Trivia Question: Why is this Annual Wheat Ridge event named the Carnation Festival?

As a native to Colorado you might have thought that I was an annual attendee to the 38th Annual Wheat Ridge Carnation Festival. Sad to say, this was a first for me. But, it will definitely not be the last. The food, the music and especially “A Step Above”, the five women dancers from ages 70–93, helped make this event a memorable one.

While Friday evening brought some rain, the die hards stuck it out and were rewarded with one of the most vibrant rainbows I have ever seen, soon followed by an evening of fireworks. The Wheat Ridge Police Department team beat the Wheat Ridge Silver Foxes in a friendly game of softball. I understand that the Silver Foxes, with an average age of 67, usually win this game. Maybe they let the police officers win this year.

Trivia Answer: From the 1950s-1980s, Wheat Ridge was world renowned for the beautiful carnations. In the mid 1980’s cheap carnations from Columbia put most of the local growers out of business. The last of the major wholesalers, the Novacek Family, still runs a garden center in the area. The family members were the 2007 parade marshalls.

If you missed this year, plan to attend the 39th Annual Wheat Ridge Carnation Festival in August of next year. You’ll be glad you made it.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 21st, 2007 at 7:19 pm and is filed under General, Neighborhood News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.