Just a few more days until the CCAF! Colorado Homes & Lifestyles is proud to be a media sponsor and we hope you’ll stop by our booth at the corner of 3rd and Fillmore, beautifully designed by Columbine Design, to visit and pick up your free copy of our current issue.

If you, like me, have attended the festival for years, you already know it gets better and better. This year is no exception; here’s just a few of the many new additions to the 2011 festival:

BE A PART OF ART WITH FEATURED GUEST ARTIST PHIL HANSEN Hansen is a groundbreaking, innovative artist internationally renowned for creating public dialog with art. He will be creating a collaborative piece of artwork based upon things you wouldn’t believe. He will solicit the general public for responses to this question: “Tell me about an experience that shocked you or caused disbelief.” Participate in this work of art and watch him finish it LIVE at the Arts Festival! Public comments are invited, encouraged, and will remain anonymous at CherryArts.org/Shocking.

THE NEW FILLMORE PLAZA The 2011 Cherry Creek Arts Festival proudly presents a new take on the Janus Main Stage, now located at the fully remodeled Fillmore Plaza.  Local businesses and neighborhood groups supported renovations to Fillmore Plaza, and CCAF looks forward to showcasing all that Fillmore Plaza has to offer. Highlights of this new festival center include shaded seating, greatly enhanced and beautified streetscapes, fresh culinary and beverage options, new activities, and more!

ALL-NEW iPHONE & DROID APPS Find our apps online at the iTunes store or Droid Market. This 4th of July you can navigate through the Festival with total freedom using our revamped smart phone apps, which feature easy-to-read daily schedules, maps, live Tweets, video podcasts, live photo and textual blogging, and more.

FARMER’S MARKET PRESENTED BY KING SOOPERS In the spirit of King Sooper’s dedication to Colorado and to bringing consumers fresh foods, the Cherry Creek Arts Festival is proud to feature the all-new Farmer’s Market. Located just west of 2nd Avenue and Clayton Lane, the Farmer’s Market will feature organic and fresh produce from local Colorado farmer suppliers. Patrons will be able to sample and purchase directly from the farmers themselves.

VISUAL ARTISTS Naturally, the exhibiting visual artists are at the core of the Festival: 78 of the 230 artists are first-time-ever CCAF exhibitors, with 87 artists returning from 2010. 17 artists are from the state of Colorado. The artists were chosen in a blind-jury process from 2,100 artist applications, making the CCAF one of, if not the most, competitive art shows in the nation.

The Cherry Creek Arts Festival is held at Denver’s Cherry Creek North Shopping District, from 2nd to 3rd Avenues, on the six streets between Clayton and Steele Streets.

o    Friday, July 1, 7:00pm-10:00pm Free Artist Preview Event (Clayton St. only)
o    Saturday, July 2, 10:00am-8:00pm
o    Sunday, July 3, 10:00am-8:00pm
o    Monday, July 4, 10:00am-6:00pm

For complete festival information, visit www.cherryarts.org.

See you there!

Saturday, April 9
10-3
Denver Design District
595 South Broadway

For more information, visit DenverDesign.com

See you there!

Planned events include:

WARHOLOVE: a juried open show
at Niza Knoll Gallery, 915 Santa Fe
Show runs August 6-29

Exploding Santa Fe
Inevitable After-Party
at Space Gallery, 9 pm-midnight
with Velvet Underground cover band, Sweet Nothin’

Canned Soup Drive
CORE New Art Space, 900 Santa Fe Drive

Everybody’s a Warhol: Photo Booth
at Anthony Camera Studio
900 Santa Fe Drive, Behind CORE
Put on the Warhol wig and glasses–bam–you’re Andy!

Andy Warhol Screen Test
Starring Justin Simoni as Andy Warhol
Get your 15 minutes of fame on camera!
Location to be announced

Andy Warhol Birthday Cake
at Boxcar Gallery, 554 Santa Fe Drive
Cake Cutting and Birthday Song at 8:30 pm

Andy Warhol “Geronimo” Posters
Limited Editions! at the Center for Visual Art
965 Santa Fe Drive

Andy Warhol Look-Alike Contest
Win Warhol-themed prizes!
Glovinsky Gallery, 800 W. 8th Ave.

Robots Decorated with Warhol Art
Gamma Two Robotics, 209 Kalamath

…and more events are being planned!

Admission is free and open to the public. For more info, go to DanaCain.com.

People mingled through the South Terrace gardens, and passed the evening sipping on champagne and munching on some of the most delightful treats (including a phenomenal lobster taco from Marlowe’s). Some very notorious Colorado residents came out to enjoy the party, including former first lady Frances Owens and Arlene Hirschfeld.

The Garden Party raises funds that will be used to maintain one of Colorado’s most beautiful and important homes. The GRPF holds events year round, welcoming the public inside Colorado’s Home to get a taste of our state’s history through the beautiful residence.

If you’re interested in attending one of the GRPF’s events or attending next year’s Garden Party, visit www.coloradoshome.org.

Cress filled me in and said that business is good, and that even though it might not be back to where it once was, they’ve been able to start new projects in the past few months that have taken them into new neighborhoods, as well as start new business relationships (with New World Millworks, for example, who used to only deal with large high-end commercial projects.) Part of the reason Cress and Chris are still faring well in such a tough building economy is that they measure their success very simply by 100% customer satisfaction. They told me, “We remain friends with our clients, sometimes close friends, and you couldn’t do that if you didn’t feel like your clients weren’t completely happy with their homes.” Makes sense.

I asked them during dinner if it’s possible to complete a project on time and on budget–you hear so many stories on the contrary–and they told me that it definitely can be done, but that oftentimes their projects’ budgets are extended because their clients are exposed to far more detail than they know is possible. Once a client knows what kind of custom detailing is available to them, they often make decisions to increase their budgets and upgrade their design and finishes.

It doesn’t hurt that Cress and Chris are the nicest, most honest, interesting, and easy-on-the-eyes guys you will ever meet. If you are looking for a high-end renovation or custom-home builder, check out OGB’s work: oldgreenwichbuilders.com.