Features

There’s nothing like listening to an orchestra play as the sun sets — the beauty of a violin, the dignity of the French horn, the sound of a battery of cannons firing in unison.

At Clement Park on Saturday evening, the 4th Artillery Band, whose members dressed in Civil War-era attire, performed Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture,” which calls for cannons to be fired in the score.

And boy, were they fired. Volley after volley sounded as the band played on.

Overcast skies and a few raindrops weren’t enough to dissuade thousands from celebrating the long Independence Day weekend in South Jeffco and Littleton.

The Foothills Park and Recreation District’s Red, White & You celebration on July 3 at Clement Park and Littleton’s Fourth of July festivities at Cornerstone, Belleview and Progress parks drew massive crowds to eat, play and watch the massive fireworks displays that capped off each night.

Area resident Cindy Elliott was so excited about Bike to Work Day that she doubled the length of her morning commute on June 24.

“This is the perfect morning for a ride,” said Elliott, who had stopped at a breakfast station on the Mary Carter Greenway near West Belleview Avenue and Prince Street on the way to her job in Highlands Ranch. “We’re riding 7 miles this morning. Usually my commute is a 3-mile trip, but we decided to go for a longer ride since it’s Bike to Work Day.”

The Denver Botanic Gardens at Chatfield joined gardens across the nation to celebrate one of the most important players in the life of plants: the pollinators.

A dance studio on West Quincy Avenue is walking through the steps to a rezoning in hopes of continuing to operate in its current location.

True Dance Academy at 8950 W. Quincy Ave., across the street from the federal prison, was granted a “home occupation” exception in 2009 by the Board of Adjustment that permitted the dance lessons if the owner lived on the property. But business owner Shelly Trujillo now is seeking a zoning change, since she has not been living there.

Volunteers from across the country were in South Jeffco last week to help with the next phase of construction for the Veterans Monument at Ken-Caryl Ranch.

The monument, which is being installed at the southeast corner of Crestone Mountain Drive and Sangre de Cristo Road just north of Shaffer Elementary School, is being built by a group of veterans and volunteers.

Disco lights and bedazzled skaters danced across The Edge Skating School’s home ice last weekend in a spring performance worthy of Caesars Palace.

“Viva Las Vegas” was the theme of this year’s show at The Edge Ice Arena, where about 50 students of all ages showed off their figure skating skills to proud families and friends on Friday night and Saturday afternoon. The show included six acts, each set to music from a different era in Las Vegas history.

The music ranged from Timberlake to Sinatra as the younger prom-goers made memories, and the older ones recalled their younger days.

The dance floor at Willowbrook Place was packed Saturday as members of the poms team from Dakota Ridge High put on the prom for residents of the memory care facility in South Jeffco. More than two dozen students mingled with about 40 of the facility’s residents while tunes kept the dance floor teeming.

Even under cloudy skies last week, the future looked bright at Mackintosh Academy.

The private school flipped the switch on 97 new solar panels that will provide up to 70 percent of the school’s electricity and save more than $285,00 over the next 30 years. Yet it wasn’t the energy or cost savings the panels will provide that drew hundreds to the gymnasium last Thursday.