Before every Rockies home game for the last quarter century, Joel Watkins sets up his hot dog cart topped with a rainbow umbrella just outside Coors Field. As first pitch approaches, his line runs long but he works fast, systematically doling out dogs and brats for a clientele he knows almost entirely by first name.
Watkins, 58, operates “Diamond Dogs” on the southwest corner of 19th and Wynkoop Streets. Among the many peddlers selling peanuts, water and candy near the stadium, he most notably has become part of the fabric of the neighborhood as one of the last of LoDo’s hot dog vendors.