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Contributed by: Erin Feese/YourHub.com on 8/30/2007

Edgewater has a long history of bleeding blue and orange -- and now they have the flag to prove it.

Sporting their best Denver Broncos attire, Edgewater residents showed up at the Edgewater Inn on Aug. 29 to sign their names to a flag that will be displayed at Invesco Field at Mile High. A second flag was given to the city to keep.

Edgewater may be a small town, but it's home to some big Broncos fans, said Cheryl Archuleta, who has been a resident for 30 years. In late July, the city was invited to enter the contest to receive a visit from the Broncos. Communities were asked to send any sort of submission -- letters, photos, stories -- to prove they were true fans, and nine Colorado cities were selected.

"When we submitted the entry, I thought, 'Well, we've done what we could,'" Archuleta said, who spearheaded the effort to gather submissions from residents. "When we got the phone call that we'd actually won, I couldn't speak."

Included in Edgewater's submission was an invitation detailing Edgewater's long history as a Broncos town; a sketch of Phillip Thomas, an avid young Broncos fan who also was the grand marshal in the Edgewater Days parade; and a photo of the old Edgewater Inn bus, which used to shuttle fans to and from the stadium.

The Edgewater Inn, owned by Dick and Carolyn DiPietro, is a popular place for locals to gather for games, Archuleta said.

"There's this old Edgewater saying, 'If you're not a Broncos fan, don't go near the Edgewater Inn on Broncos Sunday,'" she said.

Dick DiPietro said the Edgewater Inn's reputation as an "unofficial" Broncos headquarters began back in the 1960s, when his father, Ben DiPietro, was running the restaurant. Edgewater resident Ernie Ortez, or "Big O" as he was known, worked at the old Mile High Stadium and invited Broncos players to come hang out at the Edgewater Inn.

Ortez was such a Broncos fanatic that he constantly wore an orange derby hat and his house was painted Broncos colors, DiPietro said.

As the Edgewater Inn's Broncos notoriety grew, the inside of the bar was painted orange, and a 1964 mail truck was converted into a bus to shuttle fans to and from the inn during games. The inn owned 28 season tickets and would take its best customers to the games, DiPietro said.

Edgewater resident Ron Severns said he used to live across the street from the Edgewater Inn, and would watch fans gather to be taken to the game by the "Howdy bus."

"It was like a San Francisco trolley -- there would be people hanging off the sides," said Severns, who used to be a bartender at the Edgewater Inn.

Due to legal reasons, the old bus had to be retired, but the inn still offers a shuttle to and from home games for $5.

Edgewater was the second city to be visited on the Broncos Country flag tour, said Bobby Mestas, a marketing representative for the Broncos.

"The Broncos Country campaign is really about the fans," Mestas said. "It is a way to say thank you for your support."

The focus of the flag promotion is to reach out to fans outside of Denver, he said. The other cities chosen to sign flags are Cheyenne Wells, Rifle, Broomfield, Colorado Springs, Sterling, Estes Park, Grand Junction and Trinidad.

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