Homesteader’s Holiday is a seasonal marriage of Christmas and history.

The annual event at Centennial Village Museum, 1475 A St. in north Greeley, features children’s arts and crafts activities, a bluegrass band and Yuletide caroling, traditional wintertime beverages, storytelling and Cowboy Santa.

“There’s a stigma that history is boring, that it’s not important,” said Geoff Havens, curator of historic sites for the city of Greeley Museums. “Centennial Village allows us to show how important history is and how it brings people in the community together.

“Homesteader’s Holiday is largely a family event. Parents, kids, grandparents. It’s so much fun. And it’s a chance for history buffs to come out and see what we have.”

Started in 2015, Homesteader’s Holiday attracts “300 to 600 visitors depending on the weather. We’ll have hot chocolate and cider to keep people warm.”

The event will be from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 7 to Sunday, Dec. 8. Admission is $8 for adults, $6 for seniors and $5 for children. Children 12 and younger who bring a canned good for the Weld Food Bank are admitted free.

“This is the first time for two days. We had it just Sundays in the past,” Havens said. “We spend a lot of effort decorating so we want more people to see it. We’re hoping for a good crowd.”

A crew will start inside the buildings, decorating trees with old-fashioned ornaments and garlands. The group then begins working outside a few days before the event.

“Colorado weather being what it is, we don’t decorate too early so everything gets wet and frozen,” Havens added.

“We dress up the buildings in a way that is appropriate to their history and time.”

Popular activities, for children and adults, offer entertainment in the historical venues. The five-person Rusty 44 bluegrass band will perform in the Weld Centennial Church.

Built in 1917 near Grover, the structure was relocated to the village in 1976. Caroling will begin at the church and, led by a quartet, visitors can join the strolling group singing Christmas favorites.

“Candle dipping is the most popular station,” Havens said, and will be in the Carriage House. Originally behind the Hall House at 1009 7th St. in Greeley, it was moved to the village in 1979.

Storytelling will be in the back parlor of the Stevens-Reynolds House. The circa-1900 11-room house had a wood-burning kitchen stove and a coal furnace.

The Queen Anne-style home was moved from 1117 9th Ave. in Greeley to the village in 1975.

Children can also make paper poinsettia ornaments and write Christmas cards.

“We have a print shop on-site and a staff member who is a printer,” Havens said. “Children can write on the cards to grandparents and other family members and Santa. Or they can give the cards to our Cowboy Santa.”

Retired museum curator Scott Chartier of Greeley portrays Santa.

“He’s a traditional Santa with a cowboy hat and a cowboy beard,” Havens said. “He hangs out in the courthouse. He likes the wood stove and the cozy feeling of the building.”

Built around 1863 on a farm south of Platteville, the one-room wooden building is the oldest known existing structure in Weld County. Used as the county courthouse until 1868, it was the setting for decisions about representation, water rights, and property and personal disputes.

Two other structures — the Spanish Colony House and the Grauberger Shanty — are reminders of the area’s agricultural roots.

A shortage of farm laborers during and after World War I prompted local recruiters from the Great Western Sugar Co. to seek Hispanic workers from the Southwest and Mexico. Great Western purchased land near its beet dumps and established “colonias“ for the workers.

One room in the replica adobe house features Greeley Grays photographs and memorabilia. Spanish Colony residents formed the semi-pro baseball team in 1925.

The Grauberger Shanty represents another group of farm workers.

Between 1890 and 1915, many Germans from Russia settled in Weld County. During the growing season, they worked in the beet fields and often lived in tar paper-covered shanties. The German-Russian neighborhood in Greeley came to be called “Little Russia.”

Many people of German-Russian ancestry live in Weld County today.

Havens, who joined the city of Greeley Museums in 2021, has observed the village’s holiday combination of entertainment and education.

“We really love how our community events are an opportunity for people to see history come alive,” he said. “We watch the interaction with families. We watch the magic happen.”