Colorado Travel Experience Blog

Denver, the Mile High City will celebrate its sesquicentennial this November 22nd. This is an historic event if you are in Denver on that date. In honor of its 150th anniversary on November 22nd, the City and County of Denver will honor 150 people who are making a difference in the Mile High City.

For two weeks this November, Denver will celebrate its 150th birthday in true Mile High City style, with festivals, sporting events, special offers and much more. On Nov. 13th, the 31st Denver Film Festival kicked off 10 days of incredible and innovative cinema. Then, on Nov. 14th, Denver Arts Week began, a week long festival, highlighting the city’s visual and performing arts. This has all been taking place at more than five neighborhood art districts, 20 museums and 100 art galleries.

This event was organized by the Denver Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau to help draw local and national attention to the cultural renaissance that Denver is experiencing – a renaissance that led Sunset Magazine to proclaim: “The Mile High City is remaking itself as a world capital of art and architecture.”

The city’s 150 year legacy will be honored in front of a packed crowd at INVESCO Field at Mile High during the Denver Broncos - Oakland Raiders game on Sunday Nov. 23rd. There will be free days at select Denver attractions, including the Colorado History Museum on Saturday, Nov. 22 – along with a birthday cake that will be distributed by local dignitaries and temporary postal stations for a commemorative postmark and envelope, something stamp collectors might be looking out for.

It happened back on November 22, 1858 when Gen. William Larimer, a land speculator from eastern Kansas, placed cottonwood sticks on the hill overlooking the confluence of the South Platte River and Cherry Creek to stake a claim at the center of a square-mile town plat.

Now, 150 years after that seemingly inauspicious occasion, Denver is the 21st largest metropolitan area in the United States, a vibrant urban landscape bursting at the seams with artistic and human culture, diversity and an excitement for the future.

The City and County of Denver decided to celebrate its sesquicentennial with a legacy project, the Denver Daisy. The Denver Daisy is a one-of-a-kind flower created and named especially in honor of the City’s 150th anniversary celebration. The flower is a totally new cultivated variety (”cultivar”) of Rdbeckia.

The new hybrid flower is based on the Rudbeckia hirta, a daisy native to Colorado when Gen. William Larimer founded Denver 150 years ago, and Rudbeckia “Prairie Sun”. Perfectly suited for Colorado’s arid climate, the Denver Daisy thrives in hot, sunny areas with minimal moisture and quickly develops eye-catching golden flowers with a deep-red color encircling a dark-brown center.

If you’re in Denver during the 15 days of anniversary celebration, you are going to experience a treat. This is an historic event that won’t be matched for another 50 years. Restaurants, museums, the downtown, and yes, even the Broncos are getting involved in this celebration. If you are coming to Colorado during this month of November, be sure not to miss the 150th anniversary of the settling of Denver, Colorado.