The fire that destroyed a historic bandshell at City Park on March 26 threw into chaos plans for the annual 10-week-long and other events that have long used the structure.
But the suspected arson at the 97-year-old site, just a few steps east of the park’s iconic, red-roofed pavilion, has also prompted a flurry of phone calls, fundraising and optimistic predictions for its swift return. In fact, more than $40,000 has been raised over the last week.
“I have an ace in the hole in that Colin Bricker is a director-at-large for City Park Jazz,” said City Park Jazz marketing director David Flomberg, adding that Bricker’s company, Mighty Fine Productions, has been doing sound at City Park Jazz since the 1990s. Bricker has already located a mobile stage to stand in for the wooden bandshell.
Its $30,000 rental fee, which covers all 10 weeks, will take a bite out of City Park Jazz’s annual budget of nearly $200,000, Flomberg said. But it will also allow the popular series, which includes a diverse slice of jazz, blues, Latin music, brass and other styles, to continue.
Thousands of people gather with blankets, folding chairs and snacks on Sundays during the summer to listen to the lineup. This year’s 40th anniversary schedule runs June 7 through Aug. 9. (See below for lineup.)
“It was never even a discussion of whether we were going to do the season,” said Flomberg, who was ready to announce the 2026 lineup before the fire hit. “It was immediately like, ‘How do we pivot?'”
The location of the mobile stage is still being finalized through Denver Parks & Recreation, given the permits, security, sanitation, insurance, generator rental, and other details that need to be locked down. The total cost of rebuilding the bandstand hasn’t been finalized, but Flomberg and others hope the city’s insurance will cover most of the estimated bill, which 9News anchor Kyle Clark reported as $250,000, per the city’s estimate.
Denver Parks and Recreation staff will review permits for the bandshell and work with people and groups affected “to determine the best path forward for their scheduled event,” such as rescheduling, relocating or canceling with a refund, spokesperson Stephanie Figueroa said in an email to The Denver Post last week.
Meanwhile, City Park Jazz and organizations such as City Park Friends & Neighbors (CPFAN) have been fundraising on their own, with donations from the latter going to Denver Parks & Recreation, said Georgia Garnsey, president of the registered neighborhood organization. (Visit for the nonprofit City Park Jazz, or to donate to CPFAN and City Park Alliance.)
Less than a week after the fire, Flomberg said City Park Jazz’s fundraiser had garnered about $10,000, while Garnsey said CPFAN, which last week partnered on the project with the nonprofit City Park Alliance, has raised another $10,000 or so. The Denver Park Trust has also raised more than $20,000 toward its $75,000 goal (see ), with another boost from the Word of Thanks fund, according to .
“In the late 1800s, they had 20,000 people coming to listen to music at City Park,” said Garnsey, whose organization dove back into historical research about the bandshell following the fire. “There’s always been music associated with that area, even as the bandshell has been moved and rebuilt over the years.”
It’s not just music it has hosted, she said, but birthdays and quinceañeras, weddings and family reunions, drum circles and poetry gatherings. But despite its heavy use, neighbors and park users should not have to restore the bandshell by themselves, said neighborhood resident and former CPFAN president David McCreary.
“The rebuilding shouldn’t be contingent on the pocketbooks and charity of the neighbors,” he said. “The city just passed more than with ($175 million) for parks, and $70 million of that is for the old Park Hill Golf Course. … I would hope (the city) recognizes this is similar to any other loss on any other parks site.”
While the fire is devastating, it also provides an opportunity for upgrades, Flomberg said. That includes a permanent ADA ramp that allows access to the bandshell for disabled musicians and park users. City Park Jazz is also using its 40th anniversary season to test new features such as a shuttle that ferries people back and forth for the July 5 and Aug. 9 concerts.
“Parking has always been a hard thing for folks to deal with because the infrastructure of the park was built more than 100 years ago,” he said. “So we’ll have a bus running from points at the furthest parking lots in the (Denver Zoo) and Denver Museum of Nature & Science to bring folks directly to the ADA parking lot. It’s a test for the future.”
Here’s the 2026 lineup:
June 7 — DJ Williams Band
June 14 — Spicy Pickles featuring Hannah Rodriguez
June 21 — Hazel Miller & The Collective
June 28 — Shane Endsley and the Denver Municipal Band
July 5 — Brass Band Extravaganza featuring Bourbon Brass Band & Badda Boom Brass Band
July 12 — BTTRFLY
July 19 — Conjunto Colores with Rasta Salsa
July 26 — Convergence
August 2 — Delta Sonics Blues Revue
August 9 — Jakarta
Denver Post reporter Katie Langford contributed to this report.
