COLORADO SPRINGS — This weekend, the city of Colorado Springs is celebrating its 150th year in a big way. There will be numerous events and even a parade on Tejon St. in downtown.
On Saturday morning at 11.am., parts of Tejon St. will be packed with parade-goers. As many as 25,000 people can be on the parade route, meanwhile, those participating are getting their floats ready.
It's called the "Parade Through Time" and it's representing key moments throughout Colorado Springs history.
"We have a number of historical characters represented on floats. We have representations on floats for Nikola Tesla, we have general William J. Palmer and Spencer Penrose," said John O'Donnell, the parade organizer.
O'Donnell says the city has been planning the parade since last year. It will feature more than sixty groups with floats. Some organizations have made floats to celebrate the Colorado Springs Sesquicentennial, including GE Johnson Construction Company.
"We're doing an America the Beautiful float. The theme is perfect for us since our company is just doing the finishing touches on the Pikes Peak visitor complex on top of Pikes Peak," said Mario Elliott.
Elliott is the logistics coordinator for GE Johnson, and he says part of the float is honoring Katharine Lee Bates who wrote the song "America the Beautiful" after a visit to Pikes Peak. The float is also in the shape of Pikes Peak and is a tribute to the newly-built summit house.
"You couldn't ask for a better theme for us especially because of the timing of it all," said Elliott. "We're just very proud to have a hand in working with Colorado Springs and getting the summit house done."
After more than 1,000 trips to the top of the Pikes Peak summit, Elliott and the crew are ready to make a trip down Tejon this weekend. Meanwhile, others are excited to celebrate as a community once again.
"It really is a good reason to gather as a town I'm really happy that things are hopefully getting back to normal and then everybody can come out and have a good time like we always did," said O'Donnell.
The parade gets underway at 11 a.m. The festival for COS150 kicks off at the Pioneers Museum at noon and lasts until 8 p.m.
For more information about the COS150 Celebration, click here.
