The Day Of The Dead, The People's Fair, And The Taste of Colorado

I went down to Civic Center Park in Denver this past Saturday afternoon to check out the Day of the Dead Festival that was taking place there. And I must say, I was very impressed with the size of the crowd, as seen in the photograph on the left. Of course, the fact that it was sunny and close to 70 degrees helped, too. The festival and a parade were originally scheduled for the previous Saturday, but snow and freezing temperatures forced a postponement. The parade was canceled, but the festival went on without a hitch a week later. 

There were booths selling food and merchandise, as well as various services of interest to the community (after all, who doesn't dream of replacing their windows?), and there were two stages for music, as well as other creative presentations. The focus, of course, was on Mexican and Hispanic culture, but it did remind me of when the People's Fair and the Taste of Colorado took place in this very same park, the People's Fair in June and the Taste of Colorado on Labor Day weekend. The People's Fair was run by NEWSED (North West Side Economic Development), a non-profit organization helping underserved populations in the Denver area. They ran the People's Fair for years, and it was very popular, the first big event of the summer. Then NEWSED decided to buy a Victorian Mansion along Cheesman Park to house their headquarters, and sold the rights to the People's Fair to a for-profit company to fund the purchase. And after just a few years, when they didn't make a profit, they ended it for good.

The Taste of Colorado was run by the city, and was the last major festival of the summer. In addition to many, many food booths, it also featured several stages with musical groups such as Johnny Rivers, Creedence Clearwater Revival (minus John Fogerty) and many others. Then, this past summer, the city decided to skip the big festival over Labor Day Weekend and sponsor a number of scaled down Taste of Colorados, which took place on nearby, closed off streets. Whoop de doo. I still don't know why the city did that. Budget concerns, crowd control issues, a hatred of large, joyous celebrations? In any case, the Day of the Dead Festival was indeed very nice, and a pleasant way to spend a few hours. And who knows - maybe the City of Denver will be inspired to bring back some of the other festivals that have gone by the wayside over the years. And maybe I will win the Powerball Lottery the next time it hits a billion dollars. You just never know, right?