While 303 Day — an annual March 3 celebration of all things Colorado — sure seems like the type of event that the state’s founding fathers would have written into the constitution, it’s actually a relatively new occasion.
In fact, when we reached out to Colorado historians and experts to learn more about the origins of the now-ubiquitous event named after our first area code, we were surprised that they had no clue how or when 303 Day got started. Professors at the University of Colorado’s Boulder and Denver campuses couldn’t help us. Then we tried History Colorado, the Colorado and Denver tourism offices, and the Denver mayor’s arts and culture commission. No luck there, either.
Turns out, 303 Day isn’t an official state holiday at all. It’s the brainchild of Channel 93.3, Denver’s modern rock radio station, and Illegal Pete’s, the Colorado-based burrito chain. Denver’s periodical for young professionals, 303 Magazine, later joined in on the project.
The first 303 Day was in 2009, after a conversation between Channel 93.3 deejay Jeb Freedman — aka Nerf — and members of the Colorado band 3OH!3.
“I told them that if (the band) 311 has their 3/11 day, they should have a 303 day,” Freedman said recently. “Then I said, ‘Wait, that shouldn’t be a holiday for (just) you guys; it should be a holiday for the whole state.’ “
The first year was “just a handful of tweets,” Freedman said, but the idea quickly caught on.
Since then, 303 Day has ballooned into a well-known Colorado “holiday” and includes a little something for everyone, including $3.03 breakfast burritos or bowls, margaritas, bloody marys and New Belgium beers at all nine of Illegal Pete’s locations. Plus, if you wear your favorite Colorado gear, you’ll get a free “I 303’d” sticker there, too.
You can also enter to win tickets to 303 Day at Night, a show at The Oriental Theater featuring 888, AMZY, One Flew West and others. Though the March 3 concert is free, it’s first-come, first-served access, but you can score guaranteed admission by donating at least $3.03 to Foodbank of the Rockies.
Plus, on March 3, when you visit the Illegal Pete’s on Colfax between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., you can win clothing made by Colorado-based Belong Designs, say “hi” to Nerf the 93.3 deejay, and grab a copy of 303 Music Vol. 2, a vinyl album featuring all local artists created by 303 Magazine.
The magazine is donating 80 percent of the proceeds from record sales to Youth on Record, a nonprofit that seeks to empower at-risk teens with music.
The organizers also are offering free headshots to 150 local comedians, artists and bands in honor of 303 Day, since that can be a stumbling block for burgeoning performing artists. The photos will be on display on the magazine’s website and at Illegal Pete’s restaurants around Colorado.
Living near or in the mountains isn’t all that makes Colorado special, said Erin Barnes, spokeswoman for Illegal Pete’s. It’s also the eclectic mix of people who live here.
“That’s why we get so excited about 303 Day,” she said. “It’s a chance for all of us sports fans, rock stars, book nerds, foodies, radical crafters and metalheads to get together to celebrate a love of our community.”
Above all else, the annual celebration is designed to bring Coloradans together — it’s as simple as that. And that’s pretty easy to do, considering how much people love this place. (Have you seen real estate prices lately?)
“People resonate with 303 Day because no matter what we’re into, we can all come together to celebrate our home state,” Barnes said. “Everyone has a unique relationship to Colorado, and we try to reflect that in the way we celebrate 303 Day. We have something for everyone. We encourage people to rock their Colorado gear because we want to see your favorite bands, sports teams, breweries, roller derby teams and more.”
The history of area codes in Colorado
Ten-digit local phone numbers came to Denver in the late 1990s, according to Brooke Gladstone with History Colorado. “It’s a pretty common history,” she says. “Cities grow and run out of numbers, so they introduce a new area code. Prior to the late ’90s, numbers (for local calls) were only seven digits and didn’t require an area code.”
Nationally, three-digit area codes date back to 1947 (with 303 reportedly covering the entire state of Colorado), but they were used primarily for making long-distance calls between states. As the number of people using telephones and fax machines grew, so too did the need for additional area codes. Colorado, for instance, added the 720 area code for Front Range residents in 1998 once all the 303 numbers were taken.
In August 1998, The Associated Press described the day when Denver residents first began having to dial 10-digit phone numbers to make local calls — and they were not thrilled. One Denver resident complained that she was “starting to feel like a robot” because of all the numbers she had to memorize.
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