The Cherry Creek Arts Festival

Every year I make a point of attending the Cherry Creek Arts Festival, and this year, it's 35th, was no exception. This event took place this past 4th of July weekend in Denver's North Cherry Creek neighborhood and featured 260 juried artists from across the world. It has been awarded the Gold Grand Pinnacle Award, presented by the International Festivals and Events Association (IFEA), that association's "highest accolade," "recognizing festivals and events that excel in balancing all key elements essential for a successful event." In other words, this is a very prestigious art festival, and even I recognize the high quality of the artwork presented. I especially liked the paintings with a touch of humor to them, as well as some of the very colorful modern artwork, most of which was selling for thousands of dollars. But as usual, I was especially interested in the photography, which was also very good, including the work of Igor Menaker, who specializes in black and white images of Chicago and whose booth is seen in the photograph on the left. You can view his work at https://www.menaker.com/.

Menaker has exhibited his photographs at the Cherry Creek Arts Festival a number of times, as has Xavier Nuez, who is also from Chicago and describes his photography as "light painting," which is very spectacular indeed. His booth can be seen in the photograph on the right. Nuez lights his photos, which include abandoned factories, deserted streets, walkways, and other subjects in a variety of colors, creating stunning effects, which can be seen at https://www.nuez.com/. There was another booth also exhibiting light paintings by Chris and Katie Robleski, which were also quite good. Nuez has conducted workshops on his technique for many years, and I have to wonder if these photographers might be former students now competing against him. And I did notice on his website that he is not conducting any more workshops until October of 2027. Perhaps hoping to avoid still more competition? I also enjoyed the work of Joel Anderson, especially his farm animals, which can be seen at https://www.joelandersonphoto.com/. 

I was also impressed with the photography of Brad Pogatetz, who specializes in photographing ruins, and Kyle Spears, with his wonderful photographs of Europe. But as I mentioned before, there were all manner of art forms on display at the Cherry Creek Arts Festival this year, most of it very good, including the humorous paintings hanging on the side of the booth in the photograph on the left. And, as you can imagine, this festival is great for peoplewatching. In fact, I attended this event twice this year, once to take photographs and the second time to just look at all the artwork and do more peoplewatching. A great festival that I hope to attend next year, too.

The 16th Annual Park Hill 4th Of July Parade

Yesterday the 16th Annual Park Hill 4th of July Parade took place down 23rd Street in that historic Denver neighborhood. This is the first 4th of July parade I have attended since the ones that took place in Cannon Beach, Oregon back when we had some Hoyt family reunions on 4th of July weekends there. Just like in Cannon Beach, the parade was made up of community groups, marching bands, classic cars, politicians looking for votes, non-profits, and costumed characters. The photograph on the left features The Westernaires, a volunteer-run nonprofit youth riding organization. This group is also a regular at the annual National Western Stock Show Parade here in Denver every January, when the temperature can be about 70 degrees lower than they were yesterday. A whole different kettle of fish, as we say here out west.

There were a lot of families with children attending the parade, as you might expect, and those kids were thrilled to see various superheros at the event, including someone who I think was Captain America riding on a motorcycle, as seen in the photograph on the right. I also saw Batman taking part in the parade as well. The parade featured over 50 groups and over 1,000 marchers, riders, and performers, and so it was no surprise that it took almost 2 hours to complete. Not that I was timing it or anything.

It really surprised me how many candidates running for offices such as state representative, state senator, and city council took part in this parade, having their volunteers hand out campaign information to the crowd lining the streets. Of course, that was the case at the Stuart, Florida Christmas Parade last year, too. I remember the master of ceremonies remarking that the Democrats were now passing the reviewing platform, all two of them.  Which was both funny and also not too much of an exaggeration. The horse-drawn wagon in the photograph on the left was promoting the reelection campaign of State Senator James Coleman, who is currently President of the Colorado Senate and represents the Park Hill neighborhood. And why the horse-drawn wagon? Your guess is as good as mine. Politicians are inscrutable. 

Happy Fourth Of July!

Today is the Fourth of July, the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, a day of fireworks, parades, picnics, and a new tradition - an extremely long speech by Donald Trump on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. "just to show that I can do anything," as he put it a few days ago. Oh joy! Meanwhile, here in Denver, fireworks will be taking place at Coors Field after the game tonight between the Colorado Rockies and San Francisco Giants. And I am featuring - not for the first time - a photograph of the fireworks at that ballpark that I took back in 2021. As I recall, I spent a long time waiting for those fireworks to begin - it was like watching paint dry. And so instead of going through all that again, I am just using this photograph instead. Let's face it - one fireworks display looks like any other. Can you really tell that this photograph was taken 5 years ago and not after the Rockies game last night? I didn't think so. Just enjoy all those fireworks and parades and ballgames and Trump's extremely long speech (scheduled for 9:45 P.M. Eastern Daylight Savings Time). Which reminds me - what ever happened to the legislation to make Daylight Saving Time permanent? I thought it was a done deal. This is so unlike our elected representatives to let things slide like this. Oh well, what the hell. Happy Fourth of July anyway!

Talking Baseball At The Old Chicago Pizza And Taproom In Lakewood, Colorado

Yesterday afternoon I ventured out to Lakewood, Colorado, located to the west of Denver and in a completely different universe, to have lunch at the Old Chicago Pizza and Taproom with my friend Stuart, seen in the photograph above. For some inexplicable reason, a lot of people like living in Lakewood. There is a treatment for that, which involves driving down Colfax Avenue from one side of town to the other, but perhaps that would be too great a shock for vulnerable residents. In any case, as I have mentioned before, you can't see Lakewood from the bar area at Old Chicago, and so no problem. Over lunch, Stuart and I discussed the state of our respective baseball teams. The last time we had lunch, Stuart's team, the Chicago Cubs (Stuart is originally from the North Side of Chicago) had gone into a June swoon and were barely above .500. As of yesterday, they were 9 and 1 over their last 10 games, 11 games over .500, and 5 games out of first place in the National League Central. My South Side heroes, the Chicago White Sox (I am originally from the South Side Brainerd neighborhood of Chicago), are still in first place in the American League Central and 6 and 4 over their last 10 games, but a mere 4 games over .500. The Sox are holding their own, but have some big names on the injured list, including Munetaka Murakami, "the Japanese Babe Ruth," who was leading the American League in home runs when he pulled a hamstring on May 29th. They definitely need those players to return to the lineup soon if they want to make the playoffs. As for our adopted hometown team, the Colorado Rockies, they are currently tied with the Kansas City Royals for the worst record in baseball with a .398 winning percentage. But they are 5 and 5 over their last 10 games and have a number of promising rookies, and so it looks like they will eventually put together a good team. It might be 2 or 3 years down the road, but it is better than the situation the club has been in the past 5 seasons or so. The important thing is that Coors Field, where they play, is a great place to hang out, win, lose, or draw. Although winning would be better.

Watching England Come From Behind To Beat DR Congo At The World Cup

I watched the World Cup soccer match between England and DR Congo yesterday morning with my friend Mark, who is a big fan of England, and seen in the photograph above standing in front of hundreds of English soccer fans celebrating their team's victory after the game. And I must say, it was a very exciting contest. DR Congo scored a goal in the first 7 minutes, and their goalie, Lionel Mpasi, kept England from scoring most of the game. And then England's Harry Kane scored twice in the final 15 minutes of the match to beat DR Congo 2-1. England now heads to the final 16 to play Mexico on Sunday. I was especially happy about the outcome since Harry Kane is one of only two active soccer players whose names I actually recognize. The other is Son Heung-min. Both of them played for the Tottenham Hotspurs of England's Premier League before moving on to other teams (Kane to Bayern Munich and Son to Los Angeles FC). England will have a tough time against Mexico, I'm afraid, since the match is being played at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, where Mexico has lost only two of 89 competitive matches, and most of the 87,523 fans will be rooting for the home team. I suggest not betting the entire farm on England. Perhaps just half.

Biking In Denver After A Two-Year Hiatus

I was finally able to take a bike ride to downtown Denver and back yesterday morning after almost two years. I brought the Trek bicycle I have owned for many years down to our condo in Stuart, Florida back in the fall of 2024, and planned to have the bike I inherited from my brother-in-law George, tuned up the following spring, which wound up being this spring, instead. But no matter. I finally have a bicycle here once again and today was reminded what a great town Denver is for cyclers. I remember one of our work study students at the University of Denver Bookstore once said that he preferred biking in Denver than back home in Paris. I didn't think he could be serious at the time but am now wondering if maybe he was right after all.

And for the first time, I was able to get a look at the swan boats out on Smith Lake in Washington Park on my way downtown. And I must say, I have to take partial credit for the swan boats now there, one of which can be seen in the background of the photograph on the right. Several years ago, I wrote several blog posts about how Denver's City Park had swan boats on its lake and wondered why Wash Park had to make do with boring utilitarian models. Was this some kind of slight by the city? But now here they are, the city no doubt influenced by my blog post. No thanks necessary - happy to have made an important difference in the lives of the people of Denver.

After riding through Washington Park, I headed through the older neighborhoods of Denver to downtown's 16th Street (formerly the 16th Street Mall), which underwent a three-and-a-half year, $176.7 million renovation that was completed this past October. That project had a major impact on the businesses along that 13-block stretch, many of which went out of business during the renovation, which came on the heels of the Covid-19 pandemic. But I am happy to report that the mall is now looking really good, with lots of people sitting under tree-shaded restaurant patios having lunch and strolling around, checking out the stores and local bistros, many of them new. All this on a Tuesday morning. And the city is not finished with improving the district even further.  They recently purchased the Denver Pavilions, a multi-level open-air mall right off 16th Street, as seen in the photograph on the left, and intend to make it a mixed-use hub for Upper Downtown. And just this past week, the University of Colorado Denver announced they were purchasing Independence Plaza, a 25-story office tower on 17th Street, with a block long frontage on 16th, for $29.8 million and will transform it into a multi-use hub for both educational and commercial purposes. I just hope they reintroduce those Friday night summer concerts they used to have on their 16th Street patio, which I used to bike to religiously back in the day.

All in all, it was a very good bike ride, and I was very impressed with the new vibrancy of the area. For years now people have been bemoaning downtown Denver, complaining about the store vacancies, the empty office buildings, the homeless situation, you name it. Although it is not as busy as before the pandemic, it has definitely turned a corner. And it is now a place where you might see a friendly, abnormally tall cowboy moseying down the street, such as the one in the photograph on the right. And no, I have no idea why he was there, if he was being paid to be there, or if he was just another eccentric, for which Colorado is world-famous.

Feeding Beer To Goats - Is That Even Legal?

My sister Susan and I attended Baby Goat Night at New Terrain Brewery several weeks ago, and just yesterday I was reviewing my photographs from that event and discovered the one above that appears to show a woman about to share her pint of beer with a goat. Granted, this was not one of those baby goats, but a Nigerian Dwarf adult goat, and so I guess this is technically legal. But even so, what if the goat over-imbibes? Will it run wild across the New Terrain outdoor patio, striking fear into the hearts of innocent beer drinkers? Forget Trump's war in Iran and the attempt to manipulate the 2026 midterms through redistricting. This is what actually keeps me awake at night. As it should you. I suggest we all attend the final two Baby Goat Nights on August 5th and September 9th at the New Terrain Brewery in Golden, Colorado and monitor the goings on, as Trump wants to do at polling stations during the midterms. It is, after all, our patriotic duty.