Pride & Sakura Fest
Jul. 4th, 2026 08:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bigmogLast weekend I attended Denver Pride Fest for the first time. It was held at the newly renovated 16th St. pedestrian mall downtown and it was packed. I can't remember a time that the mall was that crowded. Downtown is great when it's vibrant and full of people. The event draws a very eclectic crowd and the people watching was fabulous.
Curious to me is the level of corporate participation. Giant firms like Visa march alongside small community groups. The easy way to tell a corporate vendor is a spinning wheel at their booth to win a "prize". Perhaps more events on this scale will help revive the downtown mall as it is in dire need of some fresh businesses.
After the parade, the crowds were getting too intense even for me so I walked a few blocks over to the Cherry Blossom Festival happening at the same time. I've been to this event a few times in the past but it's nothing special. Mostly I go to get spam musubi and Asahi Super Dry. The vendors there didn't have prize wheels but didn't offer any wares worth purchasing.
I thought a bit about the relationship that these 2 festivals unexpectedly formed. Did the smaller cherry blossom festival benefit from the crowds of the larger Pride fest bleeding over (such as I did)? Or were their numbers smaller this year from people preferring the better location and bigger stages of their competition?
Curious to me is the level of corporate participation. Giant firms like Visa march alongside small community groups. The easy way to tell a corporate vendor is a spinning wheel at their booth to win a "prize". Perhaps more events on this scale will help revive the downtown mall as it is in dire need of some fresh businesses.
After the parade, the crowds were getting too intense even for me so I walked a few blocks over to the Cherry Blossom Festival happening at the same time. I've been to this event a few times in the past but it's nothing special. Mostly I go to get spam musubi and Asahi Super Dry. The vendors there didn't have prize wheels but didn't offer any wares worth purchasing.
I thought a bit about the relationship that these 2 festivals unexpectedly formed. Did the smaller cherry blossom festival benefit from the crowds of the larger Pride fest bleeding over (such as I did)? Or were their numbers smaller this year from people preferring the better location and bigger stages of their competition?