COLUSA, CA (MPG) – Residents and visitors gathered at Veterans Memorial Park on June 21 for the fifth annual Colusa Founders Day, honoring the city’s incorporation on June 16, 1868.
With multiple activities and charitable good cheer, the festivities celebrated the past while embracing the present-day spirit of a tight-knit community.
Despite gale force winds, the downtown walking tour about Colusa’s early railroad history, and the second annual “Jail and Bail” charity fundraiser, were among the favorite activities of the day for adults. Activities at the Colusa County Library and Colusa County Arts Council, which featured vintage trains, were popular with kids.
“The wind blew the happy attendees down the street to study the great storyboards displayed on Market Street, while the ‘criminals’ stayed in jail begging for bail money,” said organizer Valente Bailey. “Needless to say, the jail was jumping. A fun time was had by all.”
The City of Colusa’s $2,800 investment in Founders Day through a 2023 Community Sake Grant has allowed local nonprofits to raise more than $10,000 in small-dollar donations for their programs in two years, with 25% of the proceeds benefiting the Founders Day Fund, a nonprofit organization under the Community Foundation of Colusa County, to implement the activities the following year.
Organizers said everything available locally was purchased locally, with no request from local businesses to donate.
This year’s jailbirds included John Loudon, who stayed in Founders Day jail until he raised $1,015 for the Veterans of Foreign Wars. As the one who collected the most, the Veterans of Foreign Wars will keep 100% of the proceeds.
Jan Brannon, for the Garden Club of Colusa County, ran a close second, collecting $960 for the Kids Growing Strong program and Founders Day; Devin Kelley, for Stagehands Theater, collected $860 for charity; Dr. Kerri Bartlett, Friends of the Library, collected $736; Megan Farrell Catholic Ladies Relief Society, collected $645; Thomas Roach, for Colusa County Arts Council, collected $615; and Jim Sherman, for Colusa Rotary, collected $100.
The charity fundraiser raised a total of $5,496 and included a $100 donation from an Iraq veteran living in Texas for the Veterans of Foreign Wars and $50 from an Oregon nun for the Catholic Ladies Relief Society.
“I had a great time being wanted,” said Kelley, who wore a ‘I was framed’ T-shirt. “It was fun to participate on Founders Day and try to have friendly competition with bail money. It’s a great thing for nonprofits and it helps Stagehands get more in the public eye, period.”
As the city celebrated 157 years since its founding, the tradition of Colusa Founders Day continues to grow. The event is intended to energize the community to support local businesses and promote tourism, just as events did in the early 20th century when the annual Colusa Water Carnival brought hundreds of people to town.
The Colusa Heritage Preservation Commission’s self-guided tour of downtown Colusa, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Colusa, included a scavenger hunt element, based on the history of Colusa’s early railroads. “Before motor vehicles, railroads in Colusa in the late 19th century transported people, agricultural products, and livestock,” Bailey said. “By the early 20th century, multiple rail lines crossed the countryside and train depots would bustle with activity in nearly every Colusa County community.”
for Garden Club’s Kids Growing Strong are cuffed while awaiting bail at the
annual Founders Day Jail and Bail event in Colusa.
The Colusa & Lake Railroad, which operated from 1886 to 1915, spanning 29 years of service, and the Northern Electric Railroad’s Colusa Branch, which operated from 1913 until passenger service ended in 1940, were the most well-known of the four rail operators.
The Colusa & Lake Railroad’s beloved small gauge steam engine will be memorialized with a mural, now planned to be on the 9th street side of Kittle’s Outdoor and Sport Co.
Bailey said fundraising efforts by Founders Day for the mural are ongoing through the California Duck Championships in Veterans Memorial Park, Aug. 23-24.
Colusa artist Hayden Keeley has been commissioned for the project.
Godon Montgomery, of Williams, was the scavenger hunt winner of a $100 gift card for Rocco’s Bar & Grill.