Good Food, Hoof Beats, New Friendships, and the People Who Make It All Happen
Denver Sister Cities International | October 4, 2026
There is rarely a quiet week at Denver Sister Cities International (DSCI), and this past week was no exception. Our committees have been out enjoying cultural celebrations, visiting museums, developing new partnerships, reflecting on recent accomplishments, and preparing for upcoming events.
There is something particularly encouraging about seeing these activities unfold across different parts of our organization. Each committee has its own interests and traditions, but collectively, they remind us how much can happen when people make the effort to get to know one another.
Here's a little of what has been happening around Denver.
Italian Hospitality: Not an Empty Seat in the House!
Our Denver–Potenza Committee enjoyed a wonderful gathering this weekend at the Sons and Daughters of Italy, joining friends and representatives from Colorado's Italian community for an afternoon of food, culture, and conversation.
The Dante Alighieri Society and the Da Vinci Museum in Pueblo were also represented, bringing together organizations that share an appreciation for Italian heritage, language, history, and the arts.
And what a turnout! There wasn't a seat to be found, and the food was absolutely incredible.
One of the pleasures of belonging to DSCI is discovering how many cultural organizations are active right here in Colorado. These gatherings give us an opportunity to strengthen existing friendships, make introductions, and find new ways to celebrate the international connections that enrich our community.
Our thanks to the Sons and Daughters of Italy for their hospitality and to the Potenza Committee for continuing to build these relationships.
Would you enjoy being part of the Denver–Potenza Committee? Whether you have Italian roots, have traveled to Italy, or simply enjoy learning about its culture, we'd love to introduce you to the committee.
Hoof Beats: A Remarkable Journey Through History
On September 23, members of our Denver–Ulaanbaatar community attended the opening of Hoof Beats at the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History in Boulder, along with the celebration of the museum's renewed exhibition spaces.
The evening featured a presentation by Dr. William (Will) Taylor, CU archaeologist, museum curator, and author of Hoof Beats: How Horses Shaped Human History.
Will is a familiar friend to our Ulaanbaatar community. He has participated in previous delegation tours to Mongolia, generously sharing his knowledge as an acting docent at the Chinggis Khaan Museum in Ulaanbaatar. His research and enthusiasm for Mongolian history have added wonderful depth to those experiences.
His presentation in Boulder offered another fascinating opportunity to learn from him, including a rather surprising chapter in the history of horses.
Did You Know Horses Originated in North America?
Although we often associate horses with the great grasslands of Mongolia, their evolutionary story actually begins much closer to home.
The earliest ancestors of modern horses evolved in North America approximately 30–40 million years ago. Over millions of years, they developed into the larger, single-toed animals we recognize today. Ancient horses eventually migrated from North America into Eurasia through the Bering land connection, long before humans began domesticating them.
Yet around 10,000 years ago, near the end of the last Ice Age, horses disappeared from North America. The reasons for their extinction remain a subject of scientific investigation, with climate change and human activity among the contributing possibilities.
Their descendants survived elsewhere, and thousands of years later, horses made an extraordinary return journey across the Atlantic with Spanish explorers and colonists, beginning in the late 15th century.
Will's collaborative research adds another intriguing dimension to this history. Working with Indigenous scholars, archaeologists, and geneticists, he has helped uncover evidence that horses spread into the Great Plains and northern Rocky Mountains through Indigenous exchange networks by the first half of the 1600s, earlier than some conventional historical accounts had suggested.
It's a remarkable story of migration, extinction, rediscovery, and the enduring relationship between humans and horses.
For Mongolia, of course, horses have remained central to cultural identity for centuries. Exhibitions like Hoof Beats give us an opportunity to explore that heritage while discovering how deeply interconnected the histories of different continents really are.
We encourage members to visit the exhibition and explore Will's book:
- Hoof Beats: How Horses Shaped Human History — University of California Press
- Visit the CU Museum of Natural History
Interested in Mongolia, archaeology, cultural exchange, or international travel? Our Ulaanbaatar Committee would love to hear from you. You don't need to be an expert. Curiosity is a wonderful place to begin.
Dnipro: Opening New Doors with Our City
Our Dnipro–Denver Friendship Committee has made some terrific progress this week in strengthening its relationship with Denver's Human Rights & Community Partnerships (HRCP) office.
On September 28, Mark Dillen and Marina Dubrova met with Heidi Rodríguez, HRCP's Marketing and Communications Manager, and Victoria Aguilar, Deputy Director, to discuss upcoming activities and opportunities for collaboration.
The meeting has already generated meaningful follow-up. In subsequent correspondence, Heidi confirmed that she and Victoria had begun connecting with additional City stakeholders regarding several of the topics discussed.
For Denver's newest Friendship City relationship, these connections are especially encouraging. The formal agreement between Denver and Dnipro, Ukraine, was signed on June 3, but the real work of developing a friendship happens through the people who continue to build upon that agreement.
Mark, Marina, and the committee have been doing exactly that, identifying opportunities for cultural, educational, professional, and humanitarian cooperation while introducing more of Denver to our Ukrainian friends.
Coming Up: October 10 at Long Table
The Dnipro Committee is also preparing for a community fundraiser on Saturday, October 10, at Long Table.
Admission is free. There will be $20 food boxes available, beer for purchase, a live auction, and opportunities to make a donation.
We hope members from across all our Sister City committees will come out to support this growing relationship. You don't need to belong to the Dnipro Committee to participate, and this is a wonderful opportunity to meet new people and learn more about the Ukrainian community in Colorado.
Have a professional connection, an idea for collaboration, or an interest in supporting Dnipro? Please reach out. Sometimes one introduction can open the door to an entirely new opportunity.
Connect with Dnipro.
dnipro@denversistercities.org
Kunming: Forty Years of Friendship, and Time to Reflect
Following September's celebration of the 40th anniversary of Denver's Sister City relationship with Kunming, China, the committee is preparing to come together for a post-event review.
The delegation's visit was the culmination of months of preparation and the efforts of a remarkable group of volunteers. From arranging institutional visits and coordinating schedules to welcoming guests, securing support, and organizing the anniversary banquet, there was an enormous amount of work taking place behind the scenes.
The upcoming review will give committee members an opportunity to reflect on what worked particularly well, what could be improved for future exchanges, and, importantly, recognize the contributions of everyone who helped make the celebration possible.
We were also delighted to see the anniversary activities shared in the City's HRCP newsletter, bringing greater visibility to Denver's longstanding relationship with Kunming.
A successful international visit doesn't end when the delegation boards its flight home. The relationships formed, ideas exchanged, and introductions made can continue generating opportunities for years afterward.
Our sincere thanks to the Kunming Committee, volunteers, community partners, sponsors, and everyone who contributed to this important milestone.
Would you like to participate in future exchanges with Kunming? The committee welcomes members interested in Chinese culture, education, international business, and friendship.
Connect with Kunming
kunming@denversistercities.org
What Makes a Sister City Relationship Successful?
With so much happening across our committees, this seems like a good opportunity to consider a larger question: What makes a Sister City relationship truly successful?
Earlier this year, Sister Cities International (SCI) featured two recipients of its 2025 Innovation in Business, Trade and Professional Exchange Awards: Owensboro Sister Cities and Regions and Fort Worth Sister Cities International.
Their experiences offer some valuable lessons.
Owensboro, Kentucky, developed a professional exchange with Olomouc, Czech Republic, bringing firefighters together to share training, emergency-response practices, and professional expertise. The program created opportunities for participants to learn from their international counterparts while building lasting personal relationships.
Fort Worth Sister Cities International welcomed six municipal leaders from Estonia for an exchange involving local government, community organizations, universities, professionals, volunteers, and four host families. The visitors experienced their host city not simply as tourists, but as colleagues and friends.
Both programs illustrate something important: the most successful Sister City relationships give people a meaningful reason to work together.
SCI identifies four principal areas of exchange that support this mission:
- Arts and Culture: Bringing communities together through heritage, music, food, literature, performance, and shared traditions.
- Youth and Education: Connecting students, schools, universities, and future leaders.
- Business and Trade: Creating opportunities for professional exchange, entrepreneurship, industry collaboration, and economic development.
- Community Development: Sharing expertise, supporting humanitarian initiatives, and working together on challenges facing our communities.
Looking at these principles, it's encouraging to recognize how much DSCI is already doing.
Our Potenza Committee is building connections within Colorado's Italian cultural community. Ulaanbaatar is helping introduce Mongolian history and scholarship to local audiences. Dnipro is developing relationships with municipal partners and identifying new opportunities for cooperation. Kunming has just completed a major anniversary exchange involving educational, cultural, and community institutions.
And these are only a few examples from our organization.
DSCI has its own history of nationally recognized work, having received SCI's 2024 Innovation in Humanitarian Assistance Award.
The lesson from our peers isn't necessarily that we need more events. It's that we should continue finding ways to turn the relationships created through those events into lasting opportunities.
A cultural gathering might lead to a school exchange. A visiting delegation might inspire a professional partnership. A museum exhibition might introduce a student to an entirely new field of study. A conversation over dinner might connect two organizations that otherwise would never have met.
These are the possibilities that make citizen diplomacy so interesting.
You can learn more about the work being recognized nationally through Sister Cities International's Annual Awards.
Do you have an idea for an exchange, a community partnership, or a professional collaboration? We'd love to hear it. You don't have to be a committee chair or a longtime member to contribute something valuable.
Welcoming Our Interim Board and Looking Ahead
There has also been important work taking place behind the scenes as we prepare to welcome our interim Board of Directors.
Following the September Special Members Meeting and the completion of online voting, we will soon be announcing the outcome of the election to serve as interim directors.
Forty-six members participated in the election, exceeding the required quorum. Thank you to everyone who voted and to our incoming directors for their willingness to contribute their time and experience to DSCI.
Preparations are now underway for the Board's organizational meeting, during which the election results will be formally received, leadership responsibilities addressed, and immediate organizational priorities discussed.
Among the opportunities ahead is finding new ways to engage our existing members, welcome new participants, and strengthen the connections between our committees and the broader Denver community.
We have a tremendous network of people with different experiences, talents, professional backgrounds, and international interests. Helping more of those people find a meaningful place within DSCI will be an important part of our continued growth.
There's a Place for You at DSCI
Perhaps something in this week's newsletter caught your attention. Maybe you've always wanted to learn more about Mongolia, have a professional connection that could benefit Dnipro, enjoy Italian culture, or would like to participate in a future exchange with Kunming.
We encourage you to reach out.
Our committees are made up of people who share their interests, experiences, time, and friendships. You don't need to speak another language, have an international background, or commit to a leadership position to participate.
Come to an event. Meet a committee member. Share an idea. Bring a friend.
If you're interested in getting involved, write to info@denversistercities.org, and we'll help connect you with the right people.
And if you're able to support DSCI financially, your contribution helps sustain the programs, exchanges, and community activities that make these relationships possible.
Thank you for being part of our international community. We look forward to seeing where these friendships take us next.
Connecting Globally, Inspiring Locally.
