Penny Parker’s On The Town: Girl power poised in Valentines Day dance

February 13, 2013

One in three women on the planet will be raped or beaten in her lifetime.

One billion women violated is an atrocity.

One billion women dancing is a revolution.

On Valentines Day this Thursday, the mission is to activate women and men to dance across every country. The celebration of One Billion Rising will be a world happening as a symbolic gesture in the quest to end violence against women.

There is a song and a dance called “Break the Chain”, by award-winning choreographer Debbie Allen,  that will inspire a million women to rise and dance.   The music video features Allen with the more than 80 teen V-Girls and singers bringing their radical rising energy to locations across the nation. Learn the dance at  http://onebillionrising.org/pages/video-downloads.

Produced by Eve Ensler, (author of “The Vagina Monologues”) and V-Day, the video was directed and shot by South African filmmaker Tony Stroebel, who also co-directed and shot the “One Billion Rising” short film.  WillPower Fit Studio, 2110 Market St. in the Ballpark neighborhood, is offering a free willPower & grace class from 9:30-10:30 a.m. Thursday.

The OBR dance choreographed by Allen and will be taught in the second half of class. For more information on the movement, go to www.vday.org/node/2849.

Fame names

Rock ‘n’ roll concert promoter Barry Fey, former Denver Art Museum director Dr. Lewis I. Sharp and Denver tour operator Sid Wilson of A Private Guide will be inducted into the Denver & Colorado Tourism Hall of Fame during the 14th annual tourism dinner and silent auction March 6 in the Seawell Grand Ballroom.

The Tourism Hall of Fame serves as the highest award for Denver’s travel industry, which posted its best year in 2011 with 13.3 million overnight visitors, generating more than $3.3 billion in spending. The industry supports nearly 50,000 jobs in the Metro area.

The gala will also honor five “Tourism Stars” presented to organizations and attractions that had a significant impact on Denver’s tourism industry during the preceding year.

“This was truly a significant year for Denver tourism with an unprecedented five tourism stars helping to showcase our city as a center for art, sports, sustainability, history and innovation,” said Richard Scharf, president and CEO of Visit Denver.

The Tourism Star award winners are: The Denver Art Museum for blockbuster original shows Yves Saint Laurent: The Retrospective and Becoming Van Gogh; Denver Zoo for the ground-breaking Toyota Elephant Passage exhibit; the History Colorado Center for bringing Colorado history to life with the new building and exhibits; the NCAA Women’s Final Four, which created $20 million in economic development and national television exposure for Denver and United Airlines and Denver International Airport for securing a new nonstop flight between Denver and Japan, which will begin in March.

The gala is a fundraiser for the Visit Denver Foundation, which has given out more than $460,000 in scholarships to 189 Colorado students pursuing higher education in the fields of tourism and hospitality.

For ticket information, contact Keely Asbury at 303-571-9405 or e-mail kasbury@visitdenver.com.

Gut-gaining ground

Denver Restaurant Week (Feb. 23-March 8 … just a few weeks away) has set a new record number of participating restaurants with 351 – up four percent from 339 last year.

The 14-day food fest and feast will have all 351 participating eateries offering a multicourse dinner for the “Mile High” price of $52.80 for two or $26.40 for one with tax and tip not included. Don’t forget to tip on the “real” price, not the discounted one.

“We believe that with 351 restaurants, Denver Restaurant Week is the largest restaurant week in the nation,” Visit Denver chief Scharf said.

Last year a record 404,400 meals were served and interest is growing for this year’s event. As of Feb. 8, prospective diners had looked at more than 3.3 million pages of menus, an average of eight menus per visit to the site.

Scharf noted that in 2013, there are:

* 82 new restaurants participating in DRW for the first time;

* 195 restaurants offering vegetarian options;

* 26 restaurants offering gluten-free options;

* 82 restaurants offering beer, wine or drinks as part of their DRW menu;

* 94 restaurants in just downtown Denver.

Be forewarned that reservations for the most popular DRW participants are all but gone (you might get lucky with a 5 p.m. or 9:30 p.m. seating), but you can comb through www.opentable.com and click on the Denver Restaurant Week page to enter a time and date, and click on “find a table.” The page will show you which of the 212 restaurants on Open Table have availability.

On the www.denverrestaurantweek.com site, click on a restaurant menu, and then hit the “add to must-dine list”, which will show up on your Facebook page to let friends know that you are interested in dining at this restaurant and seeing if anyone wants to join you.

Share a smooch

Qdoba Mexican Grill is inviting customers to kiss coupons goodbye on Valentines Day Thursday with the return of its BOGO for  Kiss Valentines Day promotion.

Purchase an entree at any participating Metro-Area Qdoba on Valentines Day (https://www.facebook.com/qdobadenver?ref=ts&fref=ts), then share a smooch with a significant other, friend, family member or willing stranger at the cash register and receive a second entrée of equal or lesser value for free.

To find a Qdoba nearest you, go to www.qdoba.com.

Above: Share a smooch at your nearest Qdoba on Valentines Day and get a second entree of equal or lesser value for free.

Project Angel Heart scores

Nonprofit evaluator Charity Navigator has awarded Project Angel Heart its highest four-star rating, given to nonprofits that practice exceptional fiscal responsibility and governance in fulfilling their mission.

Charity Navigator, the country’s largest and most-utilized independent evaluator of charities, bases its ratings on nonprofits’ financial health, as well as their commitment to accountability and transparency.

Their ratings show community members how efficiently a charity will use their support, how well it has sustained its programs and services over time, and their level of commitment to good governance, best practices and openness with information.

To see Project Angel Heart’s Charity Navigator profile, go to http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=9235.

Eavesdropping on a diner to a server at a cafe at the top of Peak 8 in Breckenridge: “Is this soup gluten free? Our friend is gluten intolerant.”

“Yes, it is gluten free. Would you like it in a bread bowl?”

Did you hear that I have a new column, “Mile High Life,” in Colorado Community Media’s 17 weekly newspapers circling Denver? Be sure to like my Facebook page! Also, here’s where you go to get my column emailed to you Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. I’m now the social-media liaison for the Mile High Chapter of the Colorado Restaurant Association, so read my latest restaurant news there. My email: penny@blacktie-llc.com.

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