City to recognize Juneteenth
Denver City Council declared Juneteenth an official commemorative holiday in the city on Monday, and approved a bill that will lead to a National Weather Service observation station at the old Stapleton International Airport site.
Juneteenth, on June 19, marks the official end of slavery in 1865, a holiday that started in Texas and has expanded in some fashion to the majority of states and Washington, D.C. Colorado began recognizing it as a ceremonial holiday in 2004. The City Council passed the bill by a unanimous vote to set an annual official observance of Juneteenth in Denver on the Saturday “closest to June 19th” — outside of the workweek. Mayor Michael Hancock and Councilmember Chris Herndon proposed the mostly symbolic holiday earlier this month.
Denver’s Juneteenth celebration in Five Points dates back to 1953, according to a city slideshow, and often includes a big parade, musical acts, food and booths. The event is about “the community coming together … the support for the Black community,” Valarie Chiles told The Know in 2018.
Jason McBride, a host and MC for the musical event, told The Know in 2020 “all of our culture is down there, and it’s a beautiful thing to see.” Last year, much of the annual event was virtual, and some people held a silent march in Denver to call attention to police brutality.
Councilwoman Candi CdeBaca, who represents the Five Points area, told The Post ahead of Monday’s vote that the proclamation “is a notable symbolic gesture,” but said she wanted to see it “accompanied by real action that dismantles the oppression of Black people.”
“If we pass yet another proclamation about race and racism or Black freedom without action — such as saving legacy businesses that are rapidly disappearing from Five Points — I suspect we are only maintaining an illusion of freedom just to say we have done something noteworthy for Black History Month, especially for a celebration that has already been part of Denver’s history for generations,” CdeBaca added.
Which way the wind blows
Denver isn’t getting a full National Weather Service office, said meteorologist Paul Schlatter, who works at the NWS Boulder office.
But Denver residents will soon see weather details that are “more representative” of actual conditions in the city and county thanks to a weather station that’ll be built at the old Stapleton International Airport site. The council passed the measure unanimously.
The Urban Farm served as the fiscal agent to collect about $17,000 in donations to purchase the new weather equipment, according to Denver Parks and Recreation data and The Urban Farm Executive Director Michelle Graham. She said the equipment will be gifted to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, of which the NWS is a sub-agency.
The official observation station for the city of Denver is at Denver International Airport, and that won’t change. However, Schlatter said, the “conditions (at DIA) aren’t consistent with the rest of Denver,” so the new observation station will give the city and county “real-time weather conditions” such as high and low temperatures, precipitation, pressure, wind and dewpoint. The data won’t include snowfall totals, Schlatter said, because that requires a human to measure. Plus, Graham said, there is value to having a weather station at the site of the old airport, which collected weather and climate information, and that’s to compare historical data.
It’ll take several months for the station to come online, Schlatter said, because they’ll need to build a 30foot tower (the official height for wind observations).
But adding the site will help meteorologists when it comes to things like the “recent arctic outbreak,” Schlatter said.
“The low at the airport was -16, and I don’t know anywhere in the city of Denver that got that cold.” And in hotter weather, Denver itself sees higher overnight lows due to a heat island effect, but during the day, he said, “the airport seems to be about a degree warmer.”
“It’s a good thing for everyone, I think,” Schlatter said.
Graham also noted that the new weather station also aligns with “Denver’s Climate Action Plan, as the data would enable more accurate information and evaluation for the City of Denver.”