Denver Oktoberfest Is Here!

Yesterday afternoon my sister Susan and I visited Denver Oktoberfest, which takes place on Upper Larimer Street in the Ballpark neighborhood, just a few blocks from Coors Field. This neighborhood is hipster central, and so there is always a huge turnout of 20-somethings for this event, most of them carrying huge steins of beer with them. This festival features stein hoisting, keg bowling, music, and, of course, lots of food and drink. There were two stages, one at the festival's entrance on 20th Street, where a stein hosting contest was going on, and the other at the upper end of the festival at 22nd Street, which was featuring music. Rap music, to be precise. One would expect traditional German music at Oktoberfest, but then again, considering the younger crowd in attendance, I suppose festival organizers felt rap music would be better suited to hipsters than accordion music.

While we were there, a stein hoisting contest was taking place with a group that were all wearing Lederhosen and those funky looking German hats, as seen in the photograph on the right. The MC kept telling everyone that if you dropped your steins, you would have to clean up the mess yourself. I had to wonder if there might have been some ugly stein hoisting incident the previous evening or something. There were a surprising number of people walking around together wearing Lederhosen and Dirndls, and I saw one group dressed like the ones in the photograph trying to get into Scruffy Murphy's Irish Pub with full steins of beer. The bouncer told them the steins had to be empty to enter the bar, and so one of them suggested having a chugging contest at the entrance so they could get in. We didn't wait around to see who the winner was.

And yes, there was indeed a stand selling that hallmark of traditional German cuisine, Das Turkey Legs. I like to joke that all the unsold turkey legs from the previous year are defrosted in the spring and then refroze and defrosted throughout the summer for each festival, ending the cycle during the various Oktoberfests, with the remainder refrozen until next year. Of course, I know they really wouldn't do that, right? Right? In any case, it was fun to walk around, do some peoplewatching, and take in the festival. And for all of you Oktoberfest fans out there, the Denver Oktoberfest continues today through 6:00 P.M. and next Friday through Sunday, too. Be there or be square, as we hipsters say.

Friday Afternoon At Chautauqua

I spent some time up in Boulder yesterday afternoon and made a stop at Chatauqua Park, one of my favorite places in Colorado. It was threatening rain, but that did not seem to stop the intrepid locals from heading up the trail into the Flatirons, as seen in the photograph on the left. I myself would have chosen a sunnier day, but Boulder is known for its hearty outdoor types, who would no doubt shrug off a few raindrops. I hiked those trails many years ago and really enjoyed it. You wind around the back of the sheer face and when you get to the top have a spectacular view of Boulder. Definitely worth the effort.

I passed by the Chautauqua Dining Hall and noticed a fair number of people still having lunch on the outdoor patio, as seen in the photograph on the right. Boulder's Chautauqua was constructed in 1898 with the assistance of Boulder City leaders, the Gulf and Southern Railway, and Texas Regents to create a teacher's school along with a Chautauqua. It consists of a dining hall, an auditorium, and cottages and lodges for students and short-term visitors. All of the original structures are still in use today. I fondly remember having Sunday brunch at the Dining Hall a number of times with my brother-in-law George, sister Susan, and our mother Mary. Having breakfast on that patio with that wonderful view is a great experience.

The General Store in the photograph on the left is a relatively new addition. As for the auditorium, it still hosts many concerts and events. I remember attending a Peter Kater concert there one night with Susan and my mother. The acoustics are truly wonderful. I think my mother used a transit chair to get around at the time, and they put us in the front row, which made for a really wonderful experience. The cottages were originally just for summer residents, but over the years they have been winterized for year-round use and can still be rented by the public. Plus, if you do stay there, it is only a 15-minute walk to Boulder's Pearl Street Mall, filled with restaurants, bars, shops, and performances by various buskers and musicians. I would especially recommend a Friday or Saturday afternoon hiking the Flatirons, and a visit to a very lively Pearl Street Mall in the evening. Tell them I sent you.

The September Mutts Of The Month

I took the photograph above of the September Mutts of the Month at Oktoberfest on South Pearl Street here in Denver this past weekend. I saw them walking up and down the street with their owner several times but was only able to get a shot of both of them as I was leaving the festival. One of them is a service dog. At least it was wearing a service dog vest. I know some people try to sneak their pets into grocery stores or onto airplanes with fake vests, such as the person who tried to take their service kangaroo onto a plane (which sadly didn't work). I think that happened in Australia, where I imagine kangaroo pets are not unusual, but I don't intend to fly 17 hours to Sydney just to find out. In any case, I have no reason to suspect that that particular dog was not a service dog, and both seemed well-trained and friendly. And not a kangaroo in sight.

Big News! In-N-Out Burger Is Coming To South Denver!

I read in the Denver Post several weeks ago that In-N-Out Burger is planning to put 2 new locations in Denver - one near Denver International Airport, located not too far from the Kansas State Line, and the other at 1470 South Colorado Boulevard, just a mile or so away from my condo across the street from the University of Denver. That is big news. I have tried In-N-Out Burger only once, when I spent a long weekend in San Francisco right before the DU Bookstore, where I worked as Finance Manager, was outsourced to Follett Higher Education Group (and don't get me started on this). In any case, I was walking around Fisherman's Wharf, about to walk to the Golden Gate Bridge, and noticed an In-N-Out Burger. I had heard about them mainly through Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch novels. Sometimes, when on stakeout, Connelly's fictional LA police detective would stop first at an In-N-Out Burger to fortify him for the long night ahead. And so, I stopped there for lunch, and the burger was great. In-N-Out expanded to Colorado in 2020, and now has 15 locations in the state, although none anywhere near South Denver. The hamburgers might be great, but I have never wanted to make a long drive just to eat at a fast-food restaurant. But now they are coming to the neighborhood! They are only at the permitting stage right now, but plan to put their new Colorado Boulevard In-N-Out Burger on the site of a former Arby's and Black-Eyed Pea, seen in the photograph above. And I can't wait to try their "double double." Which will probably be in 2028 or so, but what the hell. I've waited this long, after all.

Talking Baseball With Stuart At The Old Chicago In Lakewood...

I got together for lunch yesterday afternoon with my friend Stuart, seen in the photograph above, at the Old Chicago Pizza and Taproom in Lakewood, Colorado, a rather ugly suburb just to the west of Denver. And after discussing a number of topics, the conversation turned to baseball. My South Side heroes, the Chicago White Sox, have not been having a good September, and are 3 and 7 over their last 10 games. They have been in first place in the American League Central Division all year, but as of today are only 1/2 game in front of the Cleveland Guardians. With a mere 12 days left in the season, Stuart and I agreed that they have to turn things around quickly or their playoffs dreams will go up in smoke. But I did have to mention that no matter what happens, the White Sox have had a great year with many promising rookies on the roster, and their future looks bright. As for their North Side rivals, the Chicago Cubs, which is Stuart's team, they still have a good chance of making the playoffs, although how far they go in the post-season is a big question mark. I know Stuart isn't putting down any big bets on them winning it all. Over the past 9 seasons, the Cubs have made the playoffs 4 times, winning a total of 2 series. As for our adopted hometown team, the Colorado Rockies, they have gone 2 and 8 over their past 10 games, and their single goal this season was not to lose 100 games for the 4th time in a row. They currently have a record of 56 and 95, with 11 more games to play. So much for that goal. And as for my South Side heroes, the White Sox, miracles do happen, right? Perhaps someone should e-mail Pope Leo to ask for a little help.

The Fall Quarter Has Begun At The University Of Denver

Classes at the University of Denver began last Tuesday, the day after Labor Day. Last year, I stopped by the DU Bookstore - where I worked for almost 30 years - on the first day of classes to see what it was like these days and was shocked to find only 2 employees at the cash registers and maybe 3 customers on the sales floor. Back in 2012, the last time I ever worked the first day of fall classes, the bookstore was jampacked with students. We had 8 cash registers going the entire day, and lines went halfway to the back wall. I took the photograph on the left yesterday morning, the second week of school, and the scene was more or less the same as last year. And how did this business change so much in 15 years? As far as I can tell, most students now get their textbooks via what is called a "course-by-course" access program, where the bookstore, campus, and publishers sign an agreement to provide textbooks on or before the first day of classes, and the materials are delivered digitally via a "campus learning management system." No need for bookstores to hire extra help to receive physical textbooks or temporary cashiers to ring up all those sales. And so, yesterday there were just two employees to ring up a handful of sales. An entire industry turned upside down, just like daily newspapers, network television, monthly or weekly magazines, and countless others, thanks to this new digital age.

Except for the new student center that replaced the old one on the north side of the Driscoll Center, the new freshman dorm (which the university insists on calling student housing), and a new science building on the south side of campus, everything looks pretty much the same at DU, as does the walk from the Driscoll Center back to my condo. And as usual, I passed by students heading to lunch or their next class, as seen in the photograph on the right. Of course, there are far fewer of them these days, thanks to the shrinking pool of college age students, fewer high school graduates moving on to college, and smaller numbers of international students, thanks to Trump administration policies. DU's administration, which had to deal with a $30 million budget shortfall last fiscal year, has combined divisions and departments and laid off faculty and staff to deal with this new reality. Time will tell if it is enough. Hopefully it is. After all, I live across the street from DU. God knows what would replace it if it went away. A maximum-security prison, an AI data center, the new home of a strange and mysterious religious cult? It just boggles the mind.

Oktoberfest On South Pearl Street

Oktoberfest celebrations began this past Saturday here in Denver, including both the Highlands Oktoberfest and Oktoberfest on South Pearl Street in the Platt Park neighborhood. I attended both festivals last September but only had time to attend one this year. The Highlands Oktoberfest takes place over a 4 or 5-block section of West 32nd Avenue in that popular neighborhood, and is always fun, while Oktoberfest on South Pearl is on a single block, but well attended and very lively. Since South Pearl Street is only a mile or so away from my condo across the street from the University of Denver, I decided to head there, and really enjoyed it. I noticed last year that many of the people attending were wearing traditional costumes, and it was the same this year, too, as seen in the photograph on the left.

Oktoberfest on South Pearl is sponsored by Platt Park Brewing, which is located on that block, and there were over 10 local craft breweries represented there this year. Not surprisingly, that was where the majority of visitors were hanging out. There was also live music, stein hoisting contests throughout the day, brat eating contests, not to mention costume contests, too, which probably explains so many people wearing lederhosen and dirndls. I took the photograph on the right of the men's brat eating contest (there was a women's contest right afterwards). There was quite a crowd surrounding the event, and so I wound up having to stand in the back, hold the camera up high, and hope for the best. Which turned out to work just fine.

My only complaint was that the music, at least when I was there, was all rock and roll, instead of more traditional German melodies. This is also true of the Oktoberfest on Larimer Street in Denver's Ballpark neighborhood, which will take place the next two weekends. The only Oktoberfest that seems to have exclusively traditional German music is Breckenridge Oktoberfest, which takes place this year September 25th through 27th. However, I was happy to see that Oktoberfest on South Pearl did host some traditional German dancing, which was very nice, even if the music they danced to was recorded and not live. All in all, a fun event to attend. With more to come in the next few weeks.