Audio By Carbonatix
Independent Journalism in Denver Needs You
We need to raise $25,000 by August 9 to support the reporting our community depends on. Reader support keeps us independent and is playing a larger role in funding local journalism and shaping what comes next. If you believe independent local journalism matters, make a contribution today.
In roller derby, it’s not enough to just stay ahead of the other team: To score points, you have to lap your opponent — at the risk of getting knocked on your ass. And tonight’s 7 p.m. season opener for the Denver Roller Dolls at the 1stBank Center in Broomfield could go either way.
All three of the league’s home teams — Bad Apples, Green Barrettes and Shotgun Betties — will be featured in the round-robin bout, and if they can sell out the 6,500-seat venue, they’ll lap their Rocky Mountain Rollergirls rivals and stake a serious claim as the biggest league in the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association. (Seattle’s Rat City Rollergirls set the national attendance record earlier this month with 5,158 fans.)
“I’m really excited about our new venue and the potential to draw new fans,” says Julie “Angela Death” Adams, a jammer for the Green Barrettes and the Roller Dolls’ traveling team, the Mile High Club. “I really want to sell that place out. We were third in the nation at last year’s WFTDA Nationals tournament in Philadelphia, and Colorado has one of the biggest roller derby scenes in the country, with two leagues in Denver and leagues in Greeley, Fort Collins and Colorado Springs. Now that we’re in an all-ages venue and kids under twelve are free, I think we can do it.”
Still, to fill the joint, they’ll have to sell nearly twice as many tickets — at $15 per — than they’ve ever sold before. Help them out at www.denverrollerdolls.org.
Sat., March 20, 7 p.m.; Sat., April 17, 7 p.m.; Sat., May 8, 7 p.m.; Sat., June 12, 7 p.m.; Sat., Aug. 21, 7 p.m.; Sat., Sept. 18, 7 p.m.; Sat., Oct. 16, 7 p.m., 2010
