With the Colorado Avalanche set to kick off their preseason on Monday and the Denver Nuggets scheduled to start next month, the teams decided to celebrate the new sports year and their fans.

The Avalanche — along with the Nuggets, Colorado Rapids and Colorado Mammoth — hosted the inaugural Ball Fall Fest on Saturday in the parking lot of the Ball Arena, celebrating fans with a collection of food trucks, character artists, balloon artists, basketball and hockey demonstrations and prize raffles.

“We’re trying to gather all of our fanbases together as we’re starting the season: Kind of a kickoff event to get everyone ready for the season,” Jayna Patel, senior coordinator for the Avalanche Marketing Department, said, with hundreds of smiling fans celebrating behind her.

“Community is the most important thing to any of our teams,” she continued. “So, anything we can do for our fans. They mean the most to us. If we can put on an event to for them to get the family together and create memories, that’s what we’re going to do.”

And fans of all backgrounds, longevity and ages attended, pumping themselves up with high hopes for their teams.

“I was a casual hockey fan before, but the kids were obsessed with it. I was on board. It’s an awesome family environment here,” Sam Goold said of his two daughters, both under the age of two, decked out in Avalanche gear.

Sam and Alisa Goold moved out to Denver last year from Utah, and their young daughters immediately latched on to the Avs, kickstarting a family fandom.

That Denver fans bring love and energy to the stadium was a colossal factor in their new-found fandom.

“The fans are half the reason we love going to the games,” he said.

“It’s great,” Brandon Hougard, a Denver native and diehard Avs fan, said of bringing his young boys to the event. “Spread the wealth and spread the love of the team. Get them interested and hopefully we can get to a few games this year.”

“I was born and raised here, so I haven’t seen many of the other fanbases, but I think Denver’s fanbase is strong and we are very loyal to our team,” he said.

To Hougard, who only cares about hockey, Denver is the best hockey city in the country.

“Denver is the hockey town,” Hougard exclaimed. “We’ve got DU winning the National Championship last year, so that was great. Obviously the Avs are fantastic and the Eagles up in Loveland are great, too. It’s the hockey town.”

Shane Piazza and his daughter, Avery Piazza, were also swayed by that world-class fanbase when they moved from Pennsylvania in 2015. Though the father is still a dedicated New Jersey Devils fan, the daughter jumped on the Avalanche ship. The father couldn’t say no.

“Compared to back East, you’re not going to reach the capacity like a New York City or Pittsburgh fanbase, but Denver has its own kind of fanbase. It’s really unique,” Shane Piazza said. “What’s really cool about Denver is the live sports availability. We have four major sports in one city. It’s unbelievable.”

From first-year fans to 30-year diehards, the collection of friendly faces is what motivates the teams to continue events like the Ball Fall Fest, Patel said.

“We’ve been super blessed to have the success we’ve had in the last couple of years. Even if we don’t have success, the people of Denver are amazing,” Patel said. “They rally with our teams whether we win or lose. They still love us and we love them right back.”