Entertainment highlights from Weld County

Published on May 20, 2025

By Brian Hughes, Weld County Communications Specialist

Weld County has always been more than farms and fields. From local showbiz roots to Hollywood movie spectacles, here’s a showcase of eight unforgettable moments that prove Weld County has long been a surprising stage for entertainment.

Greeley’s first curtain call

Weld County’s early settlers didn’t just build forts, farms and trading posts; they built a rich cultural life as well. In 1870, just months after the town was founded, Greeley residents formed their first dramatic troupe, the Greeley Dramatic Association, in the attic of E.T. Nichols Emporium at 8th Street and 9th Avenue. The troupe presented the first play in Greeley, “Handy Andy” and “Dutchman’s Ghost,” followed by the then-popular “Ten Nights in a Barroom” and “Jumbo Jum.” The local appetite for performance quickly grew, leading to a boom in literary societies and amateur theatricals. Annie M. Green, an early Weld County colonist from Pennsylvania, stated in her 1887 memoir, "Greeley is now a handsome little city, with "the best of hotel accommodation and good theaters.”

Musical mountaineers

The love of music resonates deeply throughout Weld County’s history. Many early pioneers were accomplished musicians, and concerts garnered large audiences. In 1880, the Greeley Silver Coronet Band didn’t just perform in music halls or town squares, they climbed mountains for their music. On Sept. 21, 1880, band members hiked to the summit of Longs Peak with their instruments strapped to their backs. All but two reached the top and gave an impromptu concert of patriotic songs. It was entertainment with altitude!

The Greatest Showman and a circus tent for 10,000

Also in September 1880, P.T. Barnum’s world-famous circus rolled into Greeley on 54 train cars carrying 400 performers. They erected a massive tent capable of holding 10,000 people, transforming the plains near today’s Sunrise Park into a dazzling carnival ground. It wasn’t just a show; it was a once-in-a-lifetime spectacle for a town of fewer than 2,000 residents.

Eaton’s wrestling legend

An Eaton farm boy, Joseph “Toots” Mondt, changed the face of wrestling forever. Mondt made his wrestling debut in Greeley in 1912 at the age of 18 in a carnival match. After beating a carnival wrestler in record time, he took his gig and quickly learned that drama sold tickets. Mondt combined features of a boxing ring, Greco-Roman, freestyle wrestling and the old-time lumber camp-style of fighting into something he called "Slam Bang Western Style Wrestling." In 1963, he cofounded the World Wide Wrestling Federation (now WWE), turning wrestling matches into must-see entertainment. And to think, it all started with a hay bale and a dream in Weld County.

Breaking barriers at the drive-in

In the early 1970s, J. Carr became one of the first women to manage a drive-in movie theater in the region: the Motorena Drive-In in Evans, and eventually the hard-top Wilshire Theatre. Managing rowdy crowds, dealing with projectionist strikes, tracking serial stink-bombers and even surviving a robbery, Carr’s short but eventful “showbiz career” is a remarkable tale of grit, humor and change. Her favorite cinematic moment? Watching the whole audience jump and scream together in unison at the ending of "Carrie." "You could actually feel the theater jump.” Carr said.

“Centennial” brings Hollywood to the high plains

The biggest film project ever shot in Weld County, the 26-part NBC mini-series "Centennial" brought stars like Richard Chamberlain, Sally Kellerman and Raymond Burr to Greeley in 1978. Scenes were filmed across the county in Kersey and near the Pawnee Buttes. One day, bad weather forced the crews inside the Ramada Inn in Evans, where they set up a tepee and shot interior scenes. Local residents worked as extras, making $25 for an 8-hour day, and watched in awe as their county became part of television history.

Ghost light at the Chief Theater

Before it was torn down, the Chief Theater was more than a place for popcorn and matinees — it was rumored to be haunted by a turn-of-the-century woman in a white dress. Two theater employees first reported seeing the woman in 1978. Psychics and a self-described “transmittal mind hypnotist” agreed the ghost was a young woman who was murdered by the theater manager, who was her lover, between 1910 and 1920. Today, the Quality Inn in Greeley occupies the space of what was once the Chief Theater, but the memory of the ghost apparently remains. A young blond woman, dressed in a turn-of-the-century white dress, has allegedly been seen wisping about on the unoccupied third floor of the hotel. The spotlight, it seems, never quite fades.

Hollywood meets the high plains

Weld County may not be the first place you think of when it comes to moviemaking, but in the 1990s, the county's rural charm and open highways played supporting roles in several major films. In 1989, the blockbuster "Die Hard 2: Die Harder" turned the quiet town of Mead into a high-stakes battlefield. Highland Community Church served as the terrorist hideout in the film, complete with explosions and snowmobile chases across frozen Highland Lake. The production team even built a new steeple for the church making it one of the few buildings in Weld County ever to benefit from on-screen destruction. A few years later in 1993, a stretch of Interstate 76 near Keenesburg made a brief appearance in "Dumb and Dumber" as Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels drove their dog-shaped van toward Aspen. Then, in 1995, comedian Bill Murray and a circus elephant named “Vera” took a Hollywood road trip down Weld County’s highways for the movie "Larger Than Life." Filming took place at Roggen on Interstate 76, and on Interstate 25 at Johnson’s Corner. The sight of an elephant lumbering along Weld County roads certainly made for one of the most unusual traffic jams in local memory.