Denver: Parade of Lights

Another evening outing to enjoy holiday cheer ... this time in downtown Denver.

Having driven up from Colorado Springs early enough to have dinner first, we found a parking spot not far from the stands where I had purchased seating for the 9News Parade of Lights. That done, we walked to The Pavilions ... a good place to get a bite to eat. Or so we thought. Alas, we were out of luck … long waiting lines at every restaurant. So, we continued on to the pedestrian-friendly 16th Street Mall. Here we easily found a table at Earl’s Kitchen & Bar. Good timing as the place filled up soon after we were seated.

Our tummies thus sated, we picked up a few more clothing layers from the car and walked over to Bannock Street. We ended up sitting in the stands for an hour, waiting for the parade to start. But I’m glad we arrived early as we managed to find seats on the very back row of the stands set up in front of the Denver City Hall (aka the City & County Building). The back frame of the stands provided a backrest that made our seats more comfortable. Heavily bundled up, we weren’t overly cold. That said, I’m glad we thought to take blankets with us to spread on the seats as without them we would not have been very comfy.

The idea to go to the parade was a last-minute one. I was researching something on the internet when I came across a link for this year’s parade, sponsored by 9News. I’m not much of a parade person, but I figured this would be a good holiday activity. None of us knew what to expect. We were all pleasantly surprised by the floats — some of which were quite elaborate. The oversized balloons, while not plentiful, were fun to see and reminiscent of the big parades seen on TV. The crowd favorite was the “bouncing cars.”

The big surprise of the evening was the light and music show projected onto the façade of the City & County Building just after the parade ended. We enjoyed the spectacle from the stands. Visiting the City & County Building to see the lights was on my list of things to do, so we killed two birds with one “parade stone.”

Since I had "encouraged" everyone to skip dessert at Earl's, following the parade we returned to the 16th Street Mall for a sweet treat. At the Rialto Café, we checked to see if they could seat us for dessert. The place was packed, but they managed to find us a booth. With each of us ordering a different dessert, we had a "sweet treat orgy."

After our dessert splurge, we continued up 16th Street towards the Clock Tower. I had walked over there earlier to take a video clip of the “snowfall” art installation on its face and noted the ChristKindl Market nearby… another holiday attraction that was on my list. I thought that after seeing the Christmas markets on last year’s river cruise on the Rhine River, this would be particularly fun. Frankly, it was disappointing. For one thing, it was so packed that checking out the various craft stalls was impossible. For another, it was very small. I’m glad we got to see the ChristKindl Market without making a specific trip to visit it.

All in all, we had a fun evening with plenty of holiday cheer.Read more