It’s the things you don’t see that make the Wheat Ridge Carnation Festival so special. Behind the scenes is a world of meticulous planning and coordination that most visitors will never notice – and that’s by design.
“I’m talking to the police at two o’clock in the morning before each day of the festival, saying, ‘Hey, what do we need to do differently tomorrow?’” said Joe Demott, who had been festival chair for 13 years. “What happens behind the scenes is my favorite part.”
The seamless flow of parades, events, and musical performances is the product of countless hours of behind-the-scenes work. “For the week before the festival, you literally have about 3,000 people working to get this ready, and as a guest of the festival, the idea would be, you don’t even see what goes into putting it together.” The most hectic preparation period starts the Monday before the festival, Demott adds, and doesn’t end until the Wednesday after.
These efforts by organizers, volunteers, and city officials transform Anderson Park into a celebration of the city’s legacy as the “Carnation Capital of the World.” This year, on the weekend of August 9, the festival dazzled with its largest carnival yet and unprecedented participation from local organizations.
Originally established to commemorate Wheat Ridge’s role in the carnation industry, the festival has evolved from modest beginnings on 38th Avenue into one of Colorado’s most anticipated community events. The 2024 festival was, by far, the biggest yet. “All of our events were just exponentially bigger this year,” Demott said. This expansion was part of an effort to increase attendance, which was successful despite a fire ban resulting in the cancellation of the festival’s most popular event: the fireworks show.
The Saturday morning parade was a crowd-pleaser, featuring a wide array of participants. “We had four marching bands, which is the most we’ve had in probably a decade,” said Leah Dozeman, the parade coordinator. “As you can imagine, that made the staging and order a little bit more difficult just trying to put a buffer between all of the entries with musical components.”
“All of our public schools came out in force this year,” Dozeman added. “They normally do, but they all had a great show of participants to walk with them in the parade.”
Many parade floats featured floral elements. “We encourage the use of carnations in some form or fashion as a nod toward Wheat Ridge being the ‘Carnation Capital of the World,’” Dozeman said.
Creativity was displayed with each parade entry, particularly with Sandalwood Rehabilitation’s King Tut-themed float, which clinched the Best Float award. Sandalwood has won the Best Float title for several years in a row. “Sandalwood always does an amazing float,” Dozeman says.
Wheat Ridge residents voted in local realtor and Neighborhood Gazette owner Guy Nahmiach as the Grand Marshal for this year’s parade, joined by Localworks Executive Director Paige Piper as Countess, and Wheat Ridge Optimist Club member Tony Carpenter as Count.
The music selection was notable this year, with only 17 bands selected from over 400 applicants. “It’s pretty outrageous,” Demott said. “The applicants just keep coming.” The selected acts catered to a wide range of musical tastes. “Year by year, we kind of see what’s popular with the crowds at our festival. For our demographic, we like to do some country music one night and then some classic rock the next night.”
The festival’s impact extends beyond its entertainment value, helping to support local organizations. “The good thing for us is, a lot of our smaller vendors throughout the years have become large sponsors,” Demott said. “They’ve seen the benefit of being there and they love talking to the crowds and the outreach that they get is awesome. We have some vendors who started as $300 vendors, and now they’re $2,500 sponsors.”
Demott doesn’t hesitate to credit the festival’s success to its volunteers. “The behind-the-scenes work is what makes this festival special,” Demott said. “Just a huge thanks to everybody on our board and our volunteers. It’s really amazing to look back and say, we’re going to have 30,000 people here, and the people behind the scenes just make it happen.”
After another successful Wheat Ridge Carnation Festival, organizers like Joe Demott and Leah Dozeman are already focusing on next year’s event, aiming for an even bigger celebration. With a mix of creativity, community spirit, and hard work, they believe all the ingredients are in place to make that happen.
