150+ confirmed Colorado makers, 3 sponsor booths, a stage of homegrown music, and the state's 150th birthday. Free, all day, in one park.
Colorado is 150 because its makers, its musicians, and its neighbors kept showing up and chose to stay. On August 1 at Commons Park, 150+ confirmed Colorado makers, 3 sponsor booths, and a stage of homegrown acts mark the birthday. Free, all day.
Thousands of people. One park. One hundred forty-nine confirmed makers, 3 sponsor booths, a main stage, the Platte on one side, the city on the other.
Start on the 16th Street walkway, the stretch between Commons Park West and the bridge. Food trucks the whole way, cold drinks, plenty of Colorado-made. Eat, grab a beer, then head for the water.
Cross the Highland Bridge over the South Platte. River on one side, skyline on the other. On the far bank the park opens up into the stage and the maker village.
Right off the bridge, the main stage. A full afternoon of homegrown Colorado acts marking the 150.
Los Mocochetes headline. Brothers of Brass, May Be Fern, and School of Rock join them. More names on the way.
The heart of it. One hundred and fifty Colorado makers in the village green across the river, each gold dot a booth. The people building the next 150 years. Browse as long as the day lasts.
Every act on this bill calls Colorado home. A headliner that built Chicano funk in Denver, a brass line that owns these streets, the neon funk rockers everyone will claim they saw first, and the kids coming for all of it.
01 Headliner
Bilingual, horn-heavy Chicano funk, built in Denver and impossible to stand still to. Ten years in, they have turned protest into a party everywhere from the Westword Music Showcase to TEDxMileHigh, and Westword handed them Best Latin Band and Best Funk Band along the way. On Colorado's 150th birthday, they close the show.
Funky protest music.Colorado Public Radio
02 Featured
Hard-hitting NOLA brass that came up busking Denver's sidewalks and stadium gates, then carried that sound to Red Rocks, Cervantes', and the Gothic. A wall of horns over street-parade drums, loud enough to pull you across the bridge. Westword named them the city's best brass band. Expect a second line.
We feel very much adopted by Denver as a city.Armando Lopez, Brothers of Brass, in Westword
03 On the rise
Neon funk rock with two lead voices, tarot on the album covers, and a rhythm section that swings like 1978. Their debut took Westword's Best Debut Album, the follow-up Three of Swords landed last fall, and we booked them the first chance we got. See them in a park for free now. Brag about it later.
One of my favorite moments playing a show is walking in a room where no one believes in anything we're doing and then completely flipping it.Madi Spillman, May Be Fern, in Westword
04 The next generation
The kids get the same stage as the headliners. School of Rock's performance program puts young players on real bills all year long, so a park full of thousands is just the next gig. Colorado's next 150 years of music start somewhere. They start here.
Maker announcements, cultural performances, and more drop between now and August 1. Subscribers get every one of them first.
The long road to 150
Colorado did not arrive at its 150th the easy way. Five tries, two vetoes, three languages, and a 38th star.
Read the 150-year story
The whole city, out on the river in Commons Park, for the makers, the music, and the day.
What local means to us
Colorado bets on its own. A market is the cheapest storefront a new business will ever have, and some of the makers who got their start at ours went on to national TV, to shelves across the country, to cooking for the home team. A few of our favorites.
See the full statewide calendar at colorado.com.
Use 1550 Little Raven Street, Denver, CO 80202 for maps and rideshare. The celebration fills Commons Park toward 15th Street and Platte Street.
Open directions to the main arrival point. Use the same address for rideshare drop-off.
Denver Union Station is the nearest major RTD hub, with A, B, G and N commuter rail plus current bus and light-rail connections. Check the RTD trip planner for day-of service changes. ALSO e-Bikes provides dedicated bike parking inside the event.
Commons Park has paved, mostly flat paths and a ramped Highland Bridge crossing. Email contact@gumpoppresents.com for specific arrival help. Check @denverbazaar for day-of weather or access updates.
Sell your work to the city for a day. Booth space fills fast. Tell us what you make.
Put your brand in front of thousands of Coloradans at Denver's Colorado 150 celebration. Main stage, the maker village, the full afternoon.
Covering Colorado's sesquicentennial? Photos, facts, and interviews are ready for the 150.
One free day for the whole city runs on the people who show up to help. Tell us how to reach you and if you can make August 1.
Volunteer with us
