Home Care In Golden, CO

Exploring Golden, Colorado: A Hidden Historical Surprise

I had to head out to Golden for a quick appointment, so I decided to do some exploring. I've never spent too much time out there, but I wanted to find something a bit different to check out.

Did you know that Golden, Colorado has entire shrine and campus dedicated to the first American Catholic Saint?

Read More: Colorado Named One of the Most Charitable States in America

St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, was the first citizen to be canonized a saint, according to the Catholic Company.

Born in Italy in 1850, Cabrini was sent to America by Pope Leo XIII.

He told her to go “not to the East, but to the West” to New York rather than to China like she initially planned. Cabrini's goal was to help the thousands of Italian immigrants that were facing hardships in the United States.

Her Work With Immigrants and Founding of Institutions...Including In Colorado

The immigrant founded the Institute of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, according to the Mother Cabrini Shrine website.

She ended up opening 67 institutions over the span of her life; including schools, hospitals, and orphanages across the Americas, according to reports.

Mother Cabrini’s Connection to Colorado

Experts say that the woman loved the mountains of Colorado. In 1902, she went to the foothills located west of Denver to visit Italian workers and their families.

Discovering the Lookout Mountain Property

During this visit, she discovered property along the east slope of Lookout Mountain. Cabrini was able to turn this piece of land into a summer camp for the children at the Queen of Heaven Orphanage in Denver, according to the Shrine's website.

Visiting the Mother Cabrini Shrine in Golden, CO Today

Now, people from all walks of life can check out the campus. It's turned into a holy place for Catholics, and a bit of a hidden tourist destination.

In the same mountains that Mother Cabrini set up this camp for the children at the orphanage, sits a shrine to the patron saint of immigrants.

Climbing the Mount of the Sacred Heart in Golden

I climbed to the top of the one evening. In order to get to the top, you have to travel up 373 steps on the Stairway of Prayer. It's meant to follow the path that Mother Cabrini took to the top of the mountain on one of her last visits to the site.

Once you reach the top, you'll see a twenty-two foot statute of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It was built above the "Heart of Stones" that Cabrini and her fellow sisters arranged at the top of the mountain.

Even if you're not a religious person, the view from the top is absolutely breathtaking.

Have you ever been here before? Let us know what you thought of this hidden spiritual gem and send us a message on the station app.

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After the most significant winter storm of the season for the Denver metro area on Wednesday, temperatures early on Thursday will continue to plummet in the city and throughout Colorado.

Single digits and teens are expected along the Front Range and Eastern Plains, with single digits and a few below-zero readings in the high country.

Any wet or slushy roads will rapidly refreeze overnight, creating dangerous travel through the late-night hours and for the early Thursday morning commute.

If you can wait until about 9 a.m. -- thus allowing the sun to come up and improve conditions -- travel will be safer.

Wind chills will also be a concern. Portions of the high country will feel at or below zero, with single-digit wind chills along the Front Range.

Remember to bundle up and wear layers, as frostbite can develop in 30 minutes or less in temperatures like these.

Snow totals neared a foot in several parts of Colorado with Wednesday's storm. The lingering cold and potential for dangerous driving resulted in some school districts going on delayed start Thursday morning. See the complete school closings list here.

GOLDEN, Colo. — After last year’s “Goldens in Golden” event overwhelmed Golden with traffic, limited parking and heavy crowds, city officials are rolling out changes to keep the celebration fun while reducing chaos.

The “Goldens in Golden” event has grown into one of the city’s most recognizable celebrations, drawing nationwide attention each February as golden retrievers and their owners gather downtown.

While city officials acknowledge that the popularity has outpaced the event’s original footprint, they say the new measures are designed to preserve the charm while easing the pressure on the city’s infrastructure.

City leaders told 9NEWS transportation specialist Briana Fernandez that the annual "Goldens in Golden" gathering, which draws thousands of people and golden retrievers from across the country, will double in length next year.

The 2025 gathering drew about 7,500 people and 3,000 dogs, according to the city. That popularity, however, brought problems.

"The challenges that we have encountered have been around traffic and parking and last year, what was brought that to a head, was that there were two emergencies that happened at the same time during that event and so those emergencies were pretty significant and catastrophic. So, that had an impact on this event as well," said Meredith Ritchie, Director of Community Engagement and Communications for the City of Golden.

Instead of the usual two-hour window from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., the 2026 event will run from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

"'Goldens in Golden' was started in 2019," said Ritchie. "We absolutely did not anticipate that this event would grow to the size that it has. We see people who come from all over every single state in the country now, as well as internationally who join us for this event, and it's just really exciting for us to get to have that our name on the map in that way."

Golden will also introduce a free, dog-friendly shuttle service from new off-site parking lots, a first for the event.

The city of Golden also plans to double the number of vendors and spread them across two locations around town. The goal is to give people and pups more space to roam around and improve crowd flow. By dispersing attractions and amenities, the city hopes attendees will move more freely rather than bunching up in the most popular areas.

Officials are beefing up security and emergency services in anticipation of another large turnout. The increased resources are intended to ensure the event remains safe and manageable even with thousands of dogs and their owners interacting in close quarters.

Another first for the event will be the introduction of official sponsors, which leaders say will help make the celebration financially self-sustaining going forward.

"We take everything that the public has to say, whether that's a business owner, a resident or a tourist who are visiting, we take those very seriously and to heart of how we operate all of the events that we host and so many of the things that we are doing to change this event are in direct reflection of that event," said Ritchie.

Small businesses around town are excited and hopeful these changes will make a difference.

"It's a slow time for the town and you get this this influx of people coming in and the businesses are great because the event itself wouldn't be what it was without the people and the businesses in Golden because they're so pet friendly they're pet friendly year round, but 'Goldens in Golden' is our time to shine and just amazing," said Kelly Reeves, administrator coordinator for the Golden Hotel.

The 2026 event is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 7. Officials say they will continue encouraging attendees to plan ahead, take advantage of off-site parking and arrive throughout the expanded four-hour window to help keep the event enjoyable for all.

The longtime name of Colorado’s federal clean energy lab is, as of immediately, no longer usable or renewable. At least until a new presidential administration in 2029.

The U.S. Department of Energy announced late Monday that Golden’s storied, half-century-old National Renewable Energy Laboratory, or NREL, is no longer to be referred to as such. The new name: National Laboratory of the Rockies, with a complete “energy” outage.

“The energy crisis we face today is unlike the crisis that gave rise to NREL,” assistant secretary of Energy Audrey Robertson said, referring to the 1973 oil crisis in a release posted on the website that at least through Monday night still was using the “nrel.gov” web address. “We are no longer picking and choosing energy sources,” she wrote.

Work at the lab is diverse, from advanced manufacturing to perfecting efficiency in solar panels and wind turbines, searching for ways to generate, transmit and store energy more efficiently, and looking for new sources for rare earth metals and better ways to recycle.

The Trump administration’s department changes have severely cut clean energy grants and attempted to reopen markets for coal mining and burning, as well as increased drilling for oil and gas.

“Our highest priority is to invest in the scientific capabilities that will restore American manufacturing, drive down costs, and help this country meet its soaring energy demand. The National Lab of the Rockies will play a vital role in those efforts,” Robertson wrote.

The release says the immediate name change for the lab founded in 1973 “reflects the Trump Administration’s broader vision for the lab’s applied energy research, which historically emphasized alternative and renewable sources of generation, and honors the natural splendor of the lab’s surroundings in Golden, Colorado.”

Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.

In my review of Red River Hog’s recent single ‘Country Ham & Eggs’, I anticipated that their EP Hello My Name Is would be closer to Half Man Half Biscuit than The Slim Shady. The first five seconds of first track ‘Rosemary’ sound like Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Foxy Lady’, which I find impossible to listen to without imagining a gurning Dana Carvey. Given the food-based focus of their previous single, is ‘Rosemary’ in fact a tribute to a dinner carvery? And, if you’re still reading this, are you ashamed that you just smiled? You shouldn’t be. Smiling is good for you.

To answer my first question: any impression that ‘Rosemary’ is about the delicious herb is quickly dispelled by the lyrical content. “I wrote down my stupid feelings,” frontman Peter Richard Adams declares, echoing his own words via a Tannoy (probably). I’m also sensing a hint of Weezer and enjoying the distinct flavour of The Kinks here. So far, so nourishing.

‘Available Fun’ starts like Guillemots’ ‘Trains to Brazil’ and soon becomes a pleasingly ramshackle bop in the manner of ‘Bohemian Like You’ by The Dandy Warhols. I’d say it’s unlikely to be co-opted by a mobile phone company but it’s probably a good shout for the next series of The Inbetweeners – the soundtrack to a scene of the four lads in a crap car or the background din while Jay does something unspeakable in his room.

One imagines that Red River Hog are massive Bruce Springsteen fans, so it might seem counterintuitive to write a song called ‘Promise Not To Run’. However, the track certainly has the heft and command of The Boss, and it’s also notable for the pronunciation of the word ‘theatre’, which makes His Majesty The King seem as posh as a Pot Noodle. The last course on the EP menu is, again counterintuitively, the aforementioned ‘Country Ham & Eggs’. In relation to this meal in its own right, I previously mentioned The Futureheads, and the passage of time has supplied no reason to deviate from this association. Listening to it just now, I also heard a similarity to Thomas Newman’s American Beauty piece ‘Any Other Name’.

Instead of filming plastic bags in the wind or whatever it is you do with your time, may I suggest that you purchase Hello My Name Is forthwith. The lads from Exeter are being excellent again. Excellent!

Hello My Name Is is out now via Golden Mare Recording Co.