The 50th Annual Parker Days Festival

Yesterday afternoon my sister Susan and I drove out to Parker, Colorado, located 23 miles southeast of Denver, for the 50th Annual Parker Days Festival. To tell the truth, I never heard of Parker Days until this past week, when I saw an item in the paper about it taking place this past weekend. I have driven through Parker maybe twice in my live, and my opinion always was that Parker consisted of one downtown block containing a few historic buildings, surrounded by thousands of suburban housing developments. I couldn't have been more wrong. Parker is, in point of fact, two downtown blocks containing a few historic buildings, surrounded by thousands of suburban housing developments. But the festival was actually quite impressive, and much larger than I thought it would be.

This event is described on the Parker Days website as a family festival with music on 4 stages, 200 marketplace booths, over 25 food vendors, over 50 carnival rides, and many activities for kids. And I must say, this festival reminded me of a county fair, minus all the farm animals. This area is very popular with young families looking for a place where they can afford a home with a nice backyard and which has good schools, which probably explains why there were so many booths selling home improvement items and services. Those 200 marketplace booths filled 2 blocks on Main Street and all of adjacent O'Brien Park. Not being familiar with Parker, I missed the turnoff for downtown, but happily, wound up on the other side of town at the Pace Center, which is where festival goers were advised to park. Since there was a very large crowd attending the festival, I wound up driving around the Pace Center's parking lot three times without finding a parking space. Then I looked up and saw the Pace Center Parking Garage right across the street, where I immediately found a spot. Next time I'll know. 

This festival was very popular with kids, who were taking full advantage of all the kid friendly activities, including the carnival rides. Face painting seemed especially popular. Hopefully the paint is removable, and they will not need to consult a specialist to remove that paint in later years. As I mentioned before, this festival was very well attended, and it was fun to walk around checking out all those booths and doing a bit of peoplewatching. The downtown area was very pleasant, and there were a number of historic buildings along Main Street. My only complaint is that although you could tell those buildings were from the 19th Century, there were no plaques on them telling their history, or even the date they were constructed. The only way to know would be to do research on the internet before you went there. In any case, Susan enjoyed the festival, too, and said she thought Parker was a nice little town, but she wouldn't want to live there. I'll second that.

Graduation Day At The University of Denver

Yesterday was graduation day for undergraduate students at the University of Denver. This was an important day for the DU Bookstore when I worked there as the Finance Manager, before it was outsourced to Follett Higher Education Group. The gift and clothing buyer and her staff would bring tables of gift and clothing items to the Ritchie Center, where the ceremonies take place, and sell a lot of merchandise.  Meanwhile, back at the bookstore on this day, when it was part of DU, the place was filled with students selling back their books and returning rentals. After the ceremonies, parents and their children would fill the bookstore picking out last minute items to take home. And then, by about 1:00 in the afternoon, all those customers would leave, and the store was virtually deserted except for staff for the next two and a half months. Things are much different these days. Last year I went into the Ritchie Center on graduation day, and there was no sign of the Follett-run bookstore at all. National bookstore chains do not seem as interested in going the extra mile to increase sales as institutionally owned stores are, which is not a big surprise. And instead of two graduation ceremonies, one for graduate students on Friday and one for undergraduates on Saturday, each commencement is now split into a morning and evening session, reducing the number of students by half at each ceremony. Which is a good thing, since instead of just bounding up the stairway and entering the auditorium, everyone attending the ceremony now has to line up single file and undergo security screening, including a metal detector, which takes a lot more time. And as for the bookstore, I discovered that these days many if not most students access their books online, eliminating the need to come into the bookstore to buy textbooks and sell them back at the end of the term, resulting in a lot less foot traffic. On the bright side, since these days the DU Bookstore seems to be empty of customers most of the time, the staff probably doesn't even notice a difference once the students leave for home at the end of the school year. Just the same-old same-old every day. An entirely different world in just 15 years. Regardless of that, congratulations to the Class of 2026.

Talking About Cubs Fans...

There was an article in the Denver Post this past Wednesday by sportswriter Patrick Saunders about how Cubs fans turn Coors Field into Wrigley Field West whenever the Chicago Cubs come to Denver to play the Colorado Rockies. It is believed that there are over 100,000 transplants from Illinois in Colorado, and Saunders interviewed a number of them for his article, including Skip Perry, who with his wife Paula own Wrigley's Chicago Bar and Grill in Golden, Colorado. Perry is originally from the Chicago suburb of Waukegan, while his wife is from Arvada, just to the north of Denver. They have run Wrigley's since 2008, and it is quite the Cubs fan hangout. After the Cubs won the World Series in 2016, 750 fans poured into their bar, which at the time had space for 400. Years ago, Skip and Paula would charter a bus and take 75 Cubs fans to Coors Field whenever the Cubs were in town, but decided to phase that out when rounding up those 75 fans after the game began to get problematic. In any case, I drove to Golden to check out that bar and grill yesterday. It is located on West Colfax Avenue, right up against the foothills, as seen in the photograph on the left.

I stopped in around 2:30 on Friday afternoon and found that every space in the parking lot had been taken. Now THAT is impressive. Fortunately, they have additional parking across West Colfax, which is where I and a number of others found spaces. I took the photograph on the right of their outdoor patio, which seems very nice indeed. I also looked in at the main dining room, which is equally very pleasant. I definitely have to suggest to my friend Stuart, who is originally from Lincolnwood (a northside Chicago suburb) and a devoted Cubs fan that we take a break from the Old Chicago in Lakewood the next time we have lunch, go to Wrigley's instead, and catch part of a Cubs game. I will definitely make sure to wear my Chicago White Sox cap.

Watching The Cubs Avoid A Sweep At Coors Field With Susan And Mark

I went to Denver's Coors Field with my sister Susan and friend Mark, seen in the photograph on the left, yesterday afternoon to watch the final game of the series between the Chicago Cubs and Colorado Rockies. The Rockies took the first two games, and were hoping for a sweep of the series, but alas, it was not to be. They lost to the Cubs 9-3. Rockies starting pitcher Ryan Feltner set the Cubs down in order the first three innings, but in the 4th gave up two singles and a walk to load the bases and then a grand slam home run to Seiya Suzuki. Relief pitcher Blas Castano gave up a two-run homer to Alex Bregman in the 7th, and the damage was done.

The Cubs have been struggling a bit lately, going 3 and 7 over the past 10 games, and I suspect Cubs fans would not have been happy if they were swept by the team currently sporting the worst record in baseball. There were 35,128 in attendance at yesterday's game, and almost all of them were Cubs fans. Coor's Field is known as Wrigley Field West whenever the Cubs play the Rockies, to the great annoyance of the Rockies' manager Warren Schaeffer and Rockies players. But let's face it - well over half the population of Colorado are transplants, and many of them come from Chicago. What do you expect? At least they didn't play Steve Goodman's "Go, Cubs, Go" over the loudspeakers after the Cubs victory. Thank heaven for small favors. And yes, that is indeed the Cubs in the photograph on the right celebrating their win yesterday afternoon as they headed to the dugout and moved above .500 in the standings.

Big Changes Are Coming For The University Of Denver

Today is the last day of finals at the University of Denver, and graduation ceremonies take place this Friday and Saturday. Things seemed pretty normal as I walked across the campus yesterday afternoon, but big changes are coming. Earlier this spring DU announced that it was dealing with a 20-to-30-million-dollar budget shortfall. Much of this is due to reductions in the number of international students, the overall decline in the number of college age students, and the Trump administration's funding cuts. DU has stated that it will be able to balance the 2027 fiscal budget by reducing expenses and leaving vacant jobs unfilled. Plus, over the past two years, 10% of DU staff and faculty have accepted buyouts as the university has cut staff. DU has gone from an enrollment of 14,130 in the fall of 2021 to 11,499 in the fall of 2025. And so yesterday, in order to deal with this trend, DU announced that there will be a major academic restructuring that will involve closing and merging departments and closing schools. This will, of course, result in more jobs being eliminated, but DU did not give out any specifics.

I take a special interest in all of this because I worked as the Finance Manager at the DU Bookstore for almost 30 years before the store was outsourced to Follett Higher Education Group and all bookstore staff were laid off. In my case, I "retired," but with the same result. It now appears quite a few DU employees will be experiencing the same fate. Of course, this financial crisis has not stopped DU from buying The Cable Center, a cable museum and event space located on campus, for 19.5 million, and constructing the STEM Horizon Building, an 80,000 square foot facility for 112 million. Private colleges and universities across the county are dealing with major challenges, and a recent survey has predicted that 442 out of the nation's 1,700 private institutions could close in the next decade. However, Chancellor Jeremy Haefner has stated that DU is not in that group in trouble of surviving, since it has an endowment of around $1 billion. Not much comfort for those who will be going through what Haefner calls "some rightsizing of our employees." And by the way, I took the photograph above of Driscoll South, where the DU Bookstore is located and I spent those nearly 30 years, from directly across the street in the University of Denver Community Commons, which became fully operational in 2021 and cost $54 million. 

Beholding A Bevy Of Beautiful Bison At Genesee Park

I was driving past Genesee Park on Interstate 70 a few days ago, about 20 miles west of Denver, and noticed that the buffalo herd managed by Denver Parks and Recreation was out and about and very close to the fence that surrounds them, as seen in the photograph above, making for a perfect opportunity to take a few photographs. Denver maintains two bison herds, one at Genesee Park and the other at Daniel's Park in Sedalia, south of the city near Castle Pines, Colorado. These herds are descendants of the last wild bison in North America. When Europeans first arrived in North America, there were 30 million bison, but by the 1880s they had been nearly wiped out. By the beginning of the 20th century, there were only about 1,000 left. To try and save the species, a herd was established in 1908 at Denver's City Park by the Denver Zoo and the City of Denver.

The 18 bison at the Denver Zoo in 1908 were all that remained in Colorado. They were moved to Genesee Park, operated by Denver Mountain Parks, in 1914, and a second herd was established at Daniel's Park in 1938. Happily, there are now estimated to be 500,000 bison in North America today. Beginning in April 2021, the City and County of Denver began donating surplus bison to the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Tribes in order to help return wild bison to their native homes and tribal lands. While I was at Genesee Park, I noticed that there were a fair number of calves there, helping to increase the herd's numbers, such as the two in the photograph on the left.

As you can imagine, I was not the only person who was there observing the herd. When I drove into the parking lot, I saw a large number of children around a picnic table, who turned out to be part of an outing sponsored by the Denver Mountain Parks Foundation, getting ready to view the bison. And as I was walking back up the trail to the car, a large group of tourists passed me by, also heading to view the bison. There were three vans from three different sightseeing companies in the parking lot as I was leaving, which means tourist season is now in full swing in Colorado. And by the way, it was only this year that I discovered how to get to this particular bison viewing area. After passing by what looked like a road leading to a parking lot near the bison compound over a period of months as I drove west on I-70, I finally got off at the Chief Hosa exit, turned left onto Genesee Drive, took another left on Genesee Lane, and drove one mile to the parking lot and the Patrick House Trailhead, which is where the buffalo - I mean bison - roam. Of course, bison are native to North America, while buffalo are native to Africa. The song Home Home on the Range should go "Oh, give me a home where the bison roam," not buffalo. I would talk to someone about this, but have no idea who to contact.

The June Mutt Of The Month

I took the photograph above of the June Mutt of the Month up in Boulder, Colorado a few weeks ago. It was standing on a corner a block north of the Pearl Street Mall, waiting to cross the street with its owner. And as you can see, it was more than happy to pose for a portrait, smiling happily for the camera. And why not? It lives in Boulder, after all, a veritable paradise for both people and animals. Speaking of the Pearl Street Mall, I always find it amusing to see so many dogs there, despite the "no paws on the bricks" signs all over the place. Boulder has a reputation of being a very laid-back kind of town, and as far as I can tell, nobody seems to mind well-behaved dogs being on the mall, which is the heart of the downtown area, not even the police. Which is fine with me, just as long as those mutts are willing to have their photographs taken. Fair is fair, after all. Otherwise, I might just have to file a complaint.