State Games of the West - Opening Ceremonies

Thursday night I got the chance to connect with some local photographers led by Monica Bryant Photography to provide photo coverage of the opening ceremonies for the State Games of the West at the World Arena in Colorado Springs.


The night was filled with all kinds of great entertainment from a rock concert to jump ropers extraordinaire to an Army choir and even gold medal olympians.

Some of my favorite images from the night:




High-flying entertainment from The Skyriders:








The big entertainment of the evening was from local dance studios participating in the 'Light the World Parade' which has been part of Olympic opening ceremonies and will be again next year.
















I even got a chance to meet Colorado springs mayor Lionel Rivera:




The evening culminated with the lighting of the torch by Olympic gold medalist Derek Parra:







All in all a terrific time and I hope to get opportunities to photograph at the Americas Games next year too!