Be a Part of City Park’s History: Sign the Beam! November 8 Celebration City Park Pavilion 3-5 pm

A group of people sitting on steps near a building.

Join us for the kickoff of the City Park Bandstand restoration and sign your name on a steel beam that will be part of the new structure. The event will take place on Sunday, November 8 from 3-5 pm at the City Park Pavilion. You are invited to enjoy refreshments provided by the Denver Park Trust; view the Landmark Commission-approved designs provided by the Mundus Bishop landscape firm; chat with city officials, neighborhood and community groups about future steps and implementation, and enjoy the glory of City Park – all on a Sunday afternoon. Kids and their parents are welcome.

The area around the City Park Pavilion has been a place for music and social gatherings since at least 1890 when the park was considered to be “out of town.”  People would take the tram in droves to listen to musicians performing on the island in Duck Lake.

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The Floating Bandstand, built in 1896, with the battery-powered launch that was purchased in 1893 at the Chicago World’s Fair. Courtesy, Colorado Historical Society

The first official bandstand was built on the shores of the Big Lake (today’s Ferril Lake) in 1896. This was a floating bandstand that was towed to the middle of the lake after the musicians were ushered on board. After some exciting mishaps with the floating version, a new and larger bandstand (#2) was built in 1899 and anchored a few feet from the shore of the newly dredged Big Lake. The current Pavilion was built around this time as well, establishing City Park as Denver’s party place supreme with dancing, singing and socializing galore. This bandstand was hit by a firecracker and burned to the ground sometime before 1914.

The next Bandstand (#3), “an open air concert hall” and silent movie venue was built at the same site but was later moved to a site just north of the Pavilion. This bandstand was used until 1924 when a new bandstand (#4) was built in the location in front of the Pavilion that we know today. The Bandstand was renovated in 1984 and significantly rehabilitated in 1994.
Ten to fifteen thousand people crowded around the pavilion and lined the shores of the lake on every fourth of July for the band concerts. Courtesy of Denver Public Library, Western History Department
The City Park Bandstand was meant to survive. City Park Jazz, the Denver Municipal Band and musicians who just hang out there have continued the musical tradition of this beloved landmark. The tragedy of its destruction by fire on March 26, 2026 sparked the community to bring it back from the brink once again. Private donors rose to the occasion as well. Please join us to celebrate this Denver musical icon that you helped bring back to life. Sign your name to a beam and be a part of its ongoing history.
Colorado Blvd traffic outside City Park
Colorado Blvd BRT Forum
November 12, 6 PM
Infinity Park Event Center
in Glendale

City Park is bounded to the east by Colorado Blvd. This corridor functions as a major multi-lane arterial road which Colorado State Highway 2 (SH 2). The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) is currently studying a proposed Colorado Boulevard Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project running approximately 7 miles from I-70 down to the Southmoor Station south of Hampden Avenue. If you are interested to learn how such a plan would effect City Park and surrounding neighborhoods, there is a meeting you can attend to learn more.
Heavy traffic on Colorado Blvd at peak hours
The grassroots citizen group called Save Colorado Boulevard has decided to address the Colorado Boulevard BRT issue by organizing what it calls a Citizen-Led Colorado Boulevard BRT Forum to be held on November 12 starting at 6:00 p.m.  Cohosted by the City of Glendale, the Forum will be held at the Infinity Park Event Center at 4400 E. Kentucky Avenue.  Parking should be available on the lot at the northeast corner of Kentucky and South Cherry and on the Municipal Building parking lot south of the Municipal Building on South Birch.

On October 19, Save Colorado Boulevard sent the chief executives of the Colorado Department of Transportation, the Regional Transportation District, the Denver Department of Transportation and Infrastructure, and the Denver Regional Council of Governments letters explaining the Forum and stating:

“A grassroots citizen group called Save Colorado Boulevard together with the City of Glendale is hosting a Citizen-Led Colorado Boulevard BRT Forum on November 12 starting at 6:00 p.m.  The Forum will be held at the Infinity Park Event Center at 4400 E. Kentucky Avenue.  We are asking project team leaders and/or subject matter experts of the Colorado Department of Transportation, the Regional Transportation District, the Denver Department of Transportation and Infrastructure, and the Denver Regional Council of Governments to attend and respond fully to questions about a possible BRT project on Colorado Boulevard and hear comments and concerns from the public.  The Forum will be moderated by Patty Calhoun, the former editor of Westword.”

Save Colorado Boulevard hopes that this citizen-led event will shed more light on the possibility of a Colorado Boulevard BRT project with meaningful participation of the four agencies that are involved in one way or another.  The question and answer format of the Forum will facilitate public communication that was not possible at CDOT’s April 8 public meeting at the Clayton Early Learning Center.
Are you interested in a possible Colorado Boulevard BRT Project and its impact on City Park Users? Come to the meeting on November 12!
New grass at Living Land project, looking north to museum from Ida’s Rock Garden
Steaming works!
Living Land looking west
As reported in the last CPFAN newsletter, an innovative steaming process was used to eliminate the blue grass from the South Meadow in August. Troop on over to see what’s coming up – native prairie grass! This is the Restore element of the Living Land project, a collaboration between Denver Parks and Recreation and indigenous tribes to celebrate and educate City Park visitors about environmental resiliency and honor the native and indigenous tribes who first occupied this land. Other components of Restore, like paths and wildflowers, will be added next.

The historic Lily Pond is the Heal portion of Living Land. Native and indigenous community members will guide the effort to establish native and traditional medicinal plantings in the seven beds of the Lily Pond.

The Gather element of Living Land will establish an Arbor in the former East Playground that creates community space and includes an art installation and picnic space. The Gather and Heal components of Living Land are slated to begin construction in 2027.

Shelby Batalla is the Denver Parks and Recreation (DPR) Living Land Project Manager. Ellie Garza is DPR’s Project Manager for the South Meadow. Kristina Maldonado Bad Hand and Sid Whiting are the consultants overseeing the project from the Indigenous community.

We can’t wait to see what happens next in this special part of City Park.
Fall splendor in City Park
Donations are Welcome!