Four tourism stars named to the Hall of Fame

Four of Denver’s top tourism leaders have been named to the new class of inductees into the 15th Annual Denver & Colorado Tourism Hall of Fame.

They are: Denver catering king and philanthropist Larry DiPasquale, Denver March Powwow executive director Grace Gillette, Colorado Rockies owner Dick Monfort and director of the Greenway Foundation Jeff Shoemaker with a posthumous award to his father, Joe Shoemaker, founder of the Greenway Foundation.

These city and state supporters will be honored during the Tourism Industry Hall of Fame dinner March 20 at the Seawell Ballroom.

The Tourism Hall of Fame serves as the highest award for Denver’s travel industry, which logged its best year ever in 2012 with 13.6 million overnight visitors generating more than $3.6 billion in spending. The industry supports 50,000 jobs in the metro area.

The gala is a fund-raising event for the Visit Denver Foundation, which has given out more than $545,000 in scholarships to 214 Colorado students pursuing higher education in the fields of tourism and hospitality.

For ticket information, contact Joni Watkins at jwatkins@visitdenver.com or call 303-571-9481.

Denver and Colorado Tourism Hall of Fame honorees, Dick Monfort (above); Grace Gillette (below); Jeff Shoemaker and Larry DiPsiquale (bottom).