Old Mill Park, added in 1976, grabbed the heart of a young Teresa Litman, now a St. Vrain Historical Society board member. Her love for Old Mill grew over the years as she remembers helping her father restore parts of the park. After returning as an adult, Litman found the park overgrown. She contacted the St. Vrain Historical Society, SVHS, to learn how she could help restore the park of her childhood. She learned the historical society, at the time, didn’t have the funds to fix the broken sprinklers and immediately volunteered to help find the means.
Litman’s story might be history about to repeat itself. SVHS is struggling financially, as are most other nonprofit organizations. The novel coronavirus pandemic has cut into SVHS revenues, as it has not been able to host events this year. SVHS receives a majority of its funding from donations, events and memberships, Litman said.
Longmont has a long, rich history. For the past 53 years, the St. Vrain Historical Society has preserved that history through education, programming and the preservation of four historic sites — the Historic Hoverhome, Hover Farmstead, Old Mill Park and “Old” St. Stephen’s Church.
Its largest fundraising events are the Strawberry Festival and Pumpkin Pie Days, at which SVHS hosts vintage and antique markets featuring 70 to 80 vendors.
The original Strawberry Festival was held in June 1871 to celebrate the opening of Library Hall donated to the colony town by benefactor Elizabeth Thompson of New York, according to Mountain States Collector, a newspaper dedicated to antiques and historical interests. The historical society changed the event to an antique show in 1970. In years past more than 5,000 people visited the show to enjoy the shopping and some fresh strawberries.
The 50th anniversary of the Strawberry Festival was canceled this year because of the pandemic.
Pumpkin Pie Days began in 1899 with locals baking more than 5,000 pies to celebrate Longmont’s uncommon crop, the pumpkin. The event grew to include horse races at Driving Park (now Roosevelt Park). The event went out of favor with the creation of the Boulder County Fair but was brought back by SVHS in 1969 as the antique show and fundraiser it is today.
Each event raises nearly $20,000, and those funds are a big part of the SVHS $200,000 annual operating budget, which maintains the four properties and pays for educational programs at each.
The organization is still waiting to hear from Boulder County if Pumpkin Pie Days can continue as planned on Oct. 10 and 11 at the fairgrounds. As its status remains in flux, SVHS is seeking other ways to raise money, including a yard sale from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the Historic Hoverhome, 1309 Hover St.
In addition to these Longmont traditions, the organization hosts other events such as Pioneer Days, Christmas home tours and tours of the four properties that also have been put on hold at the moment. According to Litman, these events bring in a good amount of the society’s revenue.
“We try to do educational things for the community and get funding that way,” Litman said.
Alyse Davis, the only full-time SVHS employee, said the sale will feature “I donations that volunteers are giving me just in hopes of trying to raise a little bit of money.”
More donations also are welcome. Davis asks that donors call the main office at 303-776-1870 before bringing in items, since some items are not eligible for resale.
The yard sale has taken place annually for the past three years and has brought in around $1,000 each year.
“I’m hoping for somewhere around that. I know it’s not going to solve all of our problems. I know this yard sale is in no way going to make up for the loss of the antique show but at this point it is something and anything and everything helps,” Davis said.
Litman said the society does have a reserve fund for emergencies, “but that reserve isn’t going to go very far.”
Old Mill Park water wheel (Photo by Macie May)
She also said the nonprofit cut back on expenses by watering and mowing less, not using a gardner this year and not providing an outdoor toilet at Old Mill Park.
“We’ve tried to be very creative on ways we can save money to get us through. We only have Alyse (Davis) as a full-time staff member, so it isn’t like we can scale back too much more,” Litman said.
Before COVID-19 cancelled other events SVHS was planning to conduct restoration projects at Old Mill Park and other properties.
Old Mill Park Cabin (Photo by Macie May)
Even if the Pumpkin Pie Days can be held this fall, the organization has other concerns. A majority of its 300 volunteers are in the “older and high risk category,” Davis said, and while many are willing to help, keeping them safe is a priority.
In addition to shopping Saturday’s yard sale, community members can support SVHS by making donations online.
“I want to encourage the community. Donations are greatly needed at this time to help with the historic preservation and education of our community and to ensure that resources are available to the community in the future. No matter how small the donation is every single dollar helps and is really appreciated,” Davis said.
