By Joe Vigil
Denver isn’t called the Mile High City just because its median elevation is 5,280 feet above sea level.
The nickname also reflects the tendency for residents to get high on life, especially during the summer months.
This summer, Denverites could not walk five feet without stumbling across some sort of celebration of the city’s unique spirit, be it a festival, sporting event, concert or a special appearance by a noteworthy individual.
During a weekend in June, residents of the Highlands neighborhood flooded the area around the intersection of 32nd Ave. and Lowell Blvd. for the Highland Street Fair, which included live music, carnival rides, food carts and booths advertising local businesses, both on and off the street.
July saw Denver rock out for the Underground Music Showcase, which featured performances from bands at various venues all along South Broadway in the Baker neighborhood. Performing bands included Mudhoney, Cults, Born in the Flood, Bleached and a cross-section of local flavors including ManCub, Andy Palmer, Esme Patterson, Roniit, The Epilogues, Stephanie Dorman, Shady Elders and Tejon St. Corner Thieves. In another part of town during July, Neil Gaiman appeared at the LoDo location of the Tattered Cover Bookstore for the only in-store book signing of his current tour. The month closed with the annual Dragon Boat Festival on Sloan’s Lake, which offered boat races and gave goers a taste of Asian culture.
The summer’s climactic month was also its most explosive. On August 9 and 10, cult movie fans spanning three generations were treated to both an impromptu showing of Rocky Horror Picture Show at Film On the Rocks and special appearances by Tommy Wiseau and Greg Sestero, stars of the dramatic cinematic masterpiece The Room, at The Esquire Theater south of Downtown (Rocky Horror was only on August 9, Sestero and Wiseau appeared both nights).
That same weekend coincided with the premiere of T.V. show Breaking Bad’s final eight episodes, which was (along with all subsequent and future episodes) projected in a movie auditorium at the SIE Film Center on August 11. Just as the tension was palpable in the auditorium during the chronicling of Walter White’s descent, so too was the energy on the roof of that very building the following Thursday.
The summer’s third “Raise the Roof” block party, which was sponsored by Twist & Shout record store and the SIE Film Center, was held at the top of their shared parking structure and featured a stunning view, giveaways, the Stay-Puff Marshmallow Man, cornhole, live comedy, a stunning view and live performances by local bands Ark Life and Shady Elders. One week later, Twist & Shout patrons were treated to an acoustic in-store performance by popular indie rock act Teagan and Sara.
Even without mentioning the regular spate of Rockies games and concerts, it is clear that Denver residents had a plethora of leisure time activities to choose from this summer. Now that Labor Day’s Taste of Colorado festival at Civic Center Park is over, the countdown until next summer has begun, with the promise of all sorts of adventures brewing in various nooks across the Mile High-On-Life City.
