On April 17, 2009, members of the Friends and city employees of the Longmont Parks Department attended a unique private reception of two concurrent exhibits: John H. Empson: Longmont’s Robber Baron & Portraits of Longmont’s Parks by Luc Nadeau. Each exhibit provided unique views of the varied history of Longmont.

While New York industrialists and financiers like John D. Rockefeller and Henry Clay Frick are the best known of the late 19th century “robber barons,” Longmont had its own industrial giant. John H. Empson, founder of the Empson Cannery, was an innovator, an industrialist, and a collector. The exhibit explored his multiple roles through historic photographs, artifacts, and Asian art from Empson’s personal collection.

Photographer Luc Nadeau captured images of the details in all 34 parks in Longmont. His photographs, both color and black&white, find the hidden beauty all around us. Each photo tells a story, from a cattail reflected in the St. Vrain Greenway or a colorful leaf at Kanemoto Park, to sunset at Rothrock Dell Park.