CU alumnus Charlie St. Clair repaints the message "< BIRTH OF FOLSOM PARK 4-2-75 >" on what was a section of Folsom Street Sunday afternoon. (CU Independent/Lee Pruitt)
It’s a bright, Colorado afternoon on Easter Sunday as Charlie St. Clair pulls his white van into the vacant parking lot across from Folsom Field, adjacent to a service road. He exits with a pleasant smile, swings open the back doors of his rented vehicle and pulls out a cardboard box filled with paint buckets and paint brushes.
“Wanna help?” he asks.
It’s just about the 35th anniversary of a historic event not too many CU students are familiar with. In 1975, St. Clair explained, the empty service road he is parked on was once Folsom St., a bustling avenue and common commuter route. Running directly through campus, this main road proved treacherous for bikers and pedestrians alike. Fed up with the frequent accidents, St. Clair and fellow UCSU members came up with a hand-drawn blueprint to redesign the road into a park, presented it to Boulder City Council and demanded change immediately, St. Clair said.
The city council refused, so the students took action, St. Clair said.
On April 2 that year, UCSU, along with approximately 50 other CU students, barricaded Folsom St. with a shallow wall of snow, furniture and people, St. Clair said. Commuters were furious, honking their horns and shouting at protesters who wouldn’t budge. On that barricaded stretch of street, for three days, students hung out, made bonfires and some even began tearing up the asphalt.
Finally, in April 1977, the city struck a deal with UCSU, agreeing to close the road off from public transit and use it instead as a service road for the university, St. Clair said. Students celebrated by tearing up the pavement themselves. Two years later, St. Clair, along with others, painted the words “Birth of Folsom Park 4/2/75” on the new service road.
Since then, St. Clair has periodically returned to campus about three times a year to repaint the faded words. He said that the CU-Boulder Police do not disturb him.
“The whole point is to remind the administration, and the students, that this was something done by the students of UCSU in 1975,” St. Clair said. “If they would just put up a plaque or something I wouldn’t need to come out here and paint!”
A history major, St. Clair stresses the importance of commemorating and remembering events like the protest he took part in.
“It’s a history lesson,” St. Clair said. “I paint so that it’s alive and well.”
Although proud of what he and his fellow classmates accomplished, St. Clair said he still wishes the road were turned into a park, as UCSU had originally designed.
David Zale, a fellow protester and tri-executive member of the UCSU at the time, said that St. Clair really inspired everyone to go through with the protest.
“If Charlie wasn’t the leader I don’t know who was,” Zale said.
Zale said that the desire to take action had been festering among UCSU members for a while, as students were fed up with the dangerous road that invaded their campus. He said he was pleased that the protest was a success.
Gretchen Heuberger, a 25-year-old senior majoring in history, said she doesn’t consider St.Clair’s act to be vandalism.
“It doesn’t strike me as vandalism,” Heuberger said. “A university should be a forum where people can express their opinions.”
Christopher Anderson, a 22-year-old senior majoring in international affairs, said he has no problem with St. Clair’s paint job.
“I say just let the guy do it,” Anderson said. “As long as he’s not vandalizing any buildings or anything, it should be fine.”
St. Clair said he is unsure of when he will return, or who may join him, but he is very adamant about one thing—that UCSU put up a plaque or some sort of memorial to commemorate the protest.
“After all,” St. Clair said with a big, friendly smile, “this painting thing is getting pretty expensive!”
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Jennifer De Falco at
Jennifer.DeFalco@colorado.edu.
2 comments
Great to see this explanation for the paint. I had always wondered, although I knew that it used to be an open road. Thanks Mr. St. Clair!
It’d be cool to see some current CU students start an effort to get a plague or maybe plant a tree with a sign or something to commerate this becasue the reality is that he’s not going to be able to paint forever. This is a sign that when they want to, students can have a lasting effect.