Denver: Endless mouthwatering cultural treats

On a recent Tuesday evening, diners surrounded marble-topped bistro tables at Chez Maggy in the new Thompson Hotel, open since February in Denver’s LoDo neighbourhood.

The draw: the opportunity to taste chef Ludo Lefebvre’s classic French fare – garlicky escargot, curry-tinged mussels frites, duck breast à l’orange – at his first venture outside of Los Angeles.

The restaurant and the hotel are among the fresh crop of ventures gaining buzz in this gateway city to the Rocky Mountains, which has reclaimed its pre-pandemic vibrancy.

And visitors are welcomed with open arms. By year’s end, Denver International Airport – which the trade group Airports Council International recently ranked as the world’s third busiest facility – will have 39 additional gates, increasing capacity by 30%.

Tempting travellers are a slew of new cultural offerings, hotels and restaurants, plus the return of favourite events. An anticipated two-year renovation and revitalisation of downtown’s 16th Street Mall was launched this year, and once it is completed, wider sidewalks and new infra-structure should restore the appeal of this 40-year-old pedestrian thoroughfare, which had lost its lustre.

Thanks to Denver’s ample sunshine, numerous festivals and events take place outside, and annual favourites returned in full force this year, including June’s PrideFest and July’s Underground Music Showcase.

The year-round First Friday Art Walks in the Art District on Santa Fe, which drew up to 20 000 gallery hoppers before the pandemic, are regaining their popularity, with the heart of the action among the eclectic galleries and boutiques that line Santa Fe Drive.

After two years of mostly drive-in showings, Denver Film presented its annual Film on the Rocks series at the Red Rocks amphitheatre. After a two-year hiatus, held its adults-only Summer Scream event this week at the vintage Lakeside Amusement Park; besides unlimited rides, actors put under the spotlight the park’s almost 125 years of history.

Outdoor film buffs can experience an offshoot of  Rocky  Mountain Goat Yoga called Goatflix and Chill at Denver’s second-oldest cemetery,  Fairmount,  which has parkland among its  280  acres.  (A  herd of goats nuzzles viewers during the screenings.)

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From 5-11 September, Art RiNo, a new festival, debuts in the RiNo (River North) Arts District with six new outdoor murals  (adding to the district’s collection of more than 100), light installations and a daylong concert outside the  Mission Ballroom, a popular music venue,  headlined by the  Flaming  Lips.

And the  Great  American  Beer  Festival  (6-8  October)  returns to the Colorado Convention Centre after a two-year pause, celebrating 40 years as the country’s largest assemblage of all things related to craft brewing,  with a  competition,  public tastings and two sessions that pair breweries and chefs.

One of the biggest events on the art scene was the reopening of the  Denver  Art  Museum’s  Martin  Building after a  $150  million renovation. A visual counterpoint to the museum’s low-slung,  angular Daniel Libeskind wing, the glass-tiled tower, designed by Italian architect Gio Ponti in 1971, rises seven stories.

The revamped rooftop terrace, where geometric cutouts in the facade frame views of Denver, implement a delayed aspect of Ponti’s original plan.  Inside, one current exhibition showcases Mexican fashion designer and social activist Carla Fernández, who works with Indigenous artisans (through 16 October).

Elsewhere in the museum, the first major exhibition devoted to Georgia O’Keeffe’s photography will run until 6 November.

Immersive art experiences abound in Denver; Lately, the most popular has been the trippy, interactive Meow Wolf, which originated in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 2016. Called Convergence Station, some 70 connected rooms and exhibits lead viewers through a psychedelic dreamscape created by scores of artists in imaginative overdrive.

After a two-year pandemic delay, the Denver Centre for the Performing Arts Theater of the Mind will run from 31 August to 18 December. Created over eight years by musician David Byrne with investment banker and writer Mala Gaonkar, the 75-minute production takes audience members (16  and older) on a narrative and sensory journey that unfolds one person’s life in reverse chronology as a means of exploring memory, perception and self-identity.

“You’ll see that your perception is fairly unreliable, and our memories are made of how we perceived various moments in our lives and are therefore also unreliable,” said Byrne in a presentation about the project at the Aspen Ideas Festival in June.

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