Celebrating Spyderco’s 50th Anniversary

The year 2026 marks Spyderco’s 50 ^th Anniversary. To celebrate, we invited our fans to the company’s Golden-based Headquarters for three days of exclusive events, factory tours, collaborator visits, and a host of other exciting activities. The response was extraordinary. 

The event began on a somber note, welcoming traveling fans and members of the local community into the building to remember and reflect on the 25 ^th anniversary of the September 11 ^th attacks. We began just after 6:00 AM to allow visitors to listen to a livestream ceremony from New York City while they sat with the World Trade Center steel girders we have had on display since the 10th anniversary. That compelling display was complemented by exhibits detailing the history of our commemorative D’Allara Rescue Knife and our support of post-9/11 US military campaigns, providing a thoughtful atmosphere for visitors and Crew to pay their respects.

Shortly thereafter, Eric Glesser rounded up the first 25 “Golden Ticket” winners for an exclusive and historically unprecedented tour of the entire facility. After pausing to enjoy a lunchtime feast, the next group of 25 received their Glesser-guided tour. 

On Saturday morning, Eric, our key staff members, and a team of our design collaborators officially welcomed the public to our newly expanded facility with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Appropriately, Eric sliced the ribbon with a Military™ 2 before welcoming everyone inside for the busiest and most jam-packed day of the weekend. 

As Spyderco enthusiasts made their way inside, they were greeted by a variety of activities. Some enjoyed the custom T-shirt bar, which allowed them to choose a combination of graphics to craft their own unique commemorative T-shirt. Others rushed to join their groups for scheduled tours conducted throughout the day. Each tour began with Eric’s kickoff speech, which explained Spyderco’s history, the origin of the company name, and what to expect during the tour. As the tourgoers wound their way through the facility, they got a rare glimpse of the scale of Spyderco’s operation from veteran members of our Crew. They also got an inside look at our US-based manufacturing process, from cutting raw steel to inspecting the fit and function of finished knives and every step in between.

At the completion of the tour, visitors were given the opportunity to meet some of Spyderco’s most popular design collaborators, including Michael Janich, Ed Schempp, Kevin Smock, and Lance Clinton. This legendary lineup signed autographs, told stories, answered questions, and posed for photos. Some also shared rare prototypes and discontinued knives that reflected their long histories as Spyderco designers. The collaborators were joined by BladeSports World Champions James Clifton and his wife Michael, who displayed their course-crushing competition blades before putting them to work in a jaw-dropping cutting demonstration the following day.

Sunday morning began with a spectacular Rocky Mountain sunrise, ushering in the final day of the event. We kicked things off with an exciting truck show that featured NTD Racing’s Lefty—a Trophy Truck custom-designed for high-speed off-road racing—as well as a variety of overland vehicles. Later, James and Michael Clifton took center stage for an impressive BladeSports demonstration. An arsenal of both powerful and ultra-precise cuts captivated the crowd’s attention and was punctuated by pauses to explain cutting competition rules, answer questions, and reset their stations. Their demonstration was tremendous fun for the entire audience, and some were even lucky enough to see why the water-bottle-cutting stage is called the Splash Zone! 

This remarkable event attracted visitors from far and wide to share their passion, interest, and enthusiasm for all things Spyderco. For many, it was a once-in-a-lifetime “bucket-list” adventure. For others, it was just another—albeit very special—trip to Spyderco HQ. Either way, the tremendous success of our 50 ^th Anniversary celebration was thanks to our devoted customers. We truly appreciate them making the trip to Golden and sharing this unforgettable moment in Spyderco’s history with us. We hope to see them—and you—all again soon at our annual Factory Seconds Sale in November.