Denver Residents Invited To Online Trivia To Help Fuel Local Businesses In The Future

DENVER (CBS4) - VISIT DENVER wants to help the community celebrate its home and support local businesses while residents follow the city's stay-at-home order by giving out prizes for answering trivia questions online. The Love This City campaign highlights the landmarks that make Denver special and the rewards give participants something to look forward to when the community reopens.

"Most of my business is seasonal, and this is the time of the year things would be ramping up," said Kelsey Huffer, a photographer who lives in Denver. "It's an especially important time to support our favorite local businesses."

Huffer says since she is starting her day at home checking email, she worked the daily trivia challenge into her morning routine. She answered a question about the wine producer, Infinite Monkey Theorem, and won a gift card for the restaurant group Edible Beats.

"We live in a great city, don't we?" said Justin Bresler, vice president of marketing and business development for VISIT DENVER. "The problem is that people can't experience it right now, and we just don't want them to forget what's out there."

VISIT DENVER started asking questions on April 20 on the website, LoveThisCityDenver.com. Two weeks in, they have awarded a family membership to the Denver Zoo, a season pass to Elitch Gardens, and gift cards to restaurants. The name of the campaign comes from the mural by artist Pat Milbery with the phrase "Love This City" on it.

Questions will appear each day for the next four weeks. There will be a grand prize summer and winter getaway at the end of the contest.

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"We know that Denver, as a city, is very resilient. The tourism and hospitality community are always ready to bounce right back," Bresler said. "We will be there for our residents and visitors when the right time comes."

The organization also launched ToGoDenver.com to help people find 800 restaurants offering to-go options, the site has already passed 200,000 page views. They want to encourage the public to support these businesses during the stay-at-home order and while residents need to practice social distancing.

"First of all, we want everyone to stay safe and when they feel the time is right, get out there and engage with our local businesses," he said. "We will all have great safety practices put in place when they are allowed to open."

Huffer says she is excited to use her gift card and hopes to enjoy it when restaurants can welcome back diners to their establishments. She says it is one of the many reasons she loves to live here, having spent four years in Denver and more before that in Colorado.

"Going to those restaurants sounds so lovely and something to look forward to when we're out of this quarantine," she said. "I guess it was a little something to look forward to when this is all over."

One advantage from quarantine is that she is actually getting time to enjoy Denver when she would normally be busy with weddings and other photo shoots, she rarely had the chance to take part in the summer activities that people love in the state.

"It's really nice to be able to explore our city a little bit in a different way than we have been used to."

LINK: Love This City | To-Go Denver