Parade participants embody the past and future of Buffalo Bill Days

Decades ago, members of the Buffalo Bill Saddle Club rode their horses up Lookout Mountain, where their namesake’s grave was located.

The trip back to downtown Golden became a fun tradition that fellow riders still carry on today, along with car enthusiasts, uniformed pedestrians and others brave enough to ride down Washington Avenue in front of thousands of people.

Hundreds of parade participants literally and figuratively saddled up their horses July 27 for the “Best of the West” parade, the centerpiece of Golden’s annual Buffalo Bill Days festival.

“It brings back good memories and a local feel,” said former Golden resident Jackie Murphy.

Murphy, who has marched in the parade about six times with American Legion Post 21, remembers attending it as a child. She said the route in the 1970s and 1980s was much longer, while the festival was much smaller.

The parade is not only fun to watch, but also enjoyable to walk in, she said. She enjoys seeing all the people, representing American Legion Post 21 and celebrating the festival and the country. She summed up the experience by saying “seeing and being seen.”

Murphy added: “It’s an honour to have been asked.”

For Frank Blaha of Golden, the parade is “a great opportunity” to preserve the town’s equestrian traditions.

Blaha, a member of the Buffalo Bill Saddle Club, has attended or participated in the parade nearly every year since the early 1990s. He said it’s a “great little parade” and an iconic “community event,” especially with the Golden Fire Department pancake breakfast beforehand and the festival afterward.

With fewer horses in the world and fewer parades, Blaha wanted people to understand the purpose and history of horses. He said Buffalo Bill Days is a great time to highlight Golden’s Western roots and “how much fun it can be.”

Leslie Zirker and the Platte Valley Players traveled all the way from Brighton to showcase their singing and dancing talents while seated aboard their tropical-themed float.

Zirker, the Players’ children’s theater director, said the group has participated in the parade about five times in the past decade. It was formerly based in Lakewood, but even after moving to Brighton, Zirker and her colleagues felt it was important to keep the tradition going.

“It helps kids build confidence,” Zirker said, adding that the crowd and performers play off each other’s energy.

Additionally, Zirker said she wanted to celebrate Buffalo Bill and other aspects of Colorado history while showcasing its future with young artists and participants.

On the way to the future

Many of the participants in this year’s parade were young people, including young Marines, martial arts students and circus performers.

Janey Lynn, 12, has participated in the parade a time or two before. She said she always enjoys representing her group and interacting with the children when they ask to meet her horse, Molly.

She also stressed how important it is for the group, based in the Golden area, to participate in “our parade in our hometown.”

Many of the young participants had been to the parade before, saying it was a special experience to be on the other side.

Brakken McDougal, Dylan McIlroy, Diego Calderon and Beck Lundberg, all seniors on the Golden High School football team, remember collecting candy from parade participants as kids. Now, they’re the ones handing it out.

The seniors said they have enjoyed participating in the parade for the past four years and plan to return next summer to cheer on their former teammates as they march.

Lydia Meakins, 17, of Scouting America Troop 130, plans to do the same after she graduates from high school in May.

She and fellow scout Gus Rutherford, 14, who have both marched in the parade twice, described how marching is a very different experience from watching.

“I finally see what they see,” Rutherford said, remembering all the people who marched alongside him when he was there.

Meakins described how his favorite part of the experience is “being able to share that joy with everyone… (and) seeing people’s faces light up as we walk by.”

Ben Bauer, 9, a member of Boy Scout Pack 48, remembers participating in last year’s parade. He handed out candy, held the American flag and saw many of his friends along the parade route.

“It’s an honor,” he said.

Click for additional photos from the 2024 “Best of the West” parade:

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