Veny Musumecci enjoys heating metal to 1600 degrees, pounding it with a hammer on a base, then shaping it into hinges, nails or hoof picks.
The blacksmith has been giving demonstrations of the 1800s craft for four years at A Taste of Colorado.
“I like to talk metal,” Musumecci said Saturday during the 25th anniversary of the Denver Civic Center event, which unofficially marks the end of summer.
A Taste of Colorado began in 1895 in Denver and was first named the Festival of Mountain and Plain. The carnival was created to boost city dwellers’ spirits after a silver crash.
In 1902, because of declining attendance, the festival fizzled out but was revived in 1983 by the Downtown Denver Partnership to celebrate the opening of the 16th Street Mall. It was renamed A Taste of Colorado.
Twenty-five years ago, the first Taste featured three stages, 45 vendors and 30 restaurants. Today, there are seven stages, 250 vendors and 50 restaurants.
Usually, the festival has no competition, but this year’s Democratic National Convention, which drew thousands of people to downtown last week, delayed the opening by a couple of hours.
“We were pleasantly surprised with the crowd last night,” spokeswoman Patty Johnson said of the people who gathered Friday to watch a concert by Little Feat.
Today’s headliners are Herman’s Hermits with Peter Noone and The Fabulous Thunderbirds. On Monday, Heidi Newfield and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy perform.
This year’s festival features gold panning, a fossil hunt for families, a live raptor, jugglers, clowns and a ventriloquist for children.
But one of the most popular draws is food, and lots of it — from gourmet rigatoni alla Bolognese and grilled salmon with peach sauce to fried alligator, pickles and plantains to gyros, Indian kheer (pudding), burritos and veggie dogs.
Yunn Pann was born in Shanghai, China, but raised in Denver. She has participated in A Taste of Colorado for seven years. Her Chinese calligraphy enchanted Melissa Colebank, 10, who was visiting from Montrose and admiring a slip of paper that had her name written in Chinese.
“It’s really, really cool,” Melissa said.
If you want to go
A Taste of Colorado began Friday and runs through Monday. Hours today are 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Monday the festival runs from 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. There is no entrance fee, but the food ticket price is 8 tickets for $5 (cash only).
