Barbara Lawlor, Nederland.  On Saturday morning, the Nederland Area Seniors fired up the grill at the community center and began scrambling eggs, browning sausage and flipping pancakes. Tradition carried on, decade after decade. Each year, a couple of old-timers don’t come back and their names are remembered and honored.

The Nederland Community Center dining room was filled to the brim with visitors who once lived and attended schools in the Nederland/Gilpin County areas. They chowed down on breakfast and told and retold old stories about each other. They pulled out their phones and shared pictures of the grandchildren.

After visiting with each other for a couple more hours, the group dispersed to window shop in the new stores, to enjoy Ron Mitchell’s gardens along the creek, to walk off the effects of carbohydrates. It was a nature perfect day, made just for the lucky alumni who chose to take a stroll through the past.

Just when breakfast began to digest, it was time for the Old Timers Potluck Picnic at Chipeta Park. They talked of the good old days, back when Ned had far fewer people and only one public street light  at the Boulder County Garage, now the Mining Museum.  Among those who attended the picnic and grew up in Ned, and are now in their 70s, 80s and 90s were “Slug” Slaughenhoupt. Slug was once the owner of the bar he dubbed the Pioneer Inn which retains that same moniker today. Slaugenhoupt also served on the town board of trustees for a time.

Brothers Leonard and Gil Cole said that their parents arrived in Nederland in a covered wagon and it has been home to family members ever since.  They also reminisced with fellow Nederland High School alumni Dallas Glasser and commented that Nederland saw a lot of change in the 1960s with the influx of hippies and the change, in their opinion, “wasn’t for the better.” At that Chuck Johnson’s father was the foreman at the Wolf Tongue Mine and that times got tough for everyone when the mine closed.

Longtime friends talked about how they had dated each other in high school.  There were a few Ned “newcomers” in attendance who enjoyed hearing the history behind their new mountain home and were grateful that the “old timers” were willing to share their memories.

Besides all that, the potluck dishes were delicious and the pies were as good as only old timers can bake them.