A Taste of Colorado, an annual Labor Day event here in Denver, returned this weekend after being canceled last year due to the coronavirus. However, this year it is taking place on the 16th Street Mall, instead of Civic Center Park, it's traditional home. I decided to bike downtown yesterday afternoon and check it out. All the merchandise booths were spread out along the mall, mostly selling products you neither want nor need. I must say, it looked like a lot of other events that take place on the mall, making it seem much less like a festival than when it was held at Civic Center.
All the food booths were located in two small, fenced-in areas known as Skyline Park, with food trucks along the street parallel to it. To get to the food booths, you had to go through a bag check, and they weren't letting bicycles in. But as far as I could tell, there would be no way to take a bike in there, anyway. People were just packed together, as seen in the photograph on the right, that I took from outside the fence. I am not sure why the festival was moved from Civic Center Park to the 16th Street Mall, but if it was due to Covid-19, I think the plan backfired. As I recall, it seemed much less crowded at Civic Center. And also, at that location, they had big name music acts, too. I myself saw Johnny Rivers and Credence Clearwater Revival (minus John Fogerty) there, among other bands. This year, the stages were much smaller, and the bands all local. Hopefully, next year, the festival will be back at Civic Center, and much more like the old days. And do I sound like an old curmudgeon, or what?
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