Apollo Hall opened quickly after the city's founding in 1859 and staged many plays for eager settlers. In the 1880s Horace Tabor built Denver's first Opera House. After the start of the 20th century, city leaders embarked on a city beautification program that created many of the city's parks, parkways, museums, and the Municipal Auditorium, which was home to the 1908 Democratic National Convention and is now known as the Ellie Caulkins Opera House. Denver and the metropolitan areas around it continued to support culture. In 1988, voters in the Denver Metropolitan Area approved the Scientific and Cultural Facilities Tax (commonly known as SCFD), a 1 cent sales tax that contributes money to various cultural and scientific facilities and organizations throughout the Metro area. The tax was renewed by voters in 1994 and 2004 and allows the SCFD to operate until 2018.
Denver is home to many nationally recognized museums, including a new wing for the Denver Art Museum by world-renowned architect Daniel Libeskind, the second largest Performing arts center in the nation after Lincoln Center in New York City and bustling neighborhoods such as LoDo, filled with art galleries, restaurants, bars and clubs. That is part of the reason why Denver was recently recognized for the third year in a row as the best city for singles. Denver's neighborhoods also continue their influx of diverse people and businesses while the city's cultural institutions grow and prosper. The city acquired the estate of abstract expressionist painter Clyfford Still in 2004 and plans to build a museum to exhibit his works near the Denver Art Museum by 2010. The Denver Museum of Nature and Science currently holds an aquamarine specimen valued at over one million dollars, as well as specimens of the state mineral, rhodochrosite. Every September the Colorado Convention Center at 451 E. 58th Avenue hosts a gem and mineral show.
The Santa Fe Arts District on Santa Fe Drive Sakura Square in downtown DenverWhile Denver may not be as recognized for historical musical prominence as some other American cities, it still manages to have a very active pop, jazz, jam, folk, and classical music scene, which has nurtured several artists and genres to regional, national, and even international attention. Of particular note is Denver's importance in the folk scene of the 1960s and 1970s. Well-known folk artists such as Bob Dylan, Judy Collins and John Denver lived in Denver at various points during this time, and performed at local clubs. Also, three members of the widely popular group Earth, Wind, and Fire are from Denver. More recent Denver-based artists include The Lumineers, Air Dubai, The Fray, Flobots, Cephalic Carnage, Axe Murder Boyz, Deuce Mob, and Five Iron Frenzy.
Because of its proximity to the mountains, and generally sunny weather, Denver has gained a reputation as being a very active, outdoor oriented city. Many Denver residents spend the weekends in the mountains; either skiing in the winter or hiking, climbing, kayaking and camping in the summer.
Additionally, Denver and the surrounding cities of the Front Range are home to a large number of local and national breweries. Many restaurants in the region have on-site breweries, and some of the larger brewers, including Coors and the New Belgium Brewing Company, offer tours. Overall, Denver ranks 1st in the nation in terms of beer production per capita, and second overall in terms of number of breweries. The city also welcomes visitors from around the world when it hosts the annual Great American Beer Festival each fall.
Denver used to be a major trading center for beef and livestock when ranchers would drive (or later transport) cattle to the Denver Union Stockyards for sale. As a celebration of that history, each year for more than a century, Denver hosts the National Western Stock Show, attracting as many as 10,000 animals and 700,000 attendees. The National Western Stock Show is held every January at the National Western Complex, northeast of downtown.
Denver hosts four large Mexican American celebrations: Cinco de Mayo (with over 500,000 attendees), in May, El Grito de la Independencia, in September, the annual Lowrider show, and the Dia De Los Muertos art shows/events in North Denver's Highland neighborhood, and the Lincoln Park neighborhood in the original section of West Denver.
Denver is also famous for its dedication to New Mexican cuisine and the Chile. It's best known for its Green and Red Chile sauce, Colorado Burrito, Southwest (Denver) Omelette, Breakfast Burrito, Chiles rellenos, and Tamales most notably. Denver has a very large population of Mexican Americans (one of the country's largest), and is famous for many other southwest cuisine dishes as well. Denver is also well known for other types of food such as, Rocky Mountain oysters, Rainbow trout, and the Denver sandwich.
The Dragon Boat Festival in July, Moon Festival in September and Chinese New Year are annual events in Denver for the Chinese and Asian residents. Chinese hot pot (huo guo) and Korean BBQ restaurants have been growing in popularity. The Denver area has 2 Chinese newspapers, the Chinese American Post and the Colorado Chinese News.
Denver is also the setting for The Bill Engvall Show, and the setting for the 18th season of MTV's The Real World. It was also the setting for the prime time drama Dynasty from 1981 to 1989 (although the show was mostly filmed in Los Angeles). From 1998 to 2002, the city's Alameda East Veterinary Hospital was home to the Animal Planet series Emergency Vets, which spun off three one-off documentary specials and the current Animal Planet series E-Vet Interns. The city is also the setting for the Disney Channel Original TV Show, Good Luck Charlie, which is currently in its third season.
Sports Main article: Sports in DenverDenver is home to a variety of sports teams and belongs to a select group of U.S. cities with teams from four major sports. Denver submitted the winning bid to host the 1976 Winter Olympics, but subsequently withdrew giving it the dubious distinction of being the only city to back out after winning a bid to host the Olympics. The Denver Broncos of the National Football League, who are currently coached by John Fox, have been able to draw crowds of nearly 70,000 since their American Football League origins in the early 1960s and continue to draw fans today to their current home Sports Authority Field at Mile High. The team has advanced to the Super Bowl six times and won back-to-back titles in 1998 and '99. The Broncos are owned by Pat Bowlen. In the 1980s and 1990s, one of the top priorities of former Mayor Federico Peña was bringing major league baseball to the city, an effort which culminated in the creation of the Colorado Rockies as an expansion franchise in 1993 and the opening of Coors Field in 1995. The Rockies advanced to the playoffs in 1995, but were eliminated in the first round. In 2007, their late-season winning streak saw them advance to the playoffs as a wild-card entrant, advance to and win the NL Championship Series and bring the World Series to Denver for the first time. Denver is also home to the Colorado Avalanche, a National Hockey League team that relocated from Quebec City in 1995. They have won two Stanley Cups (1996 and 2001) while in Denver and play at Pepsi Center, which also hosts the Denver Nuggets of the National Basketball Association, and the Colorado Mammoth of the National Lacrosse League. The Major League Soccer team Colorado Rapids play in Dick's Sporting Goods Park, an 18,000 seat stadium opened for the 2007 MLS season, located in Commerce City, a suburb of Denver. and won the MLS Cup in 2010. In 2006 Denver established a professional outdoor lacrosse team, the Denver Outlaws. They play in Sports Authority Field at Mile High and are sanctioned by Major League Lacrosse. In 2006, The Denver Outlaws won the Western Conference Championship.
Current sporting venues in the Denver metropolitan areaSports Authority Field at Mile High
Coors Field
Pepsi Center
Dick's Sporting Goods Park
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