Castle Rock seeks postcards, videos for 2076 time capsule

Castle Rock is asking residents to help decide what the next 50 years should remember, collecting postcards and short videos for a time capsule that will be buried at the new Castle Rock Sports Center in the Brickyard development and opened on July 4, 2076.

The project is part of the town’s America 250 - Colorado 150 commemoration, a dual anniversary that marks 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence and 150 years since Colorado became a state. In a town where new construction keeps reshaping familiar streets and open land, the capsule is meant to capture what residents think should endure as Castle Rock changes again.

Postcards were available through May 1 at Town Hall lobby, 100 N. Wilcox St., Cantril School east entrance, 312 Cantril St., Castle Rock Recreation Center, 2301 Woodlands Blvd., and Miller Activity Complex, 1375 W. Plum Creek Parkway. Residents who complete a postcard can receive an America 250 - Colorado 150 car decal while supplies last. The town also accepted short video messages, 30 to 60 seconds long, through Friday, May 1.

The town held recording sessions at Cantril School on April 1, April 14 and April 25, with advance registration required for a 10-minute slot and prompts provided on site. People who recorded a qualifying video at a session or on their own were eligible for a Town of Castle Rock America 250 - Colorado 150-branded gift while supplies lasted. One calendar listing identified the April 25 reward as a limited-edition Castle Rock 250 - Colorado 150 canvas tote.

The effort folds into a larger yearlong celebration that includes banners and other patriotic displays, a 250-150 grant program for commemorative events and public art, including Big Drive, three large-scale sculptures of a bull, a cow and a calf planned for Rock Park Open Space ahead of Western Heritage Welcome Week in 2026. The Star atop the Rock is also set to be illuminated from July through Colorado Day on Saturday, Aug. 1.

Dennis Blanchard, a Castle Rock Historical Society and Museum board member, has described the town’s anniversary work through a simple question: “What did Castle Rock look like in 1876?” That same impulse drives the time capsule now, with History Colorado and the America 250 - Colorado 150 Commission coordinating the statewide celebration and Castle Rock placing its own story under the ground at the sports center until the nation’s 300th birthday and Colorado’s 200th anniversary arrive in 2076.