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Denver, CO

Sharon Magness Blake becomes 46th Citizen of the West

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Sharon Magness Blake becomes 46th Citizen of the West


Sharon Magness Blake, known throughout Colorado as one who “Gives so selflessly to those who need it most,” was honored as the 2025 Citizen of the West at a dinner Monday, that raised some $647,000 for the National Western Scholarship Trust.

An equine enthusiast — four of her Arabian horses have gained fame as Thunder, mascot of the Denver Broncos — entrepreneur and philanthropist, Magness Blake has spearheaded events that have raised over $100 million for dozens of organizations, including Volunteers of America, Denver Council of Boy Scouts of America, the Global Down Syndrome Foundation, the Denver Health Foundation, the National Repertory Orchestra and the University of Colorado Foundation.

She founded, with Jean Galloway, Western Fantasy that for 30 years was VOA Colorado’s signature fundraiser, raising $35 million for VOA’s mission of feeding the hungry, providing emergency shelter and offering human service programs designed to enrich the mind, body and heart. VOA’s former chief executive, Dianna Kunz, showed her appreciation for Magness Blake’s generosity by offering the invocation that preceded dinner.

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Western Fantasy always began with Magness Blake riding Thunder around the perimeter of the National Western Event Center as Lee Greenwood, either in person or via video, sang “God Bless the USA.”

So it was only natural that an adaptation of that tradition would be part of the Citizen of the West dinner, which also was held in the National Western Event Center.

Just six weeks into recovery from back surgery, Magness Blake gingerly mounted Thunder to make the red-carpet ride from the event center’s paddock area, site of the pre-dinner cocktail reception, to the stage-side table shared with her husband, retired attorney and former Breckenridge mayor Ernie Blake — and a host of friends.

As she rode in, a video played of Greenwood and members of the military singing “God Bless the USA.” Later, in a video salute to Magness Blake, Greenwood joined other close friends such as Garth Brooks and Michelle Sie Whitten in singing her praises.

“Sharon and Ernie are two of the best human beings on planet earth,” Brooks said. “She truly embodies the spirit of the West.”

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Magness Blake acknowledged her health in her acceptance remarks.

“In the last two years I’ve had some serious health issues, so I am very grateful just to be here,” she said. “I’m just a horse girl who grew up in the concrete streets of Philadelphia” who attended her first National Western Stock Show 38 years ago and instantly became enamored of all that it stands for.

Since then, she has become a trustee of the show and member of its $150 million Honoring the Legacy Capital Campaign committee.

“What a great and glorious evening it is to honor our friend Sharon Magness Blake,” said capital campaign chair Pete Coors, who also served as chairman of the Citizen of the West steering committee. “Where there’s thunder, there’s lightning and you are our lightning.”

The 1,000 guests included the governors of Colorado and Wyoming, Jared Polis and Mark Gordon; Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, who thanked the honoree for giving him “One of my childhood delights,” seeing Thunder gallop across the field at Mile High Stadium whenever the Broncos scored a touchdown; and Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser.

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Also:

  • Paul Andrews, who is soon to retire following 15 years as the National Western’s president/CEO
  • Former Citizens of the West Dick and Eddie Robinson
  • Kelly Brough, president/CEO of the Fitzsimons Innovation Community
  • J.J. Ament, president/CEO of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce
  • Former Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey and wife, Maggie, who chaired the Citizen of the West Arrangements Committee in 2015 and 2016
  • 2025 Arrangements Committee Chair Jennifer Jones Paton
  • Miss Rodeo America Callie Mueller, Miss Rodeo Colorado Sierra Southerland and Miss Rodeo Wyoming Dusty Miller
  • Dr. Gregg LaBerge, director of the Denver Crime Lab
  • Political consultant Katie Behnke
  • Dr. Lorenzo Trujillo
  • Rico Munn, former superintendent of the Aurora Public Schools who is now vice president/Metro Denver Engagement and Strategy for Colorado State University
  • Attorney Holly Shilliday, managing partner of the Colorado office of McCarthy & Holthus
  • Robert and Judi Newman. He founded J.D. Edwards and now owns and manages a venture capital company, Greenwood Gulch Ventures. She served on the Citizen of the West Steering Committee
  • Brandis Becky, a 20-year Steering Committee member who purchased a table to honor the memory of her late mother, Anita Becky, who had been active in the National Western Stock Show since the early 1960s when she and her husband, the late Dr. Joseph Becky, started raising Angus cattle, buffaloes and quarter horses on their ranch in rural Colorado.

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Denver, CO

Mild and dry in Denver, with more snow for the Colorado high country

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Mild and dry in Denver, with more snow for the Colorado high country


DENVER — A weak storm is rolling into Colorado Thursday morning! We’re seeing some light snow in the northern and central mountains Thursday morning, with mostly sunny skies across the plains. The snow will linger through early afternoon, with around 1 to 4 inches possible above 10,000 feet.

It’ll be a dry and mostly sunny Thursday across most of eastern Colorado. Daytime high temperatures will be slightly cooler in the mid to upper 40s along the urban corridor Thursday.

A weak backdoor cold front moves into northeast Colorado Friday, bringing a chance of light snow showers to the plains near Sterling and Fort Morgan. The cooler air is shallow but could seep into the Denver area. We’ll see highs in the mid to upper 40s under a mix of sun and clouds.

A ridge of high pressure builds back in for the weekend. This brings daytime highs into the mid to upper 50s as we head into February! Sunday will be the warmer of the two days, with highs near 60 degrees!

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Another storm could potentially move into the Denver metro next Tuesday, bringing a chance for a few snow showers. Cross your fingers, and stay tuned as it gets closer!

Mild and dry in Denver, with more snow for the Colorado high country

DENVER WEATHER LINKS: Hourly forecast | Radars | Traffic | Weather Page | 24/7 Weather Stream

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Click here to watch the Denver7 live weather stream.





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Denver, CO

Contract for National Western Center pedestrian bridge advances

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Contract for National Western Center pedestrian bridge advances


Members of the South Platte River Committee voted on Wednesday to advance a $12.7 million contract with Ames Construction to construct a new pedestrian bridge at the National Western Center. City officials say the project will improve east-west campus and GES connectivity by spanning nine railroad tracks and connecting to the RTD N Line Commuter […]



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Denver, CO

Huge new $27 million Denver bathhouse would include sauna, cold plunges

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Huge new  million Denver bathhouse would include sauna, cold plunges


Memphis Orion’s steamy vision of Denver includes state-of-the-art saunas and cold plunges, salt scrubs, solariums, and towel-whipping “aufgussing” rituals.

Adam Lerner and Memphis Orion speak within a mobile sauna at Coba Bathhouse in Denver on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)

For now, however, the amenities for his new business are limited to a steel-frame trailer behind a gutted industrial building. His custom-built, solar-powered mobile sauna, or Cobacita, fits a little over a dozen people on its wooden benches. That’s a far cry from from the hundreds Orion envisions inside his $27 million Coba Bathhouse project just a few feet away.

“I’m a connoisseur of the world of bathhouses, and I love the different technologies emerging around the world for it,” said Orion, the CEO of Coba. “The modern bathhouse is taking these traditional (forms) and updating them and bringing them to together for people who are moving away from bars and alcohol being the center of social life.”

Consisting of three buildings connected by gardens and outdoor seating areas, Coba — a combination of Colorado and bathhouse — is a concept of extreme, immersive proportions backed by veterans of the art and entertainment worlds. When it’s finished in 2027, it will sit across from the Auraria Campus on West Colfax Avenue in Denver, just south of Domo Japanese restaurant in the La Alma neighborhood.

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Orion sees it employing 90 to 100 people and fitting about 400 guests at any one time. If all goes well, its founders believe it will draw roughly 300,000 people per year.

Day passes will cost $50 to $75, with $220 monthly memberships, although prices are preliminary. It’s about the cost of a casual dinner out, chief strategy officer Adam Lerner said, and arguably a value for a theme park’s-worth of wellness attractions. Lush urban gardens, tea ceremonies, wood-burning firepits, steam rituals like aufgussing (a towel-whipping, dancing group experience) and group-soaking pools are on the menu.

A solarium, thermal pool and multi-level garden will offer visitors year-round exterior access at Denver's Coba Bathhouse, said architect Paul Andersen. (Rendering provided by Independent Architecture)
A solarium, thermal pool and multi-level garden will offer visitors year-round exterior access at Denver’s Coba Bathhouse, said architect Paul Andersen.

Coba’s buildings, including a former asphalt factory that lacks electricity or running water, are, for now, a staging area and proving ground still in need of permits, excavators and carpenters before they can match the elaborate renderings Orion and his partners have been floating to investors.

The project is slated to cost about $27 million, Orion said, with $3.5 million of that going toward the land purchase. He received a $526,200 state tax credit, since the project will include a thermal energy network, with an 800-foot-deep geothermal well planned for underneath the parking lot. The technology will use the consistent temperature deep underground to draw and disperse heat and cold as part of Coba’s electricity-hungry infrastructure.

Orion’s confident the “landmark” bathhouse will draw Denverites who are hungry for new experiences. In this case, that’s an upscale version of downregulation, a.k.a. chilling and steaming one’s way to relaxation, happiness and social well-being.

Orion, an industrial engineering and renovation expert, is surrounded by a pool of expertise. His co-founder in Coba, and the company’s chief commercial officer, is Jon Medina, a designer and producer who has worked with Meow Wolf, AEG Presents and Outside Magazine. Also from Meow Wolf: Coba’s chief financial officer Carl Christensen, the former co-CEO and chief financial officer of Meow Wolf. That immersive-entertainment company just happens to have an outpost about a mile away from Coba.

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An entrance to one of the Coba Bathhouse buildings, as designed by architect Paul Andersen. (Rendering provided by Independent Architecture)
An entrance to one of the Coba Bathhouse buildings, as designed by architect Paul Andersen. (Rendering provided by Independent Architecture)

Chief strategy officer Lerner formerly led the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver. Meow Wolf co-founder Vince Kadlubek, architect Paul Andersen and others continue to advise on the project. The balance of art and culture veterans should ensure that Coba has a strong cultural appeal, its founders believe, with an emphasis on memorable experiences.

“We wanted to take the mundane and make it more adventurous,” Medina said, citing the “rain room,” where water follows people as they walk through it (a nicer version, perhaps, of the cartoon raincloud that follows around someone in a bad mood).

Coba’s layout is designed to circulate guests through the environments until they find their comfort zone(s). There’s a giant cold plunge pool that fits about 30 people — and one with even colder temps that fits 6 to 10. There’s the 60-seater room called the Ritual Sauna, water massages, a dark and silent sauna meant for solo introversion, floating pools, a rooftop garden and rentable “thermal suites.”

Renderings of the finished Coba look like a psychedelic hall of justice, albeit with Art Deco arches replaced by wavy roof lines. They conceal not just internal wellness features but also a café, space for musical performances and workshops, and lockers and common areas.

Part of the mobile sauna at Coba Bathhouse in Denver on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
Part of the mobile sauna at Coba Bathhouse in Denver on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)

“Here the idea is to create something that maybe draws from history, but is not a direct reference to it,” architect Andersen said. “This is something very different, even otherworldly.”

Coba’s success may turn on how transported its guests feel, since it’s being pitched as a respite from stress and an excuse to put down your phone and bond with neighbors.

“We wanted to create a place that has this combination of feeling connected to nature but also modern life,” Lerner said. “Because this is not a retreat. This is actually a place that is integrated into your weekly routine. The kind of place you go to four times a month. Which is why a bathhouse differentiates itself from, say, a spa, which is a luxury indulgence.”

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Paul Andersen, Adam Lerner and Jon Medina tour the space being converted into Coba Bathhouse in Denver on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
Paul Andersen, Adam Lerner and Jon Medina tour the space being converted into Coba Bathhouse in Denver on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)

Lerner first met Orion at the ritualistic, art-driven Burning Man Festival in Nevada, and has maintained a friendship that dovetailed into the one-acre Coba project. Their connections are coming in handy as they hold small sessions and continue to raise funds for construction. They even recruited Denver Mayor Mike Johnston and Zach Neumeyer, the chairman of Sage Hospitality, to make remarks on their Jan. 22 “civic preview.”

Coba has the potential to outlast fads in biohacking and contrast therapy meant to tame and train the body, said Denver journalist and author Scott Carney. He’s written extensively on how the body can be conditioned to extreme environments, and his Jan. 22 visit to Coba convinced him of its pure intentions.

“There are a few other contrast therapy spots that have popped up around Denver, from mobile saunas and river jumps at the Golden library, to the sauna/plunge combos at Nurture and Archipelago, as well as SWTHZ on Tennyson,” he wrote via email. “But they are all smaller and … more specifically health-oriented. People go there for their quick hot and cold fix and then move on.”

Coba may endure because it’s social, he said, instead of just service-oriented.

Or as Coba’s founders write in their 27-page investor pitch: “Bring a swimsuit if you’d like to participate. Dress is casual. The person next to you may be in swimwear.”

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