Colorado Fresh Markets
Cirque du Solei’s Corteo Coming To Pepsi Center August 15
by Mark Smiley
The latest Cirque du Solei show to come to Denver is Corteo, written and directed by Daniele Finzi Pasca. Corteo, which has been seen by eight million people around the world, tells the story of a clown picturing his own funeral, which takes place at a carnival and is witnessed by angels. Corteo, which means “cortege” in Italian, is a joyous procession, a festive parade imagined by a clown.
The show first premiered in 2005 under the big top in Montreal and has been since updated for arenas in March 2018, keeping the original story intact. The show features 51 performers, including acrobats, clowns, musicians and actors.
Cirque du Solei has been entertaining Colorado audiences since 1997. “We always have a great responsive audience there and we love to perform in a place where people react well and enjoy our shows and I think it adds a lot to the show,” said Max Batista, Tour Publicist for Cirque Corteo.
The stage has a unique setup as it will be set up in the center of the arena and audience members will be on either side with good sight views. Set Designer Jean Rabasse has divided the Grand Chapiteau and its rotating stage in two, with each half of the audience facing the other half, so they see not only the performance, but also have a performer’s eye view of the audience. There is one turntable built into the stage, which is about 41 feet long, and the track is almost 120 feet long.
This show also features six musicians and two singers who are on stage with the performers. Typically, musicians and singers are hidden from the audience but in Corteo, they are part of the show. “People can see us all during the show,” said Eve Willems who plays the accordion, guitar, and mandolin in Corteo.
The music accompanies the show and features different styles of music including Spanish and Irish. Willems, who submitted her video application to become a part of the show via Facebook, enjoys being part of Cirque. “At first for me it was to discover all the different talents and I was amazed to see all these people doing their tricks,” said Willems. “Now that we have started, I like traveling with all these people and make people dream and it’s really nice to be part of it.”
The show lasts two hours and 30 minutes (with a 20-minute intermission) and is packed with death defying feats fans have come to expect from Cirque shows.
Cirque du Solei’s Corteo arrives at the Pepsi Center on August 15, 2019, and runs through August 22, 2019. For tickets, visit www.cirquedusoleil.com/usa/denver/corteo/buy-tickets.
Gaylord Rockies: A Family Getaway Right Around The Corner
by Mark Smiley
With the rising costs of airline tickets and all of the expenses associated with traveling out of town, families are turning to more economical trips to get away from the mountain of laundry and the yard work. But what if you don’t want to spend seven hours in the car to take pictures of the largest ball of twine in the U.S.? Consider the Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center which is less than 30 minutes away from central Denver.
The Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center is near Denver International Airport and is a Marriott property that opened in December 2018. The 486,000 square feet of convention space makes it the largest combined resort and convention center in Colorado. It is the fifth Gaylord property to open with the others located in Washington D.C, Nashville, Orlando, and Dallas.
Even though this rustic resort focuses on the business traveler during the week, families are welcome as this hotel boasts 1,501 rooms including 114 suites. The rooms start at $249 per night which is a bargain considering you eliminate airfare and car rental expenses.
When you first walk into the resort, you will notice the Grand Lodges’ centerpiece, a 75-foot-tall (eight stories high) atrium window offering spectacular views of the Denver skyline framed by the Rocky Mountains.
Consider upgrading to VIP status as the check-in process is smooth and the “Celebrity Services” staff are able to make reservations at one of the eight restaurants with priority seating. The on-site restaurants serve steak and American, Asian and Italian fares.
This resort’s main attractions are the indoor and outdoor pools (which includes an infinity pool), an outdoor lazy river, and three water slides. This water park is spread out over 22,000 square-feet. The entire resort is situated on 85 acres of land so it never feels crowded. Guests can reserve a cabana if they want their own dedicated space. Or, they may snag a chair by the lazy river and relax.
Inside the Mountain Pass Sports Bar is a 75-foot viewing screen, the largest in the state. This screen plays cartoons on Saturday morning during the Character Breakfast. The breakfast features a buffet of breakfast foods and characters from the book, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland walking around to greet guests and pose for photographs. It is definitely worth it for the little ones.
Sticking with the Wonderland theme, there is an escape room which is fun for the entire family to experience. The “Hatter” gives clues while people work as a team to solve the clues and escape the room. It runs $14.99 per guest. The resort also features an arcade, miniature golf, bike rentals, pickleball, a market and more.
When you check in, be sure to ask about the free root beer floats that are served daily. The Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center is located at 6700 North Gaylord Rockies Boulevard. For more information about the resort or to make a reservation, visit www.gaylordhotels.com.
Culture Coming As Overhaul Begins On Inn At Cherry Creek
Czar Of Cherry Creek’s Conversion Into A NY Village Plans To Create $30 Million 18-Hour-A-Day Nightlife Hub
When Peter Weber built the Inn At Cherry Creek 15 years ago, it was the district’s boutique hotel. It opened on Clayton St. at about the same time the JW Marriott Denver at Cherry Creek opened a block south at 150 Clayton Lane. That was when Cherry Creek North was still home to mostly independently-owned boutique outdoor retail stores and dining destinations.
Then in 2014 the Denver City Council passed new zoning rules for the district that reduced parking requirements, lifted restrictions on building heights and allowed hotels in for the first time. Now most of the independent retailers and dining destinations are gone, replaced by expensive high-rise apartments and high-end New York retailers and restaurateurs. Three new hotels — the Halcyon, Moxy and Jacquard — have been added. Matt Joblon — CEO of BMC Investments and czar of the continuing massive Cherry Creek makeover — built the Halcyon and Moxy and has a 99-year ground lease on the Inn at Cherry Creek. The Halcyon and Moxy are both within half a mile of the Inn at Cherry Creek. BMC has developed or is in the process of developing more than $500 million in projects, all in Cherry Creek North.
The Inn at Cherry Creek continued to operate for a year, but Joblon has now begun a year-long renovation or more accurately a makeover and repositioning of the boutique site at 233 Clayton St. The existing building — a four-story property with 37 hotel rooms, three residences and three commercial spaces — is being gutted and 15,000-20,000-sq.-ft. of space added at an estimated cost of $30 million. The MBC project is a collaboration with hospitality and development industry veterans Aparium Hotel Group and CHMWarnick.
Adding Fifth Floor
The renovation is expected to include a partial fifth floor to the four-story hotel. The new space will be rebranded but fewer than a half-dozen rooms are expected to be added.
The Inn’s original restaurant — The Weber Grill — was shuttered by Joblon almost immediately after signing the 99-year lease. In its place Joblon has promised “a great new space” that will be much larger, serving three meals a day.
Joblon also plans to expand the hotel’s retail space. To do that he is bringing in a third party to do an “experimental type of retail that does not currently exist in Cherry Creek.” He has often referred to this pro-posed space as an “upscale bazaar” similar to the Denver Central Market. Or maybe something like the Greenwich Village Abingdon Square Greenmarket.
Getting Party Going
You may think that Cherry Creek nightlife is dead but don’t be fooled, Joblon plans to get the party going again at the renovated space. In fact he wants to transform the hotel and the street from an “eight-hour-a-day to an 18-hour-a-day community.”
That means the hotel will feature music, food and other amenities. “We want to do a project that is focused around the cultural part of Cherry Creek to really grow and expand that part of it … for both locals and people coming out and visiting,” Joblon says.
The renovated hotel’s nightlife — cocktail bars, music, entertainment and art — will be inside so the neighborhood won’t complain. Joblon originally planned for live music on the rooftop terrace at the Halcyon Hotel but the neighborhood association squashed the notion because of the hotel’s proximity to condos.
Culture Epicenter
He wants the new Inn at Cherry Creek to become its own thriving, diverse community. Meeting rooms and community areas are being designed into the hotel’s expansion. “The core of our vision is to create a place that becomes the cultural epicenter for this neighborhood.”
Think New York’s Greenwich Village or as New Yorkers call it, “The Village.” He wants the hotel and Clayton Street to become Cherry Creek’s bohemian capital, a spot with places like Greenwich Village’s Fat Cat and Café Wha? He dreams of the Clayton block becoming an updated and stylish version of Greenwich’s MacDougal St., where throngs flock to enjoy drinks, live music and meet up with friends.
He believes the hotel has incredible potential to be a destination in and of itself and thus help the neighborhood to thrive. He aims for the hotel to draw all types of people with all kinds of stories. “That’s what I think is going to make this place really special. Not to mention very, very different.”
Marriage Of Money
The 30-something Joblon grew up in the Boston area — his family owns Brittany Global Technologies — and moved to LA to work for an individual real estate investor. That’s where he met his future wife Alissa Alpert, daughter of Lee Alpert who has developed more than 44,000 acres of Denver real estate. Joblon moved here in 2010, married Alissa and met Darren Everett who at the time was VP of Operations for the Alpert Companies. Everett is a founding partner of BMC Investments and President of BMC’s property management affiliate, BLDG Management.
Greenwich Village’s Fat Cat.
Soon after moving here — Joblon lives in Cherry Hills Village but has offices in a Cherry Creek building he built at 2nd Ave. and Detroit — he began building a relationship with the Inn at Cherry Creek owner Peter Weber. He says he wanted to make sure that another party didn’t beat BMC to the deal and create a brand that would compete with his nearby hotels. Earlier this year, of course, BMC sold the Halcyon Hotel to Ohio-based Rockbridge Capital for $93 million.
The rebranded Inn at Cherry Creek will still face the same problems as the other two hotels: attracting hospitality and retail workers! Why? Cherry Creek North’s expensive parking and relative lack of public transportation.
Funeral Services Held For Joan Birkland One Of Colorado’s Greatest Female Athletes
by Charles Bonniwell
Funeral services were held for Joan Packard Birkland who passed away on June 15, 2019. She was described as one of the greatest (if not the greatest) female athletes in the history of the State of Colorado. She was inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame, Colorado Women’s Sports Hall of Fame and the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame. The Joan Birkland Pavilion at the Gates Tennis Center in Denver, headquarters of USTA Colorado, is named in her honor.
She was born on August 17, 1928, in Denver to well-known surgeon Dr. George Packard and his wife. She was one of three sisters. With no organized sports for girls she played baseball, football, basketball and tennis with other children (mostly boys) at City Park near her home. After graduating from East High School she went on to the University of Colorado in Boulder where she met Ormand Birkland Jr., whom she married in 1948. The marriage lasted over 50 years until his death in 1999.
The marriage, by all accounts, was a happy one, notwithstanding (or perhaps because of) the fact Ormand was every bit as mediocre in sports as she was outstanding. She took up golf as it was the one sport he played and she was soon regularly beating him. She joined an AAU basketball team (the Denver Viners) while at the University of Colorado where she played with tennis great Phyllis Lockwood. They became an almost unbeatable women’s tennis doubles team in Colorado. She competed on the Denver Vipers team for eight years, becoming honorable mention All-American in the sport of basketball.
The Birklands joined the Denver Country Club (DCC) in 1953 and she began to concentrate her athletic endeavors on golf and tennis. She described her activities at the time as: “A typical day for me would be to hit and shag balls, take a lesson from a DCC golf pro, play nine or eighteen holes with Dorothy Major at Willis Case or meet Phyllis Lockwood and play tennis with her in Boulder, and then we would shoot a few hoops at CU.”
Later in her career she generously gave her time and talents to children with handicaps, including teaching golf at an amputee program at Children’s Hospital, bowling with children with cerebral palsy and coaching basketball for asthmatic kids.
She was also active with many women’s and sporting organizations including the United States Golf Association. Birkland co-founded Sportswomen of Colorado and served as that organization’s executive director for 40 years.
In 1957 she took on the number one female player in the world Althea Gibson at the Colorado Open which, at the time, attracted many of the world’s greatest tennis players. To the shock of the press and the gallery Birkland began beating the world’s number one player. A reporter for The Denver Post called in to his paper to hold the afternoon press as he might be reporting “one of the greatest sporting upsets in the history of Colorado.” In the end, however Gibson prevailed 8-6, 6-4.
By the 1960s she excelled at the highest levels at both golf and tennis simultaneously, an athletic feat that is almost unheard of in the annals of Colorado sports. She won the Denver amateur tennis title in 1960, 1962 and 1966 and the Colorado state tennis title in 1960, 1962 and 1966. She garnered six singles and 15 doubles titles in Colorado and Intermountain tennis tournaments.
On a friend’s dare Birkland in 1962 competed in and won both the state tennis and golf championships in the same summer and repeated this feat again in 1966. She was awarded the Robert Russell Prize for Colorado Amateur Athlete of the Year in 1962.
She took the state women’s golf title seven times. At the Denver Country Club she won 30 straight Ladies Country Club Championships from 1955 to 1984. Many of the victories were anything but easy sometimes winning at the 18th hole or in sudden death in the match play format. She attempted to retire from the competition several times but her competitors, some of whom were themselves state golf champions, would hear nothing of it. As one of her competitors said: “As far as I was concerned, no Joanie — no tournament.”
Even in her 90s Birkland could regularly be found on the golf range at the Denver Country Club working on her swing while interacting with golfers around her and trying to pick up tips to improve her game. Fellow inductee to the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame, Gary Potter, stated: “She was amazing. She cheerfully accepted the fact that the ravages of time severely restricted her playing abilities, but she simply wanted to be the best she could be with whatever limitations God had provided that day. She happily picked up whatever tips or advice you may provide and incorporated them into her play if they made sense to her. She was an extraordinary and truly wonderful human being.”
While she never had any children herself Birkland is survived by an extended family including her sister Evelyn McLagan, her brother-in-law Neil McLagan, nephew Hugh Birkland and nieces and nephews, Tracy Tempest, George Tempest, Scott McLagan, Tom McLagan and Ken McLagan and their families.
