UPDATE: Check out this video from our forum in Colorado Springs

At a community forum last night in Colorado Springs, local residents and business people turned out to hear from Convention organizers about the historic regional opportunities presented by Denver’s hosting of the Convention. 

“Given the level of interest in this Convention, we’re expecting a larger turnout than previously anticipated. That means cities and towns beyond Denver have even more opportunities to benefit,” said DNCC CEO Leah Daughtry. “And since Labor Day weekend immediately follows the Convention, many Convention-goers will be looking to places like Colorado Springs to get some R&R.”

The event was the seventh in a series of ten community forums – “Convention Conversations: A Traveling Forum Sponsored by the DNCC” – which launched in Denver in September and has traveled to Pueblo, Boulder and Lakewood, Colorado; Las Vegas and Salt Lake City in recent months.

VIDEO: See coverage of the event from KOAA, the NBC affiliate in Colorado Springs.

UPDATE: Check out this video of our tree planting in Sunnyside!

Rounding out a week of activities around Earth Day, many of our staff will don T-shirts and old jeans and get their hands dirty Saturday morning at a tree planting in Northwest Denver’s Sunnyside neighborhood. The planting of 400 trees will increase the tree canopy in one of Denver’s most underserved and least shady neighborhoods.

Our participation in the project is part of “DNCC Service Days,” an effort to give back to the community that has been such a gracious host, and reflects our commitment to making this year’s Democratic Convention the most environmentally-sustainable event of its kind.

The project is part of the Mile High Million, Mayor John Hickenlooper’s initiative to plant more than 1 million trees in metro Denver over the next 19 years. In a bit of a warm–up exercise, some of my colleagues participated yesterday in another city-sponsored tree planting on Auraria Parkway, not far from the Pepsi Center, home of our 2008 Convention. You can check out our work – and perhaps catch a bit of shade – when you arrive here in August.

More from Earth Week at the DNCC:

• Green Screen Episode 2: Climate Change
• Earth Day Must Read: DNCC Commitment to Greening Democratic Convention is 'About Stewardship'
• Democratic National Convention Committee Rolls Out Technology Strategies Behind The Most Environmentally Sustainable Democratic Convention To Date
• Speaker Pelosi, DNCC Announce Green Delegate Challenge For 2008 Democratic National Convention
• Greening the 2008 Democratic National Convention 

While we eagerly await that “special package” from our friends at the 2008 Republican National Convention (following our friendly wager and the recent triumph of the Colorado Avalanche over the Minnesota Wild in the NHL Western Conference Quarter-Finals), we just can't stop thinking about how to best prepare what's sure to be a wonderful meal.  As we get ready to cook up the walleye, which will be coming our way any day now, we want your ideas too.  The following dish sounds like a keeper.  If you’re a walleye connoisseur, lend us a hand and post your recipe recommendation here!

Deep Fried Fish

In a large skillet, place about 1/2" of vegetable oil in skillet.
Turn flame to medium.
Pull skin off the fillets.
Cut fillets crossways into 3-4" chunks.

Take pieces and put into medium size bowl filled with water and 2 teaspoons of salt.
Soak for about 1/2 hour.

To make the breading you will need 1 cup of bisquick, 1cup of instant mashed potato flakes, and 1/2 cup of frying magic.
Pour these items into a one gallon ziploc bag and shake well.
(you can substitute Frying Magic with Italian bread crumbs)

In a small bowl, wisk 2 eggs with a splash of milk.
Take the walleye pieces and place in egg wash (make sure they are covered on both sides). Then place them into bag with the breading mixture.
Seal bag and shake until pieces are thouroughly covered.

Place fish pieces into skillet for about 2-3 minutes per side.

To check, take a spatula and cut into middle of fish. They should be white and flaky. Cooking time may vary depending on the thickness and size of the pieces. Place the pieces on a plate covered with paper towels or napkins to absorb the excess oil . Salt and pepper to taste. (I like a little lemon juice squeezed on just before serving) Enjoy!
 

After hitting the road and heading to Salt Lake City, Utah earlier this month, the DNCC’s traveling community forum series is back in Colorado. On Tuesday, April 29th at 5:30 pm MT at the Antlers Hilton in Colorado Springs, DNCC CEO Leah D. Daughtry and Colorado State Senator John Morse (invited) will provide local residents and business people with the opportunity to ask questions, share ideas and find out how they can take advantage of the historic regional opportunities presented by Denver’s hosting of the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

In what could only be interpreted as foreshadowing of things to come, the Colorado Avalanche triumphed over the Minnesota Wild at the Pepsi Center Saturday night to win the Western Conference Quarter-Finals. Before the series began, we made a friendly wager with our counterparts at the Republican National Convention Committee in Minneapolis-St. Paul on the outcome of the series, offering up Colorado steak to their Minnesota walleye.

A bet is a bet, and we’ll be eagerly checking our mailroom in anticipation of the arrival of that walleye.

We’ve made a friendly wager with our counterparts at the 2008 Republican National Convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul on the outcome of the NHL playoff series between the Colorado Avalanche and the Minnesota Wild.  With tonight’s victory by the Avs, the series is now tied at 2-2 after back-to-back games at the Pepsi Center here in Denver.

So we took our camera across town - right into the heart of the action - to find out what Avs fans think of the wager and this summer’s Convention.  Check out the video below for a great look at the local excitement - and some promising tips on cooking walleye.

In February we posted about the great Homes for our Troops project that we have undertaken with the Republican National Convention, the Credit Union National Association and the National Journal Group.  In the months leading up to the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, staff in both Colorado and Minnesota will work to build a house in each Convention host city for severely wounded American troops.

We are now happy to say that we have come one step closer to providing a specially adapted home to Staff Sergeant (SSG) Travis Strong and his family here in Colorado.  On a plot of land in the town of Golden, representatives of the partner organizations, including our own CEO, Leah Daughtry, broke ground with the Strong family during a late-winter Colorado storm yesterday morning.  Despite the cold, there was tremendous excitement in the small tent filled with media, organization members and family supporters.



As part of our DNCC Service Days initiative, our Convention staff is now eager to get involved with the construction of the Strong family household.  As Leah said at yesterday’s event, “We’re looking forward to hammering some nails, hanging some dry wall and laying some sod, as this will be a labor of love for a true American hero.”

Be sure to check back on the blog to find out about our progress with Homes for our Troops.

Last week, our Convention team headed west from Denver – to the “Crossroads of the West” otherwise known as Utah – for the sixth in our series of Convention Conversations forums in Salt Lake City. This week, we bring you the highlights in video. Enjoy!

A number of my colleagues are rubbing their sleepy eyes today after staying up late last night to see the end of the Colorado Avalanche’s overtime win against the Minnesota Wild at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. How could we sleep with so much on the line!?

But we’ll take the hint from the Rocky Mountain News and try to keep our bragging in check. This is a friendly competition after all. Congratulations to the Avs on their nail-biter of a win. If the first game of the series was any indication of things to come, we’ll soon be enjoying some fresh walleye from the lakes of Minnesota here in Denver.

The DNCC launched its Green Delegate Challenge today -- a new initiative to encourage friendly competition among the states and offer special rewards for the delegation or delegations that demonstrate the highest level of commitment to offsetting their carbon footprint from attending the Convention in Denver.

And speaking of competition (or lack thereof), watch this video for more on our selection of carbon offset projects for this challenge. Through Native Energy, the DNCC is supporting the Wray School District Wind Turbine in the Democratic National Convention's home state of Colorado and the Focus the Nation Wind Turbine on a family farm in....well, you'll just have to watch and see....