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Interesting facts about what makes Denver unique as you plan your trip to The 2013 Solheim Cup! THe Mile High City has it all...
Denver Art Museum Credit: Jeff Wells
1. Denver has 300 days of annual sunshine.
Located east of a major mountain range, Denver has a mild, dry and sunny climate with more annual hours of sun than San Diego or Miami Beach. In winter, Denver is dryer than Phoenix with an average daily high of 45 degrees in February. Golf courses remain open all year and have been played as many as 30 days in January. Denver receives only 14 inches of precipitation a year – about the same as Los Angeles.
2. Denver’s arts and cultural scene is thriving.
In its Old West days, Denver had a performance of Macbeth before it had a school or a hospital. That performance took place in a saloon. Today, Metro Denver collects more for the arts on a per capita basis than any other city. The seven county Denver metro area has a self-imposed 10th of a cent sales tax for the arts that raises more than $40 million a year, which is distributed to 300 arts organizations and facilities.
The city’s cultural renaissance can be found in places like the Denver Performing Arts Complex. Covering four square blocks, the complex is the second largest in the country, with 10 theatres seating more than 10,000 people for opera, symphony, ballet, Tony Award-winning theatre and touring Broadway shows. The $92-million Ellie Caulkins Opera House is recognized as one of the finest acoustical venues in the world and Denver voters recently approved a $90 million refurbishing of Boettcher Concert Hall.
Denver has recently added art museums including the new Clyfford Still Museum (opened Nov. 2011), dedicated solely to the works of Clyfford Still, one of the world’s most influential abstract American painters. The American Museum of Western Art, featuring more than 650 paintings and drawings spanning 200 years of American history will open in May, 2012. The Brad Cloepfil designed building is an artistic marvel unto itself, and created specifically to display the artist’s multi-dimensional work. The Denver Art Museum’s astonishing Hamilton Building designed by world famous architect Daniel Libeskind is “mesmerizing” according to the “New York Times”. In addition, the LEED-certified Museum of Contemporary Art was designed by David Adjaye, which is his first building in the United States.
3. Denver is near the mountains, not in them.
Denver is located on high rolling plains, 12 miles east of the “foothills,” a series of gentle mountains that climb to 11,000 feet. Just beyond is the “Front Range of the Rocky Mountains,” a series of formidable snowcapped peaks that rise to 14,000 feet. Denver might not be in the mountains, but the mountains still dominate the city. The picturesque mountain panorama from Denver is 140 miles long. There are 200 visible named peaks including 32 that soar to 13,000 feet and above. State law prohibits building any structure that would block the view from the Colorado State Capitol. Penetrating the mountains west of Denver required building the highest auto tunnel in the world (Eisenhower Tunnel) and the sixth longest railroad tunnel in the country (Moffat Tunnel).
Red Rocks Sunset Credit: Steve Crecelius
4. Denver is a city of many colors and cultures.
Denver grew by 30 percent in the 1990s – an average of 1,000 new residents a week, every week for 10 years. In this period, the Hispanic population in Colorado increased by 73 percent. Today, 32 percent of the City of Denver is of Hispanic and Latino descent and 11 percent are African American. Denver’s diversity is celebrated at numerous festivals and events including the nation’s largest Cinco de Mayo celebration and the largest Martin Luther King Jr. march and rally, referred to the locals as a “marade”. Denver has a population of 600,158, while there are 2.5 million people in the metro area.
5. Denver’s history is short, but colorful.
In 1858, there was not a single person living in the Denver metro area except for some migrating camps of Arapaho and Cheyenne Native Americans. Just 30 years later, Colorado was a state with a population of almost 200,000. It was a Gold Rush that caused this boom and in a 30 to 40 year period Denver saw some of the wildest events in the “Wild West.” This fascinating period is brought to life at museums, old gold mining towns and in hundreds of elegant Victorian buildings. LoDo, a 26 square block historic district, has the largest concentration of Victorian and turn-of-the-century buildings in the country. Today, LoDo is home to 90 brewpubs, rooftop cafes, restaurants, sports bars and nightclubs.
6. Denver loves its sports.
Denver is one of only two cities (Philadelphia is the other) to have seven professional sports teams: NFL Denver Broncos; NBA Denver Nuggets; NHL Colorado Avalanche; MLB Colorado Rockies; MLS Colorado Rapids; MLL Colorado Outlaws; and NLL Colorado Mammoth. The Colorado Rockies have 11 Major League Baseball attendance records, while the Denver Broncos have sold out every game for more than 20 years. Denver also hosts one of the world’s largest rodeos – the National Western Stock Show & Rodeo. Denver is the only city to build three new sports stadiums in the 1990s: 50,000-seat Coors Field; 75,000-seat INVESCO Field at Mile High and 20,000-seat Pepsi Center.
7. Denver is the gateway to the Rockies and many National Parks.
The city serves as the gateway not only to the nearby Rocky Mountains, but also to such iconic natural landmarks as Yellowstone National Park, the Black Hills of South Dakota, Moab National Park, Arches National Park, the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley.
8. Denver - The Mile High City, really is exactly one mile high.
By an amazing stroke of good luck, the 13th step on the west side of the State Capitol Building is exactly 5,280 feet above sea level – one mile high. In Denver’s rarified air, golf balls go 10 percent farther. So do cocktails. Alcoholic drinks pack more of a punch than at sea level. The sun feels warmer, because you are closer to it and there is 25 percent less protection from the sun, so sunscreen is a must.
The Mile High City is also extremely dry, so it is a good idea to drink more water than usual. With less water vapor in the air at this altitude, the sky really is bluer in Colorado.
Denver 16th Street Credit: Steve Crecelius
9. Denver has the 10th largest downtown in the United States.
Unlike some Western cities, Denver has a definitive, exciting and walkable downtown – the 10th largest in the nation. Within just a one mile radius, there are three sports stadiums, the country’s second largest performing arts complex, an assortment of art and history museums, a mint producing 10 billion coins a year, a river offering whitewater rafting, the country’s only downtown amusement park, a new world-class aquarium, more than 8,000 hotel rooms and more than 300 restaurants, brewpubs and music venues.
10. Denver has the largest city park system in the United States.
Denver has more than 200 parks within the city and 14,000 acres of parks in the nearby mountains, including the spectacular Red Rocks Park & Amphitheatre. The city has its own buffalo herd located in the mountains with a panoramic view. Other mountain parks include Echo Lake, at the base of the Mount Evans highway – the highest road in North America and Buffalo Bill’s Grave on top of Lookout Mountain. Denver plants more than 200,000 flowers in 26 formal flower gardens every spring. There are more than 850 miles of off-street bike paths, 90 golf courses and one of the nation’s largest urban trail systems. Due to all of these recreational opportunities, a federal study found that Denver has the thinnest residents of any major U.S. city.
For more information, contact:
About VISIT DENVER, The Convention & Visitors Bureau
Celebrating more than 100 years of promoting the Mile High City, VISIT DENVER is a nonprofit trade association that contracts with the City of Denver to market Denver as a convention and leisure destination, increasing economic development in the city, creating jobs and generating taxes. Tourism is the second largest industry in Denver, generating $3.3 billion in annual spending in 2011, while supporting nearly 50,000 jobs. Learn more about Denver on the VISITDENVER website.
Travel www.esolheimcupt.com
About The Solheim Cup www.solheimcup.com
The Solheim Cup combines the tradition and prestige of the game of golf with passion for one’s country. This biennial, trans-Atlantic team match-play competition features the best U.S.-born players from the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Tour and the best European members from the Ladies European Tour (LET).
The Solheim Cup is named in honor of Karsten Solheim, the founder of Karsten Manufacturing Corporation, which makes PING golf equipment. In 1990, the Solheim family, in conjunction with the LPGA and the LET, developed the concept and became the title sponsor for The Solheim Cup, professional golf’s international match-play competition for women. Held every two years, the event has grown into the most prestigious international women’s professional golf team event. The Solheim Cup is the most highly coveted trophy in women’s professional golf team competition; some of the most memorable moments in the sport have happened during one of The Solheim Cups, and berths on the U.S. and European teams are highly sought after by players from both organizations.
The 2013 Solheim Cup will take place Aug. 13-18 at Colorado Golf Club in Parker, Colo. The European Team enters the competition holding the Cup and will need 14 points to retain it, with the U.S. Team needing 14½ points to regain the coveted Waterford Crystal prize. The U.S. team holds an 8-4 lead in the matches, which began in 1990.
In addition to founding sponsor PING, Rolex is also a Global Partner of The Solheim Cup. For more information about The Solheim Cup and updated standings for each team, log on to www.solheimcupeurope.com, www.ladieseuropeantour.com. | 
