How about a parade for Olympians?

QUESTION: With the amount of publicity — and I am sure revenue — the Olympic Training Center brings to Colorado Springs, I do not understand why the city seems to ignore the center and the athletes. My expectation is the city at minimum have an annual parade for the great athletes that train here.
- Bob A.

RESPONSE: Reader Roy Hetzel responded: “I agree that the Olympic athletes deserve more regular recognition than once every four years. Perhaps The Gazette could do a weekly feature of a sport/athletes and syndicate the feature to other papers to spread the word. How about an annual festival centered around the Fourth of July that involves youths of our community who are sports enthusiasts interested in pursuing Olympic dreams? There could be minicamps put on by the athletes to demonstrate what training is required to achieve world-class results, and the kids could meet the athletes at the same time. It could be promoted statewide to bring in more revenue. At the very least, a parade is a good idea.”

Another reader thought a parade could be tied to the Rocky Mountain State Games. We’ll pass along your ideas to the Colorado Sports Corp.