Organizers of Thursday’s fourth installment of the Riverfront Wine and Fashion series have decided to turn the final summer show into a benefit for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Set in Riverfront Plaza with the Millennium Bridge as a backdrop (otherwise known as the ship’s mast in LoDo), the series kicked off in June and has blossomed into a large-scale hit over the summer. The three previous events – held in June, July and August – have featured a shared theme for the wine tasting and fashion shows, such as July’s French wines and Parisian fashions, or the pairing of California wines and left-coast fashions for the finale Thursday.
Each event has outdone the previous one over the summer, with about 350 attendees sipping and mingling at the August show, and 500 guests are hoped for at Thursday’s fundraiser. Tickets range from $20 for an individual to $295 for a reserved table for six (available through riverfrontfashion.com), and guests can select from a list of charity organizations to receive their ticket revenues.
Details were not settled at press time, but executive producer Kevin Joseph said he planned to include the local chapters of the American Red Cross and Salvation Army in the hopes that hurricane transplants now housed in Denver will benefit.
“A lot of these people will end up staying here because they have nothing to go back to, and we want to help them directly,” Joseph said.
Also new for the finale is a family-friendly circus theme, with stilt walkers and magicians to entertain the kiddies, and a selection of California wines via Little Raven Vineyards for the adults. Fashions by The Skye boutique will hit the semicircular runway about 8 p.m., and shuttles will take guests to Monarck about 10 p.m. for a free afterparty at the LoDo lounge.
Relief for theme-weary barhoppers
“Come on, let’s bounce.”
You hear it all the time, whenever easily bored barhoppers in town decide to split the current scene and move on to the next one. Now there is an entire event custom made for short-attention-span clubbers; the difference is that the “Bounce” party has a planned itinerary and is open to anyone who wants to join along the way.
Promoter Kevin Larson is known more for his highly theatrical theme and costume parties, but he recently conducted an informal poll and discovered that most of his audience is no longer impressed by the constant parade of special events that crop up on club calendars every week.
Apparently, aerial acrobatics, pajama parties, fetish themes and white parties have been done too many times, and his survey showed that many people are simply looking for casual, social networking opportunities. So he created Bounce, a pub crawl series for big crowds that starts tomorrow with four planned stops scheduled through the night.
“People said they wanted to do social networking events, so we tried to come up with something new and different,” Larson said. “I can’t sit at one bar all night without getting bored and drunk, so we’ll see how this works and hopefully do them regularly.”
Larson is hoping for a group of several hundred barhoppers, and plans to continue the parties on a monthly or quarterly basis. Ready to bounce? Hit the first stop Saturday night when Bounce revs up at Martini Ranch (1317 14th St.) at 8 p.m.
If you miss the party there, head to the Denver Pavilions, where the crowd will reconvene at Lucky Strike Lanes (303-629-9090) for a quick game of bowling at 9:15 p.m.
Then the group will roll over to Spy Bar and Lounge (720-299-1576) for cocktails at 10:30 p.m. before ending the night dancing at Beyond Nightclub (303-623-9663) at 11:45 p.m. It’s free if you just want to hang out, but a $5 wristband will let you score drink specials at each stop as well as reduced cover at Beyond if you plan to end the night on the dance floor.
Kat Valentine writes about nightlife Fridays in 7Days. Reach her at kat@kingproduction.com or call 303-820-1568.
