Several hundred teens descended upon on Thursday afternoon, prompting the unscheduled closure of the park.
The high schoolers were celebrating “senior ditch day,” Colorado Parks and Wildlife spokeswoman Kara Van Hoose said. The state parks agency closed the park’s gates for two hours while workers and sheriff’s deputies tried to convince the students to move along.
The 4,200-acre park — in the southeastern corner of the Denver area — reopened about 2:30 p.m., Van Hoose said.
“There were no injuries, no arrests, no citations and no vandalism reported,” Van Hoose said.
Large gatherings and special events are allowed at the park with a permit — which the teens did not acquire before playing hooky on the unseasonably warm March afternoon.
Planned “teen takeovers” last year prompted several Denver-area establishments to take pre-emptive measures to avoid the ruckus. The Denver Zoo closed early in June because of a planned event in adjacent City Park, and Aurora police increased patrols at the Town Center mall in July in response to rumors of a takeover there.
