One of the best ways, I’ve found, to become intimate with a new place is to attend a festival.  Any festival.  Food festivals, naturally, rank #1 on my list of the most desirable festivals to seek, but art, I’d have to say, ranks a close second.

After we satiated our appetites with one of the best hot dogs I’ve eaten in my life, (and trust me — that’s saying something), we wandered several Denver blocks to the adorable Larimer Square for the 2012 Denver Chalk Art Festival.

I’m not really much of a crowd person.  Strangers’ sweat-slick skin, a multitude of body odors, and the potential for mob mentality generally encourages me to steer clear of such gatherings.  But.  Like I said.  Festivals allow for anonymous intimacy with a place in the shortest amount of time.  What better way to become acquainted with a city’s most talented vendors and artists, its most colorful citizens and visitors, and its most prideful area of town (which is usually where festivals are held)? It’s the chance to catch them all in one place while sinking into the anonymity of other camera-wielding people watchers — and not just the tourists.

What did I find?

Well.

While it’s true that Colorado is mostly known for its natural, earthly wonders, I discovered that the man-made stuff — even beneath foreboding shadows cast by looming, thunderous skies — can be equally inspiring.

My favorite is the guy drawing square-by-square.  How about you?