Colorado’s two largest newspapers and Elitch Gardens will host the biggest party of the 2008 Democratic National Convention, officials announced today.
“This is going to be one of the biggest events ever in the city of Denver,” Host Committee President Elbra Wedgeworth said.
The Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News, through the Denver Newspaper Agency, will pay to host the so-called media party and will invite the 15,000 members of the media, the more than 6,000 delegates and alternates, and assorted Democratic VIPs.
Partygoers will be treated to Colorado and southwest cuisine as well as cotton candy and snow cones at the amusement park, said Joe Martinez, general manager of Elitch’s.
“We’re going to have world-class entertainment,” he said. Committees are still working on booking top performers, he said.
Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper was among those at the news conference held at Elitch Gardens to announce the plans for what is being called “the official opening party to this summer’s Democratic National Convention.”
The party is a chance for the city to showcase itself to the media covering the convention. A similar one took place at Elitch’s 100 years ago when the Democrats last had their convention in Denver.
In 1908 Denver was a much different town, when you could “shack up” at the Brown Palace Hotel for $1.50 a night and a soft drink cost a nickel, Hickenlooper said.
Held on the Saturday night before the Aug. 25-28 convention, the party kicks off a week of reveling. Denver’s host committee is responsible for arranging the fete, as well as parties for the delegations. Private parties also will abound. In all, more than 1,500 parties, large and small, are expected in and around convention week, but none approaching the scale of the media party.
The Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News operate under a joint operating agreement through the Denver Newspaper Agency, though their newsrooms and editorial boards are separate and competitive.
