A sun-baked throng packed Denver’s Civic Center on Sunday for A Taste of Colorado, the 22nd annual celebration of the Centennial State’s foods, music, crafts and cultures.
Mid-summer temperatures left many crowded under the mature shade trees that dot the expansive lawn.
But not Destiny Foster.
The 6-year-old, her eyes bright with adrenaline, spent a good 10 minutes tethered to a pair of bungee cords soaring off a trampoline.
Destiny had the one-and-a-half back flip down pat. The front flip was another matter.
“Those are hard,” she said, still slightly out of breath. “It’s hard putting your feet over your head.”
Back flips, blacksmiths, baby-back ribs – A Taste of Colorado had it all.
As of late afternoon, an estimated 175,000 visited the festival Sunday, putting it on pace to match last summer’s weekend total of 500,000, said festival marketing director Patty Johnson.
“We work on this all year,” Johnson said, as she took refuge under one of the many tents propped up across the Civic Center. “But what it all comes down to is the weather.”
And sunny weather means big business for soda, beer and ice cream stands.
“The heat slows things down,” said a sweaty Sally Rock, as she grilled up another cheesesteak from the Philadelphia Filly. “But we’ll still sell over 1 ton of steak.”
Not all was frivolity. Over on Lincoln Street, a chunk of rusty girder salvaged from the World Trade Center offered a solemn reminder of the country’s travails.
“A lot of people have come by to say they knew someone who was in or near the towers that day,” said Pam Kutchen, an information officer with the North Metro Fire District.
The girder, part of the Healing Fields display, also can be seen against a sea of flags next Sunday through Sept. 18 in Broomfield.
Staff writer Theo Stein can be reached at 303-820-1657 or tstein@denverpost.com.
