Two days after winning the franchise’s first MLS Cup, the Colorado Rapids held a rally in Skyline Park downtown yesterday, hosting more than a thousand fans in a raucous celebration. Governor Bill Ritter was among the dignitaries at the event, proclaiming “Colorado Rapids Day” in honor of the team’s win over FC Dallas (via The Associated Press).

Soccer may not have the profile of other professional sports in the United States, but a Denver Post photo gallery of the rally shows plenty of pride for the Rapids. “It’s a fairy tale, you know?” says Brian Mullan, a player brought to Colorado earlier this season in a trade from the Houston Dynamo. Mullan, a 1997 graduate of Regis Jesuit High School in Aurora, has now won five MLS titles throughout his career. Notably absent from the celebrations was Macoumba Kandji, the Senegal-born forward who knocked in the game’s winning goal off a Dallas defender. Kandji tore his left ACL on the game-winning play and couldn’t attend the rally as a result, reports ESPN.

The Rapids don’t have a lot of time to dwell on the win with today’s 2010 MLS Expansion Draft underway. Colorado expects to hold on to most of its players, although some could be headed out the door (full list via 9News).