The Ritter Express is getting ready to roll with a $750,000 inauguration extravaganza that will take Gov.-elect Bill Ritter around the state.
Ritter announced Tuesday that the festivities will begin on Jan. 9 – the day he’s sworn in as Colorado’s 41st governor – with coffee, cookies and hot chocolate in the Capitol rotunda.
The following Saturday, Jan. 13, Ritter will make a whistle- stop train tour of the Front Range, starting in Greeley and concluding in Pueblo with a spaghetti dinner.
The party will extend through Jan. 20-21 when Ritter will bop around the state by airplane.
“We have a lot of work to do once we take office, but first let’s have a little fun,” Ritter said in a prepared statement announcing the inaugural plans.
An inaugural dinner and concert is scheduled for Jan. 12 at the Colorado Convention Center.
The inaugural events are being coordinated by a special nonprofit venture that will be able to collect donations that exceed the $50 annual gift limit imposed by the recently approved Amendment 41. The amendment limits gifts to state officials.
The inauguration committee – headed by Denver lawyer Frances Koncilja and by Level 3 Communications chief executive James Crowe – is soliciting sponsorships to help defray the cost of the event.
Corporate sponsorships are available for $10,000 and $20,000 contributions. Individual sponsorships are available for $2,500.
Individual tickets to the Jan. 12 dinner are $60 and tickets to the concert will be $20. The performer has not been announced. Tickets for the train ride will cost $300.
The public is invited to attend the events and can find ticket information at www.colorado promise.org.
Staff writer Mark P. Couch can be reached at 303-954-1794 or mcouch@denverpost.com.
