DENVER — Hundreds of baseball fans packed the streets of downtown Denver on Friday during the highly anticipated Colorado Rockies home opener against the Tampa Bay Rays.
"Look at the atmosphere, look at the party that goes on here, it's pretty amazing," said Rockies fan Mike Ortega, who was at the game to celebrate his wife, Elizabeth's birthday. "It's a Colorado holiday, who doesn’t love Rockies' baseball?"
Business owners in the area told Denver7 they have been preparing for the busy day. The general manager at Cherry Cricket, Griffin Yarbenet, said the Rockies home opener is their busiest day of the entire year.
"The restaurant is a sea of purple, everyone is excited, I think everyone else is also being optimistic," he added. "Maybe the Rockies can turn it around this year, but you know the city stands behind them."
Yarbenet said the most important thing at their restaurant was to make sure their employees were ready but also had fun.
"A lot of it was getting the staff in the zone mentally. This is our busiest day of the entire year," Yarbenet said.
Chaney Castanon and her mother, Patty Meade, were at the Cherry Cricket on Friday morning. They said celebrating the home opener is a tradition for them.
"I hope they do well, as usual, but doesn’t matter. I still love them no matter what," Castanon said.
"We’re die hard fans. If they win, wonderful, if not, we still love them," said Meade.
