110 years later, a former coal town's Labor Day tradition is marching along

OAK CREEK, Colo. — Candy flew from trucks, children sang in the street and high school band musicians showcased their talents as a town of 900 people celebrated its past and present.

The scene is similar each Labor Day in Oak Creek, a former coal mining town south of Steamboat Springs. Since 1913, the town has celebrated Labor Day with a parade, contests and other events meant to bring the community together. Though the celebration has spanned more than a century, the nature of the labor being recognized has shifted with time.

Two Soroco High School students celebrate Oak Creek’s ranching and mining history at the town’s annual Labor Day parade. (Alison Berg/Rocky Mountain PBS) 

“It was a big mining and still is a big ranching community, so we really honor that,” said Oak Creek Mayor Nikki Knoebel. “But now, this is a bedroom community and most of us drive to Steamboat for work, so we really come together to celebrate all the hard work of this summer.”

Most Oak Creek residents commute 21 miles to Steamboat Springs to staff the ski town’s tourist attractions, then return home to Oak Creek where housing is slightly more affordable and the community much smaller.

Like many towns in Colorado’s high country, Oak Creek was once a booming coal mining town. Between the 1920s and 1940s, Oak Creek reigned as Routt County’s most populous town, housing almost 2,000 people. But as Steamboat Springs solidified its status as a glitzy resort town and the mining industry diminished, Oak Creek’s population dwindled as Steamboat’s grew. Oak Creek’s population was 889 at the time of the 2020 Census. In Steamboat, it was 13,390. 

“Even though it’s moved past that mining town status, we want to honor everybody that’s worked in the mines and put Oak Creek on the map,” Knoebel said. “It has definitely gone away a bit, but we still have 10% of the community that works in the mines.”

Though Oak Creek’s identity had shifted, the town still celebrates the national workers’ rights holiday the same way it always has: with families flocking to Main Street to watch a parade in which community leaders march down the road with music, candy and cheers. The town also crowns a “coal king and queen” — akin to high school prom royalty — and local high school students sell refreshments, raising money for prom.

“Everybody tries really hard to make this community work for all of us,” said Julie Hoff, a resident of Oak Creek for nearly 20 years. Hoff teaches science at the local middle school and math at the local high school. She also ran the annual Labor Day mother-daughter race and helped her daughter sell concessions.

“This is what you do on Labor Day weekend,” Hoff said. “You do all the events and things and you come down because this is where everybody is.”

Gracy Lynn Tuttle, a 17-year-old Soroco High School student who was born and raised in Oak Creek, walks through Main Street on stilts each year, an homage to her family’s work with drywall.

“We want to entertain people and also show them what we do and how it’s possible,” Tuttle said. “We’ve been doing drywall and in order to reach high ceilings, you need these stilts.”

Many who once called Oak Creek home or have part-time residence attend the parade each year. Celebrating Labor Day surrounded by others in the community feels essential.

“It’s a lot of great memories because the people here are just so friendly,” said Sharmon Kanetson, whose family grew up just south of Oak Creek.

Kanetson now lives on the Eastern Plains, but inherited her grandfather’s home near Oak Creek and considers the town a second home.

“There are just incredible people up here,” Kanetson said, “and it’s so beautiful and peaceful.”

Alison Berg is a reporter at Rocky Mountain PBS and can be reached at alisonberg@rmpbs.org.