Quote:
Originally Posted by Sam Hill
I don’t know. I think that would certainly encourage tourism, but I think it might also scare away millennials that might otherwise consider living in Denver. Young people don’t want to live in a place that’s perceived as a cow town. When I was in my twenties living in Denver (not too long ago) I lived downtown for the sake of being someplace urban (which is apparently the way of the millennial if I am to believe the pervasive narrative about them). I and my urban Denverite friends were regularly defending Denver any time we visited either coast. People had a hard time believing Denverites could be at all urbane. Denver was a cow town and a Denverite was a redneck. I’m sure most of you have had similar experiences. We don’t want to do anything to augment Denver’s cow town image IMO.
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Focusing on the cowboy myth would be a mistake IMO- especially since no one is going to do the hard work of showing reality instead of myth where 25% of cowboys were black and 33% were Hispanic while the majority of the boring farmers were the white folks. But focusing on Colorado's Western heritage and celebrating that is something that should be done and could entice Millennials. A focus on agriculture in the West would be a great start as it would tie in with the farm to table movement and local sustainable agriculture of which Millenials profess some preference for. The proposal for the revamped National Western Center contributes to this focus and is a great start.
Then there's mining. Millenials are just as clueless as the rest of the populace about how many minerals are required for our high-technology/high-energy lifestyle and the environmentally conscious and unconscious practices that are employed to get those minerals. This is something the could be a heritage selling point. Denver's position as a hub of the mining industry is not something that's particularly highlighted and an area where having a museum of science and technology would help bring it to light. It's not something that is going to attract people to Denver, but at least we'd make those who are here aware of it.
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