Conference Venue

About Denver

Details like Denver is one of only two cities in America with eight professional sports teams. And essentials like where to locate the exact elevation of 5,280 feet (1 mile) above sea level (a round brass cap embedded in the western entrance stairs of the State Capitol marks the spot). The more you know before you get here, the more time you can spend taking it all in.

Local boosters named the frontier mining camp on the South Platte River “Denver” after Kansas Territorial Governor James Denver in hopes of gaining political favor. Unfortunately, Denver had retired by the time they named the town.

There were originally three separate towns, with three separate names, where Denver now stands. In 1859, the other names were dropped in return for a barrel of whiskey to be shared by all.

Fittingly enough, the first permanent structure in Denver was a saloon.

Despite being warned by Indians not to build there, early settlers didn’t listen. In its first few years, Denver was destroyed twice, once by fire and once by flood.

Denver is one of the few cities in history that was not built on a road, railroad, lake, navigable river or body of water when it was founded. It just happened to be where the first few flakes of gold were found in 1858.

The Denver Zoo is the fourth most popular zoo in America (based on those with paid admission fees) and has the 7th most diverse animal collection. The zoo has 3,500 animals, representing more than 685 species, including 157 that are classified as threatened or endangered. It costs $38,000 a day to care for the animals and operate the zoo.

www.denverzoo.org

Denver Botanic Gardens is one of the top five botanic gardens in America, with more than 32,000 plants, representing over 2,000 species, including seven that are classified as endangered.

www.botanicgardens.org

On the northern edge of the city is a section of Denver the locals call “LoDo,” or lower downtown, where refurbished Victorian and turn-of-the-century buildings and warehouses are home to an eclectic array of restaurants, art galleries, offices, and shops.

http://denver.citysearch.com/find/section/denver/shopping.html

The Colorado Rockies opened at home on April 9, 1993 in front of 80,277 fans, the most ever to witness an opening game in baseball history. The team went on to break 11 Major League Baseball records, including the most single-season fans, 4,483,350, a figure that still stands today as the most to attend any American sports team’s games in a single season.

www.rockies.mlb.com

Weather

Average Temperatures

	HIGH	LOW		HIGH	LOW
JAN	47	16	JUL	88	55
FEB	50	19	AUG	86	52
MAR	56	25	SEP	79	44
APR	62	32	OCT	68	33
MAY	72	41	NOV	54	23
JUN	83	49	DEC	47	17