DENVER — Colorado Avalanche fans are hungry for another Stanley Cup run, but while the team has been great, the food at Ball Arena has not drawn rave reviews recently.

“We conduct guest surveys throughout the season, and what we were hearing consistently was that the fans just weren’t satisfied with the quality of the concession food,” said Jim Mulvhill, director of marketing communications for Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Avs, Denver Nuggets and Ball Arena.

Now, KSE and Legends Global, which runs food and beverage operations for the arena, are trying to change that by bringing six locally owned Denver restaurants into the arena. Those restaurants are:

• Big Belly Brothers (barbecue) – Sections 148 and 379
• Redeemer Pizza – Sections 126 and 342
• llegal Burger – Section 102
• Mexico City – Sections 118 and 330
• Jake’s Baby D’s (mini doughnuts) – Section 134
• Nola Jane (cajun) – Section 303

Owner and general manager Casey Allen said gumbo, jambalaya and the debris po boy will be among the food options at the arena.

“Nineteen-thousand people have a chance to eat our food at the arena, instead of before or after the game. And it’s just, I mean, it’s just an awesome experience,” he told Denver7 Thursday.

“Great items that you wouldn’t normally find at an arena, really creative options and really high-quality stuff from places that people know from their neighborhoods,” Mulvihill said.

In addition to the new options, classics like hot dogs, popcorn, candy and soda have had prices cut to $5 each. Those items ranged roughly between $6.50 and $8.50 each last season, according to KSE.

Twenty-ounce domestic draft beers are now $10 each, down from $14.

“I think people have realized that there was a tipping point where the prices were getting too high for the average family, and really it’s good for business too,” Mulvihill said. “You bring down the prices, people buy more. In the end, it’s going to be a wash for us.”

Avs fan Aaron Garcia said the higher prices were a concern for him, and he’s happy to see the more reasonable concession cost for him and his family, including his young son, Daxton.

“Yeah, I did voice my opinion on [the food cost],” he said. “And I’m glad they listen. That’s huge, you know, having a little guy and just, it definitely helps keep prices down.”

Lisa Hidalgo and Ryan Warner were ready to bust out the rain boots for their September weather and climate chat.

Denver7’s chief meteorologist and the Colorado Public Radio host delved into a rare, days-long rainy stretch, our first taste of winter and the pair’s official first-snow-date prediction for Denver.

‘Welly weather’

“Two things happened this week that rarely happen in Colorado,” Warner said. “The first is that when I went to bed it was raining. I woke up and it was raining. And two, the rain meant I could wear my ‘Wellies,’ my Wellington boots.”

“These are rare events,” the green-rubber-boot-clad Warner quipped during the conversation.

Warner and Hidalgo held their conversation on the heels of an unusually rainy spell. In Colorado, rain storms often come and go quickly. This week’s rainfall, though, came during a slow-moving storm.

“It’s more the direction of it and where it camps out,” Hidalgo explained. “So as you get a low pressure system rolling through the state, and we get all this moisture that wraps around the back side of it, it jams up against the foothills. It’s called an upslope flow.”

In the winter, such a storm would’ve meant inches of snow in Denver. With September highs in the 50s, though, it came down as rain in town as it snowed in the high country.

First taste of winter

The National Weather Service in Boulder estimated Tuesday that “a widespread 5-10 inches” of snow fell at the highest elevations – above 10,500 to 11,000 feet – during the September 22-23 storm.

Hidalgo noted things would quickly warm up after what was the area’s first winter weather advisory of the season.

“But this is just a hint of what’s to come,” she said. “And, obviously, we’re going to see a lot more alerts as we get into fall and into winter.”

When will Denver see its first measurable snow?

On average, the first snowfall in Denver happens on Oct. 18. The window has already passed for our earliest first snow, which happened on Sept. 3. The latest first snow in Denver is Dec. 10 – Lisa’s birthday.

With all of that in consideration, Hidalgo predicted this year’s first snow in Denver would fall on Oct. 24.

Warner’s guess? A potentially soggy evening of trick-or-treating after an Oct. 29 first snow.

More weather in-depth

Lisa and Ryan touched on studies on potential connections between both lightning and snowmelt on Colorado’s year-round fire season. They also discussed a study that suggests the eastern half of Colorado is drying out faster than the western half.

For more in-depth weather analysis, watch their full weather and climate chat in the video player below: