2018 September COLONY Magazine
COLONY Magazine — Your Hometown Magazine. A collection of events, activities, news, business, and culture for the Atascadero area.
COLONY Magazine — Your Hometown Magazine. A collection of events, activities, news, business, and culture for the Atascadero area.
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<strong>COLONY</strong> DAYS<br />
Brings the Mudhole Follies back to life<br />
By Heather Young<br />
A BIT OF<br />
HISTORY<br />
Atascadero was founded<br />
in 1913 by E.G. Lewis,<br />
who purchased the land that<br />
makes up<br />
Atascadero<br />
for $1<br />
million from<br />
the United<br />
States<br />
Army. The<br />
Army used<br />
Atascadero,<br />
especially<br />
the<br />
area around the lake, for<br />
maneuvers. Lewis, who had<br />
also started University City<br />
in Missouri, was looking for<br />
another venture and found<br />
Atascadero to be the perfect<br />
place to start a planned<br />
community. He intentionally<br />
started the city inland from<br />
the ocean, but had Highway<br />
41 built so residents could<br />
easily travel to the beach in<br />
Morro Bay.<br />
Lewis was a publisher<br />
and businessman who<br />
developed the city with<br />
streets, sidewalks, gutters,<br />
water and power before<br />
the house were built. The<br />
first buildings constructed<br />
in Atascadero were the<br />
Printery building, where<br />
he produced his magazine<br />
Women’s Illustrated and the<br />
Atascadero News,<br />
and City Administration<br />
Building.<br />
The history city hall is a<br />
prominent feature of Colony<br />
Days, being right behind<br />
Sunken Gardens were the<br />
majority of the festivities<br />
take place.<br />
Annual celebration moves to the<br />
first Saturday in October<br />
Every October the residents<br />
of Atascadero past and<br />
present come together to<br />
celebrate the city’s roots with the<br />
annual Colony Days event. This<br />
year’s event — the 45th annual —<br />
will take place two weeks earlier<br />
than it has in the past, happening<br />
on the first Saturday in October<br />
rather than the third. This year’s<br />
theme is “Mudhole Follies.”<br />
“We want to have fun,” Colony<br />
Days Committee Vice President<br />
Nic Mattson said. “Follies is about<br />
being silly, being foolish and we<br />
want to do that on as large-scale<br />
as possible, but also being responsible.<br />
The purpose of Colony Days<br />
• 7 to 9 a.m.: Lions Club<br />
Pancake breakfast.<br />
• 10 a.m.: Parade begins at<br />
A-Town Diner on El Camino<br />
Real and ends at West Mall<br />
and Palma Avenue<br />
• 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.: Tent<br />
City re-enactment in Sunken<br />
Gardens, events will include<br />
pie eating contest and other<br />
games during the day—see<br />
schedule in Tent City the dayof.<br />
There will also be a variety<br />
of vendors, entertainment<br />
and food in and around the<br />
Sunken Gardens.<br />
Schedule of events:<br />
is to bring the community together<br />
and celebrate each other and<br />
Atascadero. This year we want to<br />
do this with the spirit of silliness<br />
and fun.”<br />
Entry into the parade is free and<br />
the deadline for entry applications<br />
is Monday, Sept. 17. The parade<br />
starts at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Oct.<br />
6. Parade numbers and participant<br />
ribbons will be available for<br />
pickup on Friday, Oct. 5 during<br />
Tent City After Dark in Sunken<br />
Gardens or Saturday, Oct. 6 from<br />
7:30 to 9 a.m. at the start of the<br />
parade route.<br />
The Colony Days event on<br />
Saturday, Oct. 6 has something<br />
for everyone in the family starting<br />
with the Lions Club<br />
pancake breakfast at 7<br />
a.m. at the corner of El<br />
Camino Real and West<br />
Mall, the parade, vendors<br />
and activities in Sunken<br />
Gardens, Dogtoberfest,<br />
food and beverages and<br />
a historic re-enactment<br />
of Atascadero in the year<br />
1916. The Atascadero<br />
Historical Society will<br />
also have its museum<br />
open during the day and<br />
docents will be giving<br />
tours of City Hall.<br />
• 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.:<br />
Weiner Dog & Small Dog<br />
Race Registration<br />
• 1 to 2:30 p.m.:<br />
Dogtoberfest Wiener Dog<br />
and Small Dog Races<br />
• 2:30 p.m.: Pet Costume<br />
Contest (any size dog can<br />
particIpate)<br />
• 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.: Free<br />
tours of City Hall led by<br />
Atascadero Historical<br />
Society docents<br />
Colony Days event is organized<br />
by community volunteers who<br />
work year-round to put the event<br />
together. While new committee<br />
members are always needed, there<br />
are a variety of one-off volunteer<br />
opportunities available, from keeping<br />
the grounds of the event clean,<br />
to setting up and taking down<br />
chairs and more. Check out ColonyDays.org<br />
for more information<br />
on how to help.<br />
T-shirts for the 45th annual<br />
Colony Days celebration are now<br />
available for pre-order on the website<br />
and will also be available the<br />
day of the event.<br />
Go to colonydays.org for registration<br />
and more information.<br />
Some ideas for parade<br />
entries include:<br />
• Dressing up in silly<br />
costumes<br />
• Playing unusual<br />
instruments, such as pots<br />
and pans, kazoos, recorder<br />
or keytars<br />
• Lots of balloons<br />
• Silly dancing and<br />
entertainment<br />
• Dressing up as a<br />
prominent community<br />
leader, past or present<br />
• Juggling and carnivalrelated<br />
fun<br />
18 | colonymagazine.com <strong>COLONY</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>, <strong>September</strong> <strong>2018</strong>
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