PRESS CONTACT
Luke Perkins, Manager of Communications and Public Relations 
303-866-3670 | luke.perkins@state.co.us 

Seasonal Offerings:
Winter Holiday Trains | Georgetown, CO
Georgetown Loop Railroad and Mining Park | Multiple days available in December and January
It’s that time of year again and the Georgetown Loop Railroad departs with holiday cheer daily. With both daytime and nighttime options available for everyone, either aboard Santa’s North Pole Adventure through scenic and snowy vistas, or a journey through Santa’s Lighted Forest featuring more than 300,000 holiday lights. Be sure to purchase tickets soon before they are all scooped up! Tickets and additional information are available here.

Ethnic Christmas Open House | Pueblo, CO
El Pueblo History Museum | December 2, 5 p.m. 
El Pueblo History Museum kicks off the month of December with a Ethnic Christmas Open House Dec. 2 from 5-8 p.m. This free multicultural celebration during Pueblo’s First Friday Art Walk explores the many different traditions that make Pueblo’s community rich and vibrant. The museum offers live performances, classic Pueblo food, and a 10% discount on gift shop purchases throughout the evening!

Ute Indian Museum Holiday Arts and Crafts Festival| Montrose, CO
Ute Indian Museum | December 3, 9 a.m.- 3 p.m.
Native American and Montrose area artists will be showcasing their wares at the annual arts and crafts festival at the Ute Indian Museum. This festival is a great opportunity for Coloradans to support the local economy while also checking off holiday shopping from their to do list! 

Artisans Market at Fort Garland: A Holiday Craft Affair | Blanca, CO
Fort Garland Museum & Cultural Center | December 10, 10 a.m.- 4 p.m.
Shop for unique holiday gifts and enjoy a day filled with musical entertainment, prizes, and delicious food, at Fort Garland Museum & Cultural Center's annual Artisans Market. Santa will be making a special guest appearance and the museum gift shop will offer a 10% discount on all purchases so swing by and cross a few names off your holiday shopping list!

Holiday Teas in the Bloom Mansion | Trinidad, CO
Trinidad History Museum | December 10, 17, and 23, 2 - 4 p.m.
For tickets ($10) and additional information call 719.846.7217
Trinidad History Museum serves Victorian tea and holiday cheer throughout the month of December. Featuring local teas, holiday themed crafts, tasty treats, and group tours of the museum grounds. Capacity is limited so make sure to purchase tickets in advance!
 
Holiday Craft Fair | Trinidad, CO
Trinidad History Museum | December 17, 9 a.m.- 2 p.m.
Come celebrate the holiday season at Trinidad History Museum’s Holiday Craft Fair featuring ornament creation, greeting card writing, cookie decorating, and more! Tickets for this event ($5/person) will be available for purchase at the museum and cover the cost of all crafting supplies. Proceeds from this event go directly towards educational programming at Trinidad History Museum.

New Exhibitions:
The Sand Creek Massacre: The Betrayal that Changed Cheyenne and Arapaho People Forever 
History Colorado Center | Denver, CO
The Sand Creek Massacre: The Betrayal that Changed Cheyenne and Arapaho People Forever, is open at the History Colorado Center in Denver. The exhibit recounts the deadliest day in Colorado history—Nov. 29, 1864—when U.S. troops brutally attacked a peaceful village of Cheyenne and Arapaho people who were promised military protection. More than 230 women, children and elders were murdered that day. 

This exhibition spotlights the living culture of the Cheyenne and Arapaho, two separate Tribes with distinct histories that were bound together forever after the tragedy at Sand Creek. Forced to leave Colorado after the Massacre, the Cheyenne and Arapaho people exist today as three sovereign Tribal nations in Montana, Oklahoma and Wyoming. The exhibition is the result of a ten-year partnership process that began in 2012 between History Colorado and the Tribal nations.

Gregg Deal’s Merciless Indian Savages | Pueblo, CO
El Pueblo History Museum | Open through March 18, 2023
Visitors to History Colorado’s El Pueblo History Museum will have the opportunity to explore the works of nationally renowned artist Gregg Deal (Pyramid Lake Paiute).

In this exhibition, Deal uses his work to unveil political processes that detrimentally impact Native peoples.  Additionally, it fights for a more inclusive future and explores the question, “What does American Democracy mean to someone who was insulted in its founding document?” By collecting works that confront the painful past, and using the words of Thomas Jefferson as his exhibit title, Deal explores how Indigenous peoples stay true to themselves while being part of a culture which has historically stereotyped and marginalized them.

December Events:
House Museum Book Club | Denver, CO
Center for Colorado Women’s History | December 4, 12:30- 2 p.m.
Join the Center for Colorado Women’s History and the Molly Brown House Museum as the two historic Denver house museums host their final collaborative book club of 2022. This hybrid online/in-person event will explore Pulling Harvey Out of Her Hat: The Story of Mary Coyle Chase by Mimi Pockross. Register here to receive in-person information and online access closer to the date of the event.

Colorado Collection Crafts: Embroidery Meet-Up & Craft Share | Denver, CO
History Colorado Center | December 5, 1- 2:20 p.m.
History Colorado Collection Crafters are hosting a meet up & craft share at the Stephen H. Hart Research Center. Participants are encouraged to try their hand at historical embroidery designs from the History Colorado collection, show off their work, and compare it to beautiful textiles from our collection. Qualifying participants will be entered into a random drawing for a gift card to a local craft supply shop. Register for the meet up and digital templates for the historic crafts here.

Members-Only Digital Behind-the-Scenes Tour: The Mazzulla Collection | Denver, CO
Live Online | December 13, 1 - 2 p.m.
Collections Specialist Cassidy Nemick will lead a virtual exploration of History Colorado’s Fred M. Mazzulla Collection on Dec. 13. Mazzulla, a Denver based attorney who passed away in 1981, collected more than 250,000 images that range across nearly 80 years of Colorado’s history. Participants will get a look into the “Wild West” as it was documented by Mazzulla, including ransom notes, mugshots, and images of the American West. This event is free to History Colorado members, but registration is required in advance.

Tours and Treks Summit | Denver, CO
History Colorado Center | December 14, 6 - 8 p.m.
Join History Colorado for the unveiling of its full schedule of Tours and Treks excursions for 2023 at the annual summit. Tours and Treks is History Colorado’s ongoing series of monthly trips to enrich our understanding of the Centennial State’s history. The summit is a free event that offers the first chance for tour goers to preview the exciting slate of adventures planned for the coming year and make plans for the sights they intend to see!

About History Colorado
History Colorado is a division of the Colorado Department of Higher Education and a 501(c)3 non-profit that has served more than 75,000 students and 500,000 people in Colorado each year. It is a 143-year-old institution that operates eleven museums and historic sites, a free public research center, the Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation, and the History Colorado State Historical Fund (SHF), which is one of the nation’s largest state-funded preservation programs of its kind. More than 70% of SHF grants are allocated in rural areas of the state.

History Colorado’s mission is to create a better future for Colorado by inspiring wonder in our past. We serve as the state’s memory, preserving and sharing the places, stories, and material culture of Colorado through educational programs, historic preservation grants, collecting, outreach to Colorado communities, the History Colorado Center and Stephen H. Hart Research Center in Denver, and ten other museums and historic attractions statewide. History Colorado is one of only six Smithsonian Affiliates in Colorado. Visit HistoryColorado.org, or call 303-HISTORY, for more information.