Union Station shakes like it was 1929

About 850 people attended the event Wednesday night

About 850 of Denver’s movers and shakers owere moving and shaking – and having an old-fashioned good time – at Wednesday’s A Night in Old Union Station fundraiser to restore the Welcome (Mizpah) Arch that once stood in front of the historic building.

Many people dressed in the dapper flapper-style of the Roaring ’20s and beyond, during the heyday of Union Station, when it was considered the grandest building in Denver. Tickets cost as much as $100 each.

Men wearing railroad-style hats carefully rode penny-farthing bicycles through the crowd, while talented Barber Quartet and several bands entertained. They even had professional jitter-buggers that drew crowds.

People dined on things such as salmon, chicken, salads and pizza, while beer and wine flowed. A documentary called Denver Union Station: Portrait to Progress, was displayed on a giant screen.

“You can see the Oxford Club, and the Union Station and there is our office,” a proud Dee Chirafisitold me when one historic slide was projected. Chirafisi, co-owner of Kentwood City Properties, across the street from the station, was arguably the most authentically dressed women there. She wore 1926 flapper dress loaned to her from a woman she knows from Pilates class, who is in charge of costumes at the DCPA.

“It fits me like a glove,” Dee said and inDEEd it did.

Dee Chirafisi wore an authentic flapper dress from 1926.

Early in the evening, Mayor John Hickenlooper spied me and asked if I knew where to find Dana Crawford, the urban pioneer responsible for the shingdig. I pointed him in Dana’s general direction.

“I’m here because Dana Crawford tole me to be,” Hickenlooper quipped during his speech.

Also giving speeches were Walter Isenberg, head of hotel company Sage Hospitality, and developer Evan Makovsky, who among many other things, saved and restored the historic building commonly called the Fontius shoe store building along the 16th Street Mall.

After the speech, both Isenberg and Makovsky said that it was really Crawford deserved all the credit. Crawford shrugged off any praise and said she was glad to do it.

“What I like most about this,” said Jim Theye, co-owner of Kentwood City Properties, as he surveyed the crowd from the back of the station, “is that everyone who is here, is here because they care.”