Keeping tradition alive: Barn dance a relic of the past

On Saturday, Aug. 26, the Longhorn Band will continue the annual tradition that is the Jefferson County Fair Barn Dance, a custom that goes back longer than the fair itself, which was established in 1984.

“There has always been a barn dance,” said Ellen Rae Thiel of the Boulder Heritage Center. “I remember them well. They were popular. So were the square dances in the red barn.”

Longtime Boulder resident and musician Gary Craft remembers the early days fondly. Before barn dances were part of the fair they were community dances, usually involving a potluck. One community dance Craft remembers the most was close to the Whitehall-Cardwell T off Highway 69.