A day at the Rendezvous at The Fort is a day in the early West, offering engaging and immersive fun for the whole family. Historic interpreters will show guests day-to-day skills from the 1840s, such as sign language, wool processing, domestic arts, black powder shooting competition, and more. Additional activities include a Scavenger Hunt, informative lectures, raptors, mammals, and reptiles provided by Nature’s Educators, storytelling by Angel Vigil, music of the period by Rex Rideout, The American Indian powwow and dance demonstrations by the Denver Singers, and artwork by Spanish colonial artists using traditional methods. Concessions will be provided onsite by The Fort Restaurant.
Buy your tickets by clicking here, it's happening Saturday and Sunday this weekend.
Episode Transcript
You know, I was talking about the fact that KOA
(00:01):
has been around for one hundred years. We're coming up
on our hundredth birthday, and they have been woven into
the part of Denver for that long. And another thing
that has been woven into the part of Denver is
the Fort Restaurant, even though.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Technically very outside Morrison.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
But it's fine, we don't talk about that.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
And the owner Turner mic on Aron, and the owner
Holly Kinney is with me today to talk about one
of their outstanding events that they put on with the
Tosorrow Cultural Center, which is kind of is do you
call it kind of an arm of.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
The Fort or is the Fort an arm?
Speaker 4 (00:33):
Well to Sorrow was created to celebrate all the cultures
that traded at ben Sold Fort, and it's a five
oh one C three. It's a nonprofit and I created
it in nineteen ninety nine to really provide more education
and more events that like our rendezvous coming up this weekend.
(00:56):
But I have to give you a little trivia about me,
oh please. I started in radio on ko I used
to sell time on KOA Radio out in nineteen seventy
five and seventy six and seventy nine, when Elway was
the quarterback for the Broncos and we went the Orange Crush.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Oh that's fantastic. I had no idea. I didn't know
that about you.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
So Koa has a special place in my heart.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Oh that's wonderful. That's a great story. I love that, Holly.
So let's talk a little bit about the rendezvous and
to the point you were just making this did you start?
And I know we've talked about this before, but people
don't always hear every interview. The Tsorial Cultural Center came
out of sort of the intent that your father had
when he built the fort in the first place, right
(01:44):
the original.
Speaker 4 (01:44):
In nineteen sixty two, we created a replica of Ben's
old fort, which was a famous fur trading fort from
eighteen thirty three to eighteen forty nine, and we started
doing school tours because every teacher wanted to take their
kids on.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
A school tour to see the fort.
Speaker 4 (02:03):
And we actually had a little museum in the building.
We had to turn it into a restaurant to pay
off the mortgage, but it turned out that the history
was as important as the food. But then the food
kind of took over. It became very famous because we
are fine dining. And so when I joined my father
(02:24):
in partnership in nineteen ninety nine, I said, well, let's
get back to the school tours and educating the public,
which was what the building originally was designed for. And
we created to Sorrow Cultural Center, and my dad called
it Desorro because there are many amazing artists, like the
Spanish colonial artists, the mountain men who hand make flintlock
(02:46):
guns and who do it as works of art, and
that is their treasures and their treasures to our society
and to us. And let's use the fort's platform and
market them and call it the Tesoro. The treasures mean
it means treasures in Spanish.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Well, I can vouch for the food we ate there
Saturday night with friends who had never eaten there. And
the patio, Oh, hollie, the patio is glorious.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
It is gorgeous out there.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
You just have this incredible view of Denver in the distance.
It is stunning, and the magical is second to nine.
So let's talk about what's happening this weekend. One of
the things that is so cool about what you're doing
is for people who either don't know themselves a lot
about Native American culture, or maybe you want your kids
to have a better understanding of Native American culture. The
(03:39):
rendezvous is even I think better than the powwow for
kind of getting a feel for more about the culture,
not just dancing and things of that nature.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Well, it's a mix of cultures.
Speaker 4 (03:53):
You have the traders and trappers who were trading at Bensfort,
and re enactors and interpreters, and then you also have
the Spanish colonial artists because Ben's Sport was on the
border of Old Mexico, which at that time was the
Arkansas River. So you had the Spanish colonial artists who
hand carved the saints, and they are they're demonstrating their
(04:16):
carving and there just as they did hundreds of years
ago at the same time of Ben's Sport. And then
we have a scavenger hunt for kids, so they have
they're given a sheet of paper admission, and then they
go round to each artist and mountain man encampment and
ask the question that's on the piece of paper and
(04:37):
if and they're given a string of sinew or like
a string, and then they get the answer from the
artist or the blacksmith or whatever, and they are given.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
A trade bead.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
But each encampmen they collect a trade bead after hearing
the answer and understanding the answer. So they stay there
for our with their parents following behind them, and they
collect their trade beads by asking the questions, and they
learn all about how did they make the dye from
(05:12):
rocks and through kochiel, which is like an insect that's
bright red, and how did they weave the wool and
what type of wool did they weave and it's Churro
wool and the Truro sheep were brought from Spain. So
it's a whole day of interactive learning.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
It's like a living museum.
Speaker 4 (05:31):
Yeah, it's really fun though, it's like an adventure. Yeah,
and then we have also you get a trade beat
if you go sit and listen to the Ricaramandan hadatsa
tribe doing a dance and talking about the Indian tribes
at vent Sport. But then you go to the blacksmiths
and learn there and so it's really a great family
(05:53):
of event and it's an adventure and fun and it's interactive.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Holly Kenney is my guest, and this is all happening
this weekend. There are you can buy your tickets. I've
got the link online with all the information. How much
your tickets it's a very modest dollars, yeah.
Speaker 4 (06:10):
And then five dollars for kids six and older and
six and or five and under are free.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Okay. And to be clear, Holly doesn't do this to
make money at all.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
I donate my time for twenty five years.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
Yeah, she doesn't.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
This is not a money maker. So that ten dollars
just gets plowed back into two to to Sorrow, Thank
you to to Sorrow, and so it just perpetuates in
the future.
Speaker 4 (06:36):
Right, and helps cover the costs we have, you know,
part of potties and other expenses related to it, just
out of pocket expenses.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
And can people get some fort food while they're.
Speaker 4 (06:46):
There, Yes, the fort has concessions and we're doing Buffalo
Burgers and Buffalo Broughts and a Freedo pie.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
When you say concessions, like people think, you know, it's
the concessions at a Fort event are like next level
can sessions. Okay, They're not just your like hot dog hamburger.
They're like they're Buffalo burgers and things of that nature.
So it's happening. What's a timeframe on Saturday and Sunday
ten to four most days, Saturday and Sunday. I think
you're gonna have some crummy rain on Saturday, but hopefully
(07:17):
it'll clear up on Saturday.
Speaker 4 (07:18):
The dancing is under our patios, so it's undercovered, you know,
wear a jacket.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
But mountain men were never dissuaded by rain.
Speaker 4 (07:27):
No and the Spanish artists are inside. There's and they'll
do lectures going on. There's a great lecture about Henry
Darringer trade rifle discovered it in Ben's Sport by Bill Gwaltney.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
And that's in the Benz quarters.
Speaker 4 (07:40):
So we have, you know, lectures and things going on inside.
So there's a lot going on inside as well as
outside encampments.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
And as I said, I put a link to the
website on the blog today if you want more information.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Holly Kenny, thank you so much. Thank you for everything
that you do for.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
You you would just bring so much opportunity to this
area for people to really learn about Native Americans and
the history of this part of the country.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
It's just a really well done job. Thank you so
much for inviting me. You're the best. You are
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