Evergreen – An anxious crowd of 193 people filled the Bergen Park 7 Cinema at dusk Friday, anxious for the debut of “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.”
They wanted to see Johnny Depp – not just on the screen, but in the seat next to them.
“A lot of people have been talking about it,” said manager Dawn Henry, a ton of heaviness on “a lot.”
“I wondered if he would show up.”
Since the spring, a rumor has snowballed through this mountain community: Depp bought a house here.
And who would blame him. This small town at 7,000 feet an hour west of Denver virtually explodes in wildflowers, babbling streams, mountain peaks and friendly people.
The rumor grew legs quickly.
“It spread like crazy,” said Gary McPherson, laughing as he collected $4 cover charges Friday night at The Little Bear, Evergreen’s honky-tonk.
“Everybody has heard it – I mean everybody,” said retired schoolteacher Myrna Crabtree, 68.
But tracking down the truth about this local legend is like digging for buried treasure. In the end, the famous man’s chest told no tales, at least none that were true. The star of “Finding Neverland” never found land in Evergreen.
The most widely traveled story is that Depp got up on stage and sang at The Little Bear.
“That never happened,” McPherson was sad to report.
“He’s never been in here.”
A lot of people think the dashing star is soon to be shooting a Western in Golden. That’s news to the city of Golden, and entertainment industry sources say Depp is shooting the third installment of “Pirates of the Caribbean.”
Depp reportedly enrolled his two children at the Montessori School of Evergreen.
“Uh, I don’t think so,” said its director, Betty Hoke. “I would have heard about that.”
Depp supposedly likes to nosh at The Bagelry.
“He has not been in here,” said Eric Sasine, as he cleaned counters at the bake shop Friday afternoon. “I’d know. I work, like, 50 hours a week.”
Wayne Averitt pumped gas into his Ford F-150 at the Loaf and Jug and passed on some gossip he’d picked up: “His momma runs the library.”
“I get asked that all the time,” said Roberta Depp, director of the Clear Creek County Library District. “I wish it was true.”
It’s said Depp has a mansion on Upper Bear Creek Road, Evergreen’s Beverly Hills, where he is said to soak up the seaweed wrap at nearby Tall Grass Spa.
“He hasn’t been in here, but we keep waiting for him to,” said manager Chrystin James.
And the rumors that he shops at the King Soopers are so well-traveled that the supermarket chain’s home office sent manager Ron Smits a memo advising him to show Depp professional courtesy, if he comes in again.
“It’s just a rumor!” Smits said.
Still, clerk Shannon Clark, 20, vows to stalk Depp. She heard he drove a European car worth $1.2 million. “I’m highly obsessed with him, in an unnatural way.”
Everybody seems to know somebody who supposedly saw Depp doing something.
“We haven’t found anybody who has actually seen him,” said Doug Bell, editor of the local newspaper, The Canyon Courier. “I’ve had two (reporters) trying to pin this down.”
Retiree Brenadine Ryan doesn’t want to know if the rumors are untrue.
“He would make a lot of people happy if he just came downtown and acted like one of us,” she said.
“We would let probably him lead the rodeo parade.”
Staff writer Joey Bunch can be reached at 303-820-1174 or jbunch@denverpost.com.
