The Mile High City rocks
Colorado’s capital city stands at an elevation of more than 6,000 ft. (a mile above sea level) with more than 700,000 residents, towering over neighboring communities. Its average of 300 days a year of sunshine beats out even San Diego and Miami Beach.
When I recently attended the FICP (Financial & Insurance Conference Professionals) 2024 Annual Conference, I whisked through LEED-certified Denver International Airport (DEN), where 21% of waste was diverted last year. They are serious about sustainability. But they are also earnest when it comes to enjoying themselves. Take a look.
Stay and Meet
The 30-minute drive (or train ride, if that is your style) downtown yielded beautiful views of snow-dusted mountains, but the city was clear and the air was fresh as I pulled up to Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel. The property is leading the way for the Marriott brand’s reemergence as a place where guests and locals connect in open spaces at the heart of the hotel. Day-to-night lobby bars, meeting pods, phone privacy booths and high-tech studio spaces are functional and convivial.
We met in Plaza Ballroom, but 59 meeting rooms comprise 131,670 sq. ft. of space. The 1,238 guest rooms in multiple towers were also updated with plenty of charging stations, updated showers and ergonomic workspaces.
The opening reception at Colorado Convention Center’s new 80,000-square-foot Bluebird Ballroom and rooftop terrace turned attendees into Denverites with local music, bison Bolognese and s’mores stations. The main attraction, however, was the views of the mountain peaks and cityscape from the new perch.
Eat
Denver is a sporting city. It proudly hosts six professional sports teams, including the MLB Colorado Rockies, NFL Denver Broncos and NBA Denver Nuggets. The city also offers horse racing, rodeo spectacles and no fewer than 90 golf courses. These attractions feature spaces for meeting and eating.
Read More: Denver: Mile High City Attracts Meetings
In a city that enjoys both its farm-fresh fare and craft breweries, you can take in the action while savoring gourmet carving stations and salads made to order. Coors Field in LoDo (historic Lower Downtown Denver), which is catered by Aramark, can house a reception for 10,000, a keynote in the theater for 450 or classroom seating for 150 in 13 meeting rooms. A gluten-free vendor and The SandLot Brewery are onsite and available for private events on non-game days.
Do
FICP’s closing reception paid homage to Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre in nearby Morrison. The only naturally occurring, acoustically tuned stage in the world has hosted the biggest names in the music business, in addition to some of the most diverse plant, animal and bird life on the planet. The seating was carved out of the rock cliffs in 1933 as part of the Civilian Conservation Corps Reforestation Relief Act, seats 9,525 and is a designated national historic landmark.
But you don’t have to leave town to take in Denver’s vibrant music scene. Ball Arena is the city’s largest music venue (although it is also home to the Denver Nuggets and NHL’s Colorado Avalanche). Walkable from downtown and managed by Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, it is home to multiple restaurants serving homemade soups, salads and to-go bites.
The Perplexiplex (Meow Wolf Denver) is an immersive art experience that can host up to 488 for events they will not soon forget. The surreal, colorful backdrop is enhanced by projection art from Moment Factory that can be customized for groups.
This article appears in the January 2025 issue. You can subscribe to the magazine here.
