CRIPPLE CREEK — After a year and a half on hold, one local attraction is proving nothing, not even a pandemic, can make history die.
In Cripple Creek, the clocks are turning back.
“What year is it right now? It’s 1890,” said a woman who identified herself as Mary Kathleen Gortner, a late-19th-century Cripple Creek resident. “I am one of the richest ladies in Cripple Creek.”
You’d probably better know that woman by her real name, Hedy Boyce. She’s a member of the Gold Camp Victorian Society
“It’s just really fun to dress up! I love it,” Boyce said.
She, along with other Victorian Society members come out every Saturday, to take tourists on a trip back in time on a historic trolley.
The trolley offers a guided tour around Cripple Creek and the surrounding areas. Along the way, Victorian Society members reenact actual historical events at the places they happened.
“We actually tell people about the history of this town,” Gold Camp Victorian Society president Howard Melching said.
Tourists get to meet some of Cripple Creek’s biggest history-makers along the way.
“Today I am portraying Johnny Nolon,” Robert Johnson said.
For Victorian Society founding members like Johnson--this day has been a long time coming
“It’s great not to have to stay home and be bored,” Johnson said.
That’s because, for the past year and a half, these wheels haven’t moved.
“Last year was a disaster because of the pandemic,” Melching said.
It felt like history had died.
“It was a long year and a half,” Boyce said.
That was until they got the good news earlier this year they could start back up.
The trolley hit the streets again Saturday with a sold-out crowd.
“After this pandemic, this is amazing,” Boyce said. “I mean if you see all these people out here… we’re just dying to have something to do.”
Proving, for this trip back in time, nothing can stop its clocks from turning back.
“I considered it a hiccup,” Johnson said. “I entered the pandemic under the premise of no fear. Respect, but no fear.”
