There isn’t always a big, shining sign pointing to the future. But on East Colfax Ave., there is, and the local arts community in northwest Aurora believes it’s a beacon of what’s to come for the neighborhood and its overlapping 16-block creative district.
This month: 1) Take an Immersive Space Walk at Stanley Marketplace; 2) Check to See If You Have Unclaimed Property; 3) Proposed Changes to Sidewalk Repair Ordinance; 4) Ashley Elementary First Graders Get Bicycles; School Doubles in Size; and 5) Mayor’s Plan to Combat Auto Theft.
Purchased by the City of Aurora in 2015 and converted into an arts venue, The People’s Building is revitalizing the neighborhood by providing platforms for artists, entertainment and culture for audiences, and foot traffic for businesses. Now a new venue called Manos Sagrados (Sacred Hands), expected to open this spring, will augment the District by offering live music, art studios, and yoga sessions.
Sporting a wide-brimmed hat and a large paintbrush, artist Ed Natan can often be found on Colfax Avenue, South Broadway, in the Uptown neighborhood, or in one of Denver’s municipal parks, chatting with locals or tourists as he creates vivid watercolor paintings of some of the city’s most iconic street scenes.
New interactive art is now adorning the East Colfax neighborhood in some of the most unexpected places, from panels atop wooden posts throughout McNichols Park to vinyl-wrapped electrical boxes along Colfax Avenue. The panels and electrical boxes are inscribed with original poetry and are the “stops” in a “StoryWalk,” the first art installation by the Denver non-profit Sidewalk Poets.
This month: 1) 4 Noses Brewing Expands to Park Hill; 2) FlyteCo Brewing Offers Tours of Former Air Traffic Control Tower; 3) Camp Christmas Returns to Stanley Marketplace; 4) New Mural on Sand Creek Trail in Central Park; and 5) Cheluna Brewing Wins Gold Medal.
Primarily a contemporary ballet company, Wonderbound also curates and displays visual works, collaborates with local songwriters, stages productions with live bands, and has incorporated spoken word poetry into performances. Wonderbound exists “to foster bounding curiosity and thoughtful storytelling,” Fay says. “Everything is created for Wonderbound and choreographed by Garrett.”
It’s a way to celebrate visual arts, small businesses, food, music, and one of metro Denver’s most under-appreciated neighborhoods. The Fourth Annual Colfax Canvas Mural Festival will be held on Sept. 16 from 12pm-5pm in the heart of Aurora’s Arts District along Colfax Avenue.
If you want to hear—and learn—mariachi music in Denver, you only have to go so far as the East Central Park neighborhood in Aurora, home to the Colorado Youth Mariachi Program (CYMP).
After 20 years in the corporate world, Park Hill resident Willy Wilson picked up a camera and “took a chance on the surprise factor,” she says. She launched her portraiture business, Life Unstill Photography, about a decade ago, and in January received one of the top honors in her industry, the Photographer of the Year award from the National Association of Portrait and Child Photographers.
This month: Snarfs Opens in Mayfair Plaza; Westerly Creek Election Results; Non-Profit Kids’ Soccer League; and East Colfax Neighborhood Mural.
This Month: 1) La Fillete Opens in Montclair; 2) Two NE Denver Arts Festivals; 3) Northfield High School Developments; 4) New High Plains Bike Park; 5) Modern Market at Anschutz Campus; and 6) Central Park Playground Nears Completion.
