Note: Watch for livestream coverage at gazettedev.gazette.com of Donald Trump’s appearance in Denver at about 10 a.m. Friday.

DENVER – Donald Trump is getting serious about Colorado. 

After an abysmal showing at the state assembly – he didn’t win a single pledged delegate to the Republican National Convention – Trump will be in Denver Friday for both his first public speech and his first private fundraiser in the Centennial State.

Trump is scheduled to talk at the Western Conservative Summit in the morning before attending a private fundraiser in the home of former Denver Broncos coach Mike Shanahan. The rumored $10,000 a couple lunch event is being co-hosted by Pete Coors and Larry Mizel.

For those unable or unwilling to drop the price of a nice used car to see Trump, tickets are available to the Western Conservative Summit – at $120 each – where Trump will be introduced by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

Free events are also planned.

Trump opponents plan to literally build a wall in Civic Center Park.

Trump supporters, led by a man who is a pledged national delegate for Ted Cruz, will hold a rally at 1 p.m. on the west steps of the Colorado Capitol.

The Trump speech at the summit is about a 15-minute walk from the protest and rally sites – with the rally on a hill overlooking where the wall will be built.

It’s a 24-hour blitz that might give Trump a needed boost in a state that has seen very little campaign activity from the presumptive nominee.

Former Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo, said he has been concerned about Trump’s lack of organization in Colorado.

“I look at things in a more traditional way about how to win elections,” said Tancredo, who is scheduled to speak at the rally. “Of course, my last two didn’t go that well, so nobody should really pay attention to what I think about it.”

Joking aside, Tancredo said it’s so important to have a campaign that is in the forefront of voters minds – even for a candidate with the name recognition of Trump.

It was announced Wednesday that Patrick Davis has been hired to head Trump’s Colorado campaign. Davis is a well-known national political consultant who lives in Colorado Springs.

Davis said Wednesday, a few hours before he was officially named Trump’s Colorado campaign manager, that the Colorado Republican Party and the Republican National Committee have had staff working to build a ground team in Colorado for over a year.

“He is an unconventional candidate running an unconventional campaign,” Davis said. “We are not as far behind as Hillary Clinton would lead you to believe.”

Clinton’s team has campaign offices open in several cities, including Aurora, Boulder, Denver, Fort Collins and Pueblo. It’s unclear how many paid staffers Hillary for America has, but it’s dozens.

Tancredo, who said he backs Trump for his immigration plan, will be joined at the rally by two other current candidates for Congress. Mike McAlpine is hosting the event.

“I am a volunteer doing this completely independently,” McAlpine said, emphasizing Trump is not scheduled to be at the rally. “Given the people who have contacted me there is a tremendous amount of support for him.”

Former Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, U.S. Reps. Ed Perlmutter and Rep. Jarred Polis and Dierdra Garcia, former head of the Denver Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, are among those expected at the anti-Trump event.

The Denver Police Department helps provide security when any presidential candidate or other dignitary comes to town. A spokesman for the department said Wednesday they are “planning for the possibility of demonstrations.”

So far the only confirmed demonstration is the plan to build a 9-foot tall, 30-foot wide wall of boxes in Civic Center Park.

“Instead of building walls of separation and hatred and supremacy, we are actually showing that we as a community can come together and build something good for the community,” said Ian Silverii, executive director of ProgressNow Colorado. Silverii said once the wall is up, local artists will paint the boxes, which will later be filled with goods and sent to programs assisting immigrants.

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Contact Megan Schrader: 286-0644

Twitter @CapitolSchrader

“They say it was the roughest campaign ever in the history of Republican politics, but what you do is you go to sleep for a couple of days and you wake up and you honor [the pledge],” Donald Trump said. (AP Photo)