GOLDEN —A monthly summer event that draws thousands of people to Golden finally is getting a serious look from City Council.
“This is the first time we’ve communicated in 11 years, and it’s way past due,” Golden Super Cruise founder Michael Mason told the council.
and has become a major event in the Denver metro area. Thousands of classic cars, hot rods and muscle cars parade along South Golden Road and into downtown Golden the first Saturday evening of the month May through October.
, but cars and spectators begin showing up as early as 7 a.m.
“About 6:30 in the morning, people are here staking out their spots,” said Jeff Ahlers, general manager of the Advance Auto Parts at 17151 S. Golden Road.
Jim Smith, owner of Golden Real Estate at 17695 S. Golden Road, conducted a survey of attendees this summer. Of 561 respondents, 50 percent of them came from elsewhere in the Denver metro area and a third of them came to Golden only for the Super Cruise.
Business owners like Ahlers love the event and the business it brings, but area residents complain of the noise, pollution and traffic, and they asked the city to do something about it.
“I am very pleased we are starting this conversation,” Councilwoman Pamela Gould said at the Oct. 22 council meeting, which had a Super Cruise discussion on the agenda. “I have heard from constituents who asked that we look at steps we could take to try to minimize the impacts on the neighbors.”
Golden Police Chief Bill Kilpatrick presented the results of a survey he conducted of area business owners and residents about the cruise. He called it a “polarizing issue” in the community.
“People really love it, or they have less-than-enthusiastic feelings about it,” he said.
However, Kilpatrick concluded crime at the cruise is not a significant issue and sees compromise in the future.
City Council decided to form a committee of area residents who feel affected, business owners, police and event participants to start brainstorming over solutions in early 2016.
“It doesn’t really seem like this is a pro-or-con or a for-or-against issue,” Gould said. “It seems that in typical Golden fashion, this is more a ‘Let’s figure out a solution that can really work out for everybody’ type of issue.”
The Super Cruise committee will form just .
Councilwoman Laura Weinberg said that the committee should consider how Super Cruise fits in with the other special events that fill Golden’s summer season.
“If we’re not looking at it in the midst of all other events, we end up with this overall problem that we’ve had, where we have a First Friday and a First Saturday, and it’s also Fourth of July, and we have all of these special events in Golden on the same weekend,” Weinberg said.
Councilwoman Marcie Miller said she agreed, but said it signifies the unique challenge with Super Cruise, which is that it is not formally managed and it is not a permitted event. Mason does not profit from the Super Cruise, although he manages the website and an information line, and also pays for trash collection at the event.
“It’s people who are coming to our community,” Miller said. “And they are very likely to come whether we invite them to an event or not.”
Josie Klemaier: 303-954-2465, jklemaier@denverpost.com or @JosieKlemaier
