Today marks the 138th anniversary of Colorado's first day of statehood–on August 1st, 1876 Colorado was officially admitted to the United States as the 38th state. Politicians across Colorado are looking for creative ways to publicly observe today's holiday, if anything trying extra hard because it's an election year. GOP gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez posted a Buzzfeed style "10 things I love about Colorado" list today:
First problem: Beauprez is using an image of his beloved "family farm"…from Google Street View? We might have expected a more, you know, personal photo? Or at least sent a staffer over to the beloved family barn to snap one? No points for effort here.
Back in March, we had a little fun with a statement that Beauprez made in a radio interview about having "lived off the land my whole life." Beauprez's family did once own a dairy farm in Lafayette, but as we explained, Bob Beauprez sold the farm to develop the golf course and high-end residential subdivision known today as Indian Peaks. The barn depicted above is located on Beauprez Ave. in the Indian Peaks golf course, and Beauprez owns a large home in this development. So it may be technically correct that Beauprez still lives on land that "was" the "family farm." But so there's no confusion, here's where Beauprez's McMansion sits today in the Indian Peaks development relative to the Beauprez barn:
Something about this view spoils the authenticity of Beauprez's nostalgia for the family farm. Of course, though it's not what Beauprez was intending, the story of Colorado family farms being sold off and developed into tract homes and golf courses is very much a part of our state's history.
Just not so much the part we celebrate on Colorado Day.
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