Sand Creek Massacre Spiritual Healing Run

     The Sand Creek Massacre of 1864 is one of the bloodiest days of Colorado’s past history. On the morning of November 29, 1864, the First and Third Colorado Cavalry under the leadership of Colonel John Chivington attacked Black Kettle’s peaceful camp on the banks of Sand Creek in Southeastern Colorado. Approximately 160 members of the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes were inhumanly massacred while peacefully camped under the United States flag and a white flag of truce. Very few individuals survived the attack and the brutal winter to tell the truth about what happened that day.
      Captain Silas S. Soule and Lieutenant Joseph M. Cramer ordered soldiers under their command not to fire. The following month Captain Soule and Lieutenant Cramer wrote to Major Edward Wynkoop and related the events of the engagement. Both the local military investigation and the subsequent congressional hearings concluded that the engagement was a massacre.
     December 22, 1864 – Chivington and the “Bloody Thirdsters” arrive in Denver and parade down 15th Street (then Ferry St.), waving Indian body parts and scalps at an adoring crowd.  The Rocky Mountain News reports:

“Among the brilliant feats of arms in Indian warfare, the recent campaign of our Colorado volunteers will stand in history with few rivals, and none to exceed it in final results . . .”
(Rocky Mountain News 12/17/64)

     Despite death threats, Captain Silas S. Soule testified. He was later shot to death near his home on 15th and Arapahoe Street.

     The annual run is the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes’ effort to remember and honor the deaths of over 160 members of their respective tribes. The annual healing run is an opportunity for both the members of the tribes and the citizens of Colorado to find some form of healing in a senseless tragedy. This event is also another way to bring about awareness to what happened at Sand Creek and to never forget and to pray that this will never happen again. In April 2007 the National Park Service formally dedicated the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic site.
     This Year’s Sand Creek Massacre Spiritual Healing Run is in honor of LaForce “Lee” Lonebear who passed away last year and was a founder of the Sand Creek Massacre Spiritual Healing Run.  Lee Lonebear was a fourth generation descendant of Chief White Antelope, one of the first chief’s that was killed at Sand Creek. The compassion that he felt for those that were killed, led him to become the Chairman of the planning committee for the Annual Sand Creek Massacre Spiritual Healing Run and a founding member of the Fort Robinson Run. He was also a member of the Northern Cheyenne Sand Creek Committee. As a committee member he was invited to speak at congressional hearings and was instrumental in establishing the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site, located in Colorado. While Lee served as Chair of the planning committee he was presented with the governor’s proclamation by Ernest House Jr., Executive Secretary of the Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs. He also witnessed the signing of the Sand Creek Massacre Site Study Act of 1998, by President William Jefferson Clinton. [Read more]

Candlelight Vigil at the Colorado State Capitol on Colfax Avenue

     The 14th Annual Sand Creek Massacre Spiritual Healing Run began Wednesday November 21, 2012 at the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site. The run is an annual event coordinated by the Northern Cheyenne Tribe of Montana with support from the Northern Arapaho Tribe of Wyoming, the Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma, the National Park Service, Town of Eads, Kiowa County, the Denver organizing committee, and History Colorado to honor those killed at the massacre. This year’s event marks the 148th Anniversary of the Sand Creek Massacre.   Activities associated with the run commenced with a Prayer Ceremony at the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site. The event concluded with a candlelight vigil on the afternoon of Sunday, November 25, on the steps of the west lawn of the Colorado State Capitol on Colfax Avenue.

Photo of the Week: Brave Bull Buffet

The Brave Bull - Photo Courtesy Aurora History Museum

The Brave Bull Mexican Buffet was located at 8975 E. Colfax Avenue, between Yosemite and Akron on Colfax. It opened in the mid 1960s. The building has since been torn down. Do you remember eating at the Brave Bull? Share your memories in the comments.

The Sword at The Bluebird Theater Tonight!!

Benefit For Conscious Alliance at The Fillmore

Rocky Mountain Deaf Theatre Presents "The Eight: Reindeer Monologues"

"The Eight: Reindeer Monologues"

Directed by Nicki Runge and Betsy Quillen

     Rocky Mountain Deaf Theatre proudly presents the ASL performance of "The Eight: Reindeer Monologues" December 6 - 16 at the Vintage Theatre, 1468 Dayton St., Aurora, Colorado 80010.  Performances are Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. (no performance on Saturday, December 8). Tickets are $20 and available by calling 970-373-5266 or online at www.rmdeaftheatre.com . American Sign Language Performance with voice interpreters provided for all shows except December 7. (Intended for mature audiences.)

     Scandal erupts at the North Pole when one of Santa's eight tiny reindeer accuses him of sexual harassment. As mass media descends upon the event, the other member of the sleigh team demand to share their perspectives, and a horrific tale emerges. With each deer's confession, the truth behind the shocking allegations becomes clearer and clearer. ...and murkier and murkier.

     The cast includes Kelly Gibbs (Dasher), Karlie Garner (Cupid), Greg Bland (Hollywood), Rachella Ortiz (Blitzen), Jessica Rogers (Comet), Cassie Short (Dancer), David Aranda (Donner) and Nicki Runge as Vixen.

     Elves (voice interpreters): Anna Logan, Kate Noonan, Natalie Austin and Victor Parrish.

     Artist Director Nicki Runge was amazed when she learned that there are over 16,000 Deaf people in the Denver area Front Range alone. The local Deaf community and their friends, family, and others have an interest or know American Sign Language – although it’s not a requirement for attending Rocky Mountain Deaf Theatre. There are an estimated 56,000 potential patrons to fill 250 seats for short-run productions. Nicki has already had success selling out her productions of “Steel Magnolias” for Project DOVE and “Beauty and the Beast” for the Rocky Mountain Deaf School.

     One year ago she started Rocky Mountain Deaf Theatre Company to give the Deaf Community a theater option where they are the focus and are not cast to the side.  “I was tired of going to see live theater and having to choose between viewing the action or the interpretation but not be able to do both”, Runge said. RMDT held its inaugural production of “Some Girl(s)” in October, 2012 and incorporates ASL directly into the productions and voice interpreters voice the characters to help the hearing enjoy the show.

     With a degree in Theatre Arts, Runge is a Drama and American Sign Language teacher and an accomplished stage actor/ director. She has appeared in numerous productions at UNC’s (University of Northern Colorado) Theater Department making her Denver stage debut in PHAMALY's 2011 production of “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.”

Rocky Mountain Deaf Theatre presents

"The Eight: Reindeer Monologues"

Santa has been a very bad boy.

December 6 - 16

Thur. / Fri. /Sat. at 8 p.m. and Sun. at 2 p.m. (no performance on Saturday, December 8)

American Sign Language performance with voice interpreters provided for all shows except Dec. 7.

$20

970-373-5266 or online @ www.rmdeaftheatre.com  

Vintage Theatre Productions, 1468 Dayton St., Aurora, Colorado 80010

5280 Reasons To Love Denver

From 5280 Magazine's December 2012 article "Reasons To Love Denver":

#28 - Because we have the longest, grittiest, most interesting—and perpetually evolving—main street in the country.

     Since 1993, 57-year-old bus driver Hinton Roberson has taken his seat behind the wheel of an RTD bus; checked on the picture hanging from his lanyard of his wife, Carolyn, and their five kids; and piloted down Colfax Avenue. RTD Route 15—which runs along the majority of Colfax’s 26.5-mile length between the Heritage Square Music Hall in Golden and the town of Bennett on the Eastern Plains—is not popular among other drivers. But Roberson loves it. “It’s a route where you don’t relax,” he says. “The 15, man, it keeps you wide awake.”

     Roberson drives along a street that has ridden the booms and busts of Denver’s past. For the original elite of the city in the 19th century, Colfax was a passageway between the mansions on Capitol Hill and the brick buildings of downtown. Later, Eastern European Jews suffering from tuberculosis clustered around the Jewish Consumptives’ Relief Society on West Colfax. In the ’50s, Jack Kerouac romanticized the avenue’s drinking holes and jazz clubs. In the ’70s, Playboy denigrated Colfax, calling it the “longest, wickedest street in America” for its by-the-hour motels and all-too-available streetwalkers. In the ’80s, ’90s, and even now, Colfax has had a reputation for being the seedier side of the city—a highway of broken dreams, aglow in neon signs, that houses Denver’s disenfranchised.

     Roberson has only been around to witness the latest changes along this infamous stretch of pavement. Through the curved glass windshield of his bus, he has seen the area around the old Fitzsimons Army Hospital transform into one of the largest medical complexes in the world. He’s seen the Tattered Cover Book Store and the Denver Film Center take over the old Lowenstein Theater on East Colfax and watched as Mayor Michael Hancock broke ground on a new library along West Colfax. Those are the big, obvious changes. But Roberson also notices the little things that most of us don’t, like the new streetlights along East Colfax. Most of them are green, but between St. Paul and Clermont streets the lights have been painted blue, a visual hint at the Greek heritage of those particular blocks.

     Colfax, of course, will keep evolving. Heavy policing and new zoning laws, especially in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, have allowed chic cupcake shops, independent restaurants, and trendy bars to open along an expanse of avenue that not so long ago seemed too sketchy to invest in. Still, the street has retained its rough-and-tumble spirit and resisted complete sterilization à la New York City’s Times Square.

     And that’s fine with Roberson, who keeps driving for the people. “I’ve been on routes where generally people don’t speak to you,” he says. “On Colfax, at least they acknowledge you. It might be in a bad way, but they’ll acknowledge you.”

Ugly Christmas Sweaters At Disguises

Back by popular demand, Disguises Costume Superstore has acquired ugly Christmas sweaters. The ugliest you have ever seen!

We also have Santas! We have Santas for sale and everything else he needs from suspenders to beards, from boots to bellies. Come on in and see why Santa votes Disguises his favorite place to buy anything he needs

Don't forget about all the other Christmas costumes and accessories you can rent or buy - such as:

• Reindeer,
• Elves,
• Snowmen
• Nativity scene costumes
• Biblical pageant costumes
• Hats for all holiday parties
• Fancy masks for your New Year's Eve party
• Stocking stuffers galore
    And so much more! 

This year we also have a large number of sexy Christmas costumes to buy. All sizes, including plus sizes.  Be sure to check these out in our Boutique!

  
TEN YEARS AT COLFAX & KIPLING!

Help us celebrate 10 years in our present location at Colfax and Kipling, While Disguises is actually 13 years old, we have enjoyed our present 14,000 square foot location for 10 years.  To show our appreciation to all our customers, we are having a party on December 15 - all day!  Join us for a piece of cake, free face painting and fake tattoos for kids, door prizes and special prices on many selected items.