City Seen: Eatin’ armadillo

Another June has come and gone. The rainbow flags from PrideFest are rolled up for another year. The skin continues to flake from drinking in the hot summer sun of Civic Center Park.

Besides being Pride month, June is also a popular month for weddings. Couples who tied the knot are booking honeymoon flights to escape the throngs of relatives who descended upon their special day.

Why is June such a popular month for weddings? June is named after the ancient Roman goddess Juno, the patroness and protector of marriage. Plus, a June bride will give birth to a child the following spring, sparing her the discomfort of a hot, sweaty summer pregnancy. Of course, that’s assuming the bride isn’t already pregnant, bless her pre-marital sex heart.

Pregnancy was not an issue when Travis Jensen and Erich Smeaton got hitched this spring in Washington D.C. It was a small ceremony in our nation’s capitol for the gay couple, but they came back for a larger celebration in Park Hill. Until Colorado gay marriages or civil unions are legal, that seems to be the order for the day for Colorado gay or lesbian couples – get married where it’s legal and then bring the party back to the Rockies – the mountains, not the baseball team. Though a reception in the Rockies locker room is not out of the question.

Jensen is originally from Louisiana and Smeaton hails from Alabama. So when these two good ole’ Southern boys decided to pick out their wedding cake, it was anything but traditional. They commissioned Le Bakery Sensual to create a red velvet armadillo cake. Think Steel Magnolias. The cake looked life-like and delicious. It was my first time eating any kind of armadillo. If real armadillo is this good, Texas is in big trouble on my next visit.

Everyone at the party had a good time, but Jensen and Smeaton are not done yet. They’ll be headed to large celebrations of their wedding in both Alabama and Louisiana. Southerners never miss the chance for a good party. The rest of 2011 will be one long wedding reception for these two newlyweds.

Events:

The SQREAM Scooter Club hosted their fifth annual Colorado Chaos Scooter Rally the weekend of June 10 – 12. More than 50 scooterists participated, some coming all the way from Kansas City, Montana. With the theme of “Ride like the Wind,” on Saturday riders toured Denver’s most famous aviation related sites including Stapleton, Fitzsimmons, Buckley and Lowry. Sunday included a ride to a wind farm at Rocky Flats. The rally was a fundraiser for National Jewish Health and the event is positioned to raise more than $2,000.

Dr. Vance Bray and Bill Mitchell opened up their Pinnacle penthouse overlooking City Park on June 2 for a leadership-gathering event. Guests learned more about the work of Project Angel Heart. The organization has a seven-million dollar capital campaign going on right now to build their new building at 50th Avenue and Washington Street in the stock show area.  So far, $5.2 million has been raised.

Project Angel Heart provides nutritious meals, at no cost, for those living with life-threatening illnesses. The organization began as a response to the AIDS crisis back in the ’80s and has since expanded its mission to include all life-threatening illnesses such as breast cancer.

Rocky Mountain Regional Rodeo
10 a.m. on July 8 – 10 at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds. Cowboys and cowgirls from across the country will be competing for buckles and awards at one of the oldest rodeos on the IGRA circuit. This year’s Grand Marshall is Larry Lindstrom, IGRA Secretary and long-term member of CGRA. For more info, visit www.cgra.ws.