While the sun was shining on a brisk Denver day, the halls of the Asterisk event center were bumping with an indoor celebration of the city — all started by a podcast.

City Cast Denver hosted its first in-person event Saturday with the HEYDAY fair in the Ballpark District, highlighting all things Denver with an old-timey fair filled with carnival games, local vendors and performers, food and family fun.

The idea for a city-centric celebration came from City Cast, the podcast network that crafts and produces Denver’s daily podcast show.

While City Cast has daily podcasts and newsletters in 13 cities across the nation, they chose Denver for the test celebration due to its high listenership and vibrant culture, according to City Cast’s Director of Events, Julie Carroll.

While the Colorado State Fair falls in the late summer, and happens outside, City Cast Denver wanted to plan an event on the brink of spring when everyone is ready to get out and about — but is often held captive indoors.

The first event was a smashing success, according to Carroll, with tickets selling out and the fair full of smiling faces.

City Cast will now take the idea to other cities, and grow the event in Denver for next year.

“A lot of us — especially post COVID and just the way the future is now — feel really disconnected from people,” Carroll said. “We wanted to do something positive and silly. We wanted to take the idea of a basic state fair and make it really Denver themed.”

Those Denver-themed events included a Mexican dance performance by Ballet Folklorico, a floral arranging showcase by Wild Iris Floral Studio and a live art instillation by Kenzie Sitterud, among other performances.

The primetime event of the show was the Denverist Denverite Costume Contest, in which people could dress up as what their interpretation of Denver was.

Mayor Mike Johnston was a special judge and crowned the winner with one of his signature corduroy jackets.

“We just wanted to do a fun costume contest, but wanted it to be something anyone could enter,” City Cast host Bree Davies said. “What makes you the Denverist Denverite? For me, I’d dress up like the weird guy I see on Colfax. Or maybe you dress up as a piece of legislation or your favorite piece of public art.”

She added: “We wanted to do something fun and silly that also harkens back to the show and what we do, which is talk about what makes Denver Denver.”

City Cast Denver started in March 2021. It was one of two cities that first introduced the podcast, the other being Chicago.

The daily podcast and newsletter covers news, politics, culture, arts and everything happening in the city.

“What we get to do is talk about the city every day,” Davies said. “So, celebrating the city is just as important as critiquing it and keeping it accountable and telling stories.”

Regarding the event, Davies said, “We wanted to have a space where our listeners and readers could come together and celebrate all of the beautiful things that make Denver the reason we have this show in the first place.”

“It’s fun. It’s exciting to be able to see the people I hear every day,” Tim Coletta, a listener of the podcast since it started, said after seeing the hosts in person for the first time. “It’s great local news. It’s a great, short thing you can listen to while you’re doing other things. You just get a hit of what’s going on in the city. It’s a well-rounded podcast.”