Planning holiday get-togethers is rarely easy, whether you’re trying to find a team-building option that works for your entire work crew or attempting to make your entire extended family happy with a festive activity.
We say “rarely” because every once in a while, there’s a golden opportunity to gather your whole team, family, or friend group for an activity that all ages will enjoy. Enter Golden History Tours, a locally-owned business that brings the mining and brewery town’s past to life for every kind of audience through Wild West-themed walking tours, pub crawls, and a growing selection of customizable activities for private events in Colorado.
Proprietor Chris Albrecht — a web developer by day — has been growing his passion project since 2019, when he first started offering 2-hour walking tours in Golden. Today, Golden History Tours’ team is ready to deliver everything from group tours in Golden, Colorado, to corporate holiday party entertainment — all with prop pistols on their hips, of course.
Golden, Colorado Tours Made Engaging
For six years, Golden History Tours has offered walking tours, seasonal ghost tours, and pub crawls to groups of all sizes. Albrecht always aimed to make his activities engaging for attendees, from the summer tourists to the longtime locals.
“I’ve had people on my tours that have lived in Golden for 35 years, and I still tell them things they didn’t know,” Albrecht said.
But during the pandemic, something started to shift in Golden History Tours’ standard offerings.
The Golden Chamber of Commerce began recommending Golden History Tours to local groups seeking outdoor, COVID-safe activities, and Albrecht found himself giving a 45-minute talk to a group at the Golden visitor center patio.
From there, the possibilities started expanding — Golden History Tours wasn’t just about that standard slate of tours and crawls, but about building something special for every group of customers.
Today, Albrecht — now supported by a team of five other tour guides — offers highly customizable tours, pub crawls, and scavenger hunts, creating memorable experiences for gatherings ranging from bachelorette parties to birthday celebrations (both real tour groups he’s hosted).
Albrecht and his team can personalize group tours through Golden, Colorado, helping attendees hit all the historical sites or breweries they want to on their guided trip around town (he even partners with a local company to take visitors around Golden via e-bike). In fact, Golden History Tours’s tours are customizable in almost any way — all customers have to do is reach out.
“It never hurts to ask. If you’re looking at a particular tour and you pull up the calendar, and you don’t see a date on there that would fit your schedule, I have a link and a form right there (on the website),” Albrecht said. “Just talk to me. I live 12 minutes walking distance from the starting location of all the tours — I can easily throw on an outfit and head down there if I don’t have anything else going on.”
The Golden History Tours proprietor has also deepened his connections in the community over the last few years, allowing him to easily connect customers with other activities and resources around Golden. In fact, Albrecht can now act as a concierge for visitors, helping them make meal reservations at great local restaurants or even secure transportation around town.
And though Albrecht’s walking tours and pub crawls are highly engaging, the Golden History Tours team can also up the interactivity with a Colorado scavenger hunt. Groups can brush up on their history while doing a phone-led, custom-designed scavenger hunt through Golden, where they’ll encounter planted actors at interactive puzzle checkpoints.
Entertaining at Colorado Private Events
While Golden History Tours sees plenty of walking tour and pub crawl customers in the summer and shoulder seasons, the winter isn’t as amenable to an outdoor activity.
But if you’re looking for great corporate holiday party ideas for your Colorado business, don’t despair: Golden History Tours also offers personalized entertainment at any event, bringing an extra level of local flair and fun to holiday activities in Golden, CO.
From endless wells of stories and history to impeccable themed costuming, Golden History Tours team members can keep wedding guests spellbound, entertain community groups, and even spice up family holiday activities in Golden, Colorado (like that huge family Christmas party or reunion you’re hosting this winter). Albrecht has already booked several corporate holiday parties for the coming season, when he’ll provide some unforgettable entertainment for attendees.
“History can be really boring, especially if it’s not told in an engaging way,” Albrecht said. “So to bring it to life, these are fun events, escape room-style challenges or scavenger hunts, or having a party with your company where they’re buying the drinks. I can bring the history and the stories and an educational piece, to a degree, into all of that. But to make it unique, memorable, and personalized to your group is so much bigger.”
As Albrecht continues to expand Golden History Tours’ offerings, he recently created a Wild West-themed photobooth to accompany him at these events, providing guests with another fun bonding opportunity. He also hopes to keep growing his digitally-accessible scavenger hunt offerings, envisioning a hunt that leads participants up and down the Front Range to landmarks like Red Rocks, the Railroad Museum, or Buffalo Bill’s grave.
No matter where Albrecht’s activities take him and his customers, he sticks to his core mission: creating memories. After experiencing the loss of a parent and the birth of his first child in the last few years, Albrecht finds himself remembering the importance of giving people unforgettable experiences that they can share forever.
“The history is true, it’s real — we’re not making stuff up,” he said. “But to create those things will stick with you for as long as your memory is there, that’s what life should be about.”