Join Tourism Golden, residents and visitors to celebrate the men and women who helped define this community for generations to come.
On May 17 and 18 The Golden Mountain Festival is making its debut, with the theme Celebrating Golden’s Swiss Guides.
“These guides had such a tremendous impact on our community, so it was a natural choice to make it the theme of our first Golden Mountain Festival,” said Joanne Sweeting, manager of Tourism Golden.
As most locals know, CP Rail brought the first generation of Swiss Mountain Guides to Golden in 1899 to guide tourists in the surrounding mountains.
That began the adventure mountain tourism that makes Golden so enticing today. The remnants of their influence are evident all over the town as well, in the Edelweiss Village, the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides, and the numerous peaks named after the Swiss guides who made the first ascents. Not to mention all of the residents who bear the names of their ancestors.
The weekend will feature several events for the whole family, including exhibits, movie screenings, and Swiss food served at various restaurants throughout the town.
The Edelweiss Village, built in Golden in 1912 by the CPR for the families of the Swiss Guides, still exists today and is privately owned by the descendants of Walter Feuz. On May 18, as part of the festivities of the Golden Mountain Festival, visitors to Golden will be allowed a unique opportunity to have a guided tour of the home once occupied by Walter Feuz and his family.
A full list of events is available to the right of the page and at www.tourismgolden.com/festival.
Most of the events are admission by donation. All the donations will go towards restoring the iconic mural depicting the Swiss guides in downtown Golden.
“This is a great way to showcase our community as an authentic mountain town,” said Sweeting.
