Golden and Arvada. JoAnn Kerr and her talented crew of decorators outdid themselves with festive Victorian Style Decor. The registration table was manned by Cindy Olsen, Sharon Bell, Gina Van Son, Gail Keeler, Vickie Farmwold and Lisa Leban.

Much appreciation to Eric Chinn of the Teller House Staff that kept the holiday music and wi-fi system going. Charlie Mitts kept us all safe as he performed security duties. Sixteen people entered the Victorian/Western Costume Contest, ten children entered the Coloring Contest and many cookies were decorated, all sponsored by Main Street Central City.

Much appreciation to all who helped with the past weeks events, we wish you and yours, MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR!

CO-Chairs Shirley Voorhies & Barbara Thielemann: Twenty-fifth Annual Tommyknocker Holidays