Organization
Colorado Cambodian Community
Colorado Cambodian Community is a community association in Denver, Colorado, United States.
Community
Colorado's Cambodian community numbered about 3,000 people in 2025.[1] Chanrith and Chanbo Oum fled Cambodia in 1981, after the Khmer Rouge genocide. When they reached Colorado, they and other refugees set out to build a place where their growing community could put down roots, and over the following decades they built Buddhist temples along the Front Range.[2] In 2016 the Cambodian Buddhist of Colorado bought a former home off Federal Boulevard, just north of Denver, and runs it as a temple. At Khmer New Year in April 2025, people came from across the metro area to bring food for the monks, to chant and to give donations.[2] The community has spread out over time, and its members worry about keeping their language and traditions as each generation grows up in the United States.[2]
Angkor exhibition (2025)
The Denver Museum of Nature & Science spent several months meeting Cambodians in Denver and their organizations and leaders before it opened "Angkor: The Lost Empire of Cambodia."[3] In the week before the exhibition opened to the public on February 21, 2025, the museum held two Buddhist blessing ceremonies with the community. Elders, families, spiritual leaders, exhibit couriers and museum staff took part. Dancers from Spirit of Cambodia performed, and women from the community cooked and served food at the ceremony on February 18.[1] Cambodian officials came to Denver for the opening and met local families.[2] Tony Oum, an active member of the Cambodian Buddhist of Colorado, helped coordinate the ceremonies with the museum.[1]
The museum invited the community back for a final gathering, with a gallery tour and a screening of the Angkor documentary in its Infinity Theater. The exhibition closed on August 24, 2025.[3] Oum said the exhibit "has put our community and our temple on the map as a resource," and he hoped to see more Khmer exhibits in Denver and the Rocky Mountain region.[3]