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The Denver Post: Chill can’t dampen fireworks

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Joreen and Edward Arceneaux of Aurora share a kiss during the New Year’s Eve celebration on the 16th Street Mall in downtown Denver in 2003. (Denver Post file photo | CRAIG F. WALKER)

EXTRACT: “It was a complicated year, 2007 — I work for Shell Oil, and a lot of jobs are getting moved off-shore to places like Kuala Lumpur. It was a tough year, but I can’t believe it rolled by so quickly.”

THE ARTICLE

By Manny Gonzales

31 December 2007

Those in Denver to bid farewell to 2007 tonight first sought refuge from the freezing temperatures, huddling in bars and coffeeshops along the 16th Street Mall to await the fireworks.

But as the colorful explosions lit up downtown, hundreds of people streamed out to the streets to gaze up and celebrate another year gone and a new one to come.

“It’s better to be celebrating it around people,” said Teresa Sorensen, 55, who came up from Centennial with family to watch the fireworks for the first time. “Still we’re trying to keep warm.”

There were two identical fireworks shows at 9 p.m. and midnight, sponsored by Downtown Denver Events, Inc. and Denver Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau. Past events have awed more than 150,000 celebrators.

With temperatures around 13 degrees, the latest event seemed to draw far fewer — at least for the early show. But the fireworks, shot from the tops of two buildings at each end of the mall, were nonetheless as spectacular as previous years.

“It was awesome,” a sleepy 10-year-old Nick Davis of Denver said.

The 9 p.m. show was still past Davis’ bedtime, but his parents wanted to make this New Year’s Eve a family event.

“We wanted to come downtown and we couldn’t get a babysitter, so this was great for the family,” Nick’s mom, Christy Davis said.

“And it really isn’t that cold out,” his father, Alan Davis said. “But we’re from here, so what do we know.”

While Denver’s downtown celebration falls short of New York City’s, it’s still been ranked among the top 10 of other major cities in the United States.

For Mike McGrew and his teenage son, it was worth the long drive up from Pearland, Texas, just south of Houston.

“This is a really neat city,” McGrew, 56, said. “Usually we’d be watching New Year’s Eve at home on TV, so we were really happy to come up. My boy’s never seen anything like this.”

For some, like McGrew, saying goodbye to 2007 was bittersweet. But his hopes seemed high for 2008.

“It was a complicated year, 2007 — I work for Shell Oil, and a lot of jobs are getting moved off-shore to places like Kuala Lumpur. It was a tough year, but I can’t believe it rolled by so quickly.”

His brother, Keith Winch, 53, of Parker, lent his own perspective, adding to a famous quote: “Life’s like a roll of toilet paper. When you’re young, it’s still a big roll, no worries. Getting older is like getting to the end of that roll, it goes away faster and the end is in sight.”

Manny Gonzales: 303-954-1537 or [email protected].

http://www.denverpost.com/entertainment/ci_7849321

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