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Colorado,
Social Profile
Food & Drink: Local specialities include fresh rainbow trout, buffalo and elk steaks and Mexican dishes. There are also restaurants offering Southeast Asian cuisine, innovative New Southwestern cuisine and international cuisines in every price range. For a distinctly Colorado-style meal, visit one of the many small breweries and brew pubs in Denver, Boulder and many mountain towns, which offer freshly brewed local beer and delicious food.
Colorado brews more beer than any other State in the USA. Many of the 30 locally brewed beers on tap in Denver are not available in any other city, while the internationally known Coors beer offers free tours around its brewery, the largest-single brewing facility in the world. Minimum legal drinking age is 21 and ID may be requested in order to purchase or consume alcohol. Bars stop serving alcohol at 0200.
Nightlife: The Denver Performing Arts Complex houses seven theatres including the Boettcher Concert Hall. Among the other varied entertainments in the city, there are smaller venues staging theatre, popular music, jazz, dance, comedy and country & western music. For detailed information on scheduled events, visitors can consult The Denver Post or the Rocky Mountain News. Many of the ski resorts, notably Aspen and Vail, have countless restaurants, bars and other après-ski diversions.
Shopping: Denver offers extensive shopping facilities. Cherry Creek Shopping Center, the Denver Pavillions (located on 16th Street Mall), Park Meadows Center (the first shopping centre in the USA that resembles a beautiful mountain lodge) and Larimer Square all offer a pleasant shopping environment. Denver now has three factory outlet shopping centres: Castle Rock (situated 20 minutes south of Denver), Silverthorne in Summit County and Rocky Mountain Factory Outlets at Loveland. The Colorado Mills complex is located in Lakewood, near Denver, and has been described as ‘Disneyland meets outlet mall’. Aspen in the Rocky Mountains has an unsurpassed range of shops and upmarket boutiques selling top designer lines. Special buys in Colorado include gold earrings and necklaces, Native American jewellery, Navajo rugs, and handicrafts such as pottery, wind chimes and wildlife sculptures.
Sport: Colorado truly is a year-round paradise for the sports enthusiast. The Rocky Mountains offer unparalleled skiing in winter, as well as every other form of winter sport, while the mountain landscape offers summer sports, including whitewater rafting, hiking, mountain biking, horseriding, fishing, golf, tennis and more. Popular spectator sports include American football, football, basketball, hockey and baseball – Denver has teams in all of the five professional leagues. The Colorado Rockies play at Coors Field, the NBA Denver Nuggets and NHL Colorado Avalanche are both resident at the 20,000-seat Pepsi Center, while the NFL Denver Broncos play at the INVESCO Field at Mile High.
Special Events: The following is a selection of special events occurring in Colorado in 2005:
Jan 8-23 National Western Stock Show and Rodeo, Denver. Jan 21-23
Boulder Bach Festival. Feb 5-8 Mardi Gras, Vail. Feb 6
34th Annual Frisco Gold Rush. Mar 12 St Patrick’s Day Parade, Leadville and Denver. Apr 21-23 UNC/Greeley Jazz Festival, Greeley. May 1-31 Boulder Creek Festival, Boulder. May 2-7 Cinco de Mayo (celebration of Hispanic heritage and culture), Greeley. May 4-5 Cinco de Mayo, Denver. May 28-30
Territory Days, Colorado Springs. Jun 1-12 North Fork Valley Bluegrass Festival, Hotchkiss. Jun 10-11
Colorado State Square Dance Festival, Greeley. Jun 11-12
Global Groove World Music Festival, Denver. Jun 16-19
Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Lyons. Jun 17-19
Gaelic Highland Festival, Canon City. Jun 25-26 Annual Colorado Brewers Festival, Fort Collins. Jun 25-27
Denver International Busker Festival. Jul 2-4 Cherry Creek Arts Festival, Denver. Jul 9-10 AT&T Lo Do Music Festival, Denver. Jul 9-11
Rocky Mountain High, Denver; 11th Annual Colorado Irish Festival, Denver. Jul 29-30
Royal Gorge Weekende, Canon City. Jul 29-31
Rocky Grass Festival, Lyons. Sep 11
Chili & Frijole Festival, Pueblo. Oct 1-31
Starz Denver International Film Festival.
Note: The ski resorts all hold their own individual festivals during the winter season, including season opening and closing celebrations, Christmas markets, competition events, carnivals and torchlight parades.
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