Previously held along South Broadway in the Baker neighborhood, the multi-day music fest known as The UMS will take over the River North Art District, July 24-26, said Keanan Stoner, owner of the Denver-based Two Parts marketing and production company. It announced before last year’s event, however, that 2025 would be its final iteration in its longtime, South Broadway location.

The RiNo Business Improvement District will purchase a 50% stake in the event, Stoner said, valued at $250,000. That follows monthslong negotiations that began when the BID approached Two Parts early last fall about acquiring the fest. The BID’s board has also pledged $250,000 annually for UMS title sponsorship for the next three years, which will shore up the fest’s estimated $1.4 million budget — and which brings the BID’s overall investment to $1 million.

After the purchase, Stoner will transition from CEO of Two Parts to director of The UMS this year — a contract job, he said.

The festival is valuable not only for its artistic discovery but also for its commercial potential, said Terry Madeksza, executive director of the RiNo BID. She was up front about the organization’s interest in the event as an economic engine that promotes RiNo’s businesses and promotes its cultural offerings, but that remains affordable for fans, and reliable in paying bands, artists and venues what they’re worth.

She expects a number of public and private partners, from big promoters to independent businesses, to take part, but has yet to start that process of reaching out to them. BIDs are private-public partnerships that collect money from local businesses in a particular area to fund services, improve public areas, and develop economic opportunities.

“Yes, it is about the music and the festival (experience),” Madeksza said. “But it’s also about the businesses and venues that will participate, or be adjacent to music venues. If we can involve people and engage visitors while also showcasing and celebrating the arts, it can provide more exposure for RiNo.”

Two Parts has owned The UMS for several years, and last year produced its final event with nonprofit partner Youth on Record (YOR), which owned a 30% stake. As a music education organization, YOR ultimately said costs were too high to sustain the festival, forcing it to divest and refocus on its core mission, according to executive director Jami Duffy.

The retooled event is scheduled to return on its traditional weekend and with a , Stoner said. That includes welcoming an estimated 10,000 people per day and hundreds of mostly local and regional bands on multiple indoor and outdoor stages.

Past UMS Denver acts have included Nathaniel Rateliff (pre-Night Sweats), DeVotchKa, Dressy Bessy, and Slim Cessna’s Auto Club, as well as acclaimed national headliners such as Blonde Redhead, Amyl and the Sniffers, The Beths, Real Estate, Lord Huron, and many more.

RiNo’s BID already had money set aside for a “signature event” for 2026, Madeksza said, but didn’t have an idea for what that would be until The UMS announced its final event of South Broadway last year. Harnessing the name recognition and overall experience of the 25-year-old UMS could boost local breweries, restaurants, performance venues, galleries and boutiques in the area northeast of downtown Denver, she said.

RiNo includes large and small music venues ranging from promoter AEG Presents’ Mission Ballroom to rock clubs such as the Larimer Lounge, the jazz-forward Nocturne, Two Moons Music Hall, The Meadowlark, and others. Stoner said he did not commission an impact report on South Broadway visitation or spending during its time there, but that he hopes to do so in RiNo to gather more data.

“We have some wonderful outdoor, public spaces like Denargo or the Art Park, not just for the festival but in general, and we have the stages, so there’s an enthusiasm to tap into that naturally built infrastructure,” Madeksza said.

Those who tearfully waved goodbye to The UMS last year might be surprised by how quickly it roared back, Stoner said. But that was never the plan.

“Some people might think this was our mischievous master plan the whole time,” he said. “It was not. Truly, that week after the festival, I remember sitting there and being like, ‘It’s a coin toss if this thing ever returns. I hope it does because I still have a lot of heart in this thing, but I’m tired, and it’s not working, and we don’t have a path forward.’

“But when the (RiNo BID) approached a month or two after the fest, they said, ‘Let’s have a conversation, because we’re curious if this thing is really over,’ ” he added. “From there, we had many conversations and realized, yes, finances are a huge part of this, but it’s not just a big check from a corporate sponsor.”

At first, it felt like just another weekend commitment.

It was an important weekend, too: It was to be the 25th — and final — installment of the Underground Music Showcase, in which more than 200 local and touring bands take over multiple venues along Denver’s South Broadway corridor for three days.

My wife approached me after the UMS lineup was announced a while back with something on her mind. “Let’s have a show in our backyard one day during the festival,” she said. Her band could play, friends could join in, and the music would end before the nearby UMS festivities began.

We spent the next few weeks solidifying the bill for what we dubbed “Jorts Fest,” sorting through the mountain of logistical tasks that needed to be conquered. It required the support of our friends and neighbors in Lincoln Park, a TikTok post and heaps of yardwork.

In the end, it all came together. The fact that we were able to do it spoke to the appetite people have for neighborhood-centric events, and of the potential to bring people together around music.

These aren’t profound realizations. Many people I’ve spoken to have said they miss the imperfect human interactions that were lost when the coronavirus pandemic started. Finding people who felt the same wasn’t difficult. My wife posted about the party on TikTok. It ended up gaining traction, and in addition to the guests we invited, a handful of fans of her band showed up.

We told our next-door neighbor about the event, and he quickly got on board, offering his yard to hold the crowd and even hosting a silent auction. A week before, I texted the landlord of the house on our other side; she loaned us chairs and a table for the occasion.

We set up a water cooler and filled a blue plastic kiddie pool with ice, seltzer and a keg of beer. Since the party was during the day, in our yard rather than a public space, and we had the cooperation of neighbors, we weren’t too concerned about noise complaints. (I later consulted the city’s , which limits amplified sound levels during the day to 85 weighted decibels — of city traffic.)

The day of the show, all we needed were the bands, the audience and a borrowed set of speakers, plus an emergency trip to the hardware store to pick up extension cords. With the summer sun beating down, we tied a canvas tarp to some tree limbs for added shade.

The music did the rest. One act brought a bag full of percussion instruments for audience members. We rattled tambourines and clattered drumsticks to the beat of his strumming banjo. And we hosted some 40 people for the fun.

That it was the final installment of the UMS added some poignancy to what otherwise felt like the start of something promising. Denver used to have a house-show culture, musicians tell me. If there was a larger network, it was before my time here. One of the last house shows I attended was years ago in Seattle, at which a man crouched over a piano and guests sat quietly on the living room floor.

What would that person, 21 at the time, have thought of the show we put on in Denver? Probably that the music was loud and captivating, the jorts funny and irreverent, and the house itself accommodating but desperately lacking food of some kind.

And that it was all worth the sunburn, even a week later.

Instead of taking place at the National Western Stockyards on Saturday, July 26, and Sunday, July 27, the outdoor music-and-tattoo event has been replaced with a pair of shows featuring some of the fest’s biggest names.

That includes The Dillinger Escape Plan, Converge, Sanguisugabogg, Khemmis and Suicide Cages at Mission Ballroom on July 26, and Power Trip, Gatecreeper, 200 Stab Wounds, Castle Rat and Nailed Shut MA at the Ogden Theatre July 27.

, organizers blamed the cancelation on “unforeseen events” and specified that the festival was being scuttled “in its current form.” The “extreme music experience” was originally sold with now-absent headliners Lamb of God, Knocked Loose, In This Moment, The Garden, Body Count and others.

It was announced in March with perks such as a craft-beer tasting ticket, and in April added a tattoo experience presented by Ink’d and Amp’d. Tickets started at $75 per day or $125 for the weekend, with VIP weekend passes starting at $390 before fees.

Envisioned as a destination festival, Unhinged was also booked up against the final Underground Music Showcase on South Broadway, which will feature dozens of diverse, local and national indie acts playing multiple stages, July 25-27. While the audiences are largely different for each event, they no doubt overlapped as notable local bands such as Khemmis were also scheduled to play Unhinged.

All festival tickets will be automatically refunded at the original point of purchase, said California-based organizer Brew Ha Ha Productions and promoters AEG Presents Rocky Mountains.

Still happening, at least at the moment: Brew Ha Ha’s also-massive Punk in the Park outdoor festival Friday, July 18-Sunday, July 20, at the National Western Stockyards, with headliners Bad Religion, Descendents, Dropkick Murphys, Pennywise, Streetlight Manifesto and more.

Even with sold-out tickets and capacity crowds, the math just doesn’t make sense, said nonprofit producer Youth on Record, which has run the festival since 2022 with co-owner Two Parts.

“When you have a cultural legacy like The UMS, people deserve a ceremony of goodbye,” said Jami Duffy, executive director of Youth on Record, which owns a 30% stake in The UMS — as the South Broadway event has long been called.

“We didn’t want to rip something away from people, and then send a sheepish email in September about it,” she said. “We wanted to give them time to celebrate and remember.”

The 25th UMS, scheduled for Friday, July 25 though Sunday, July 27, at venues, clubs and shops along South Broadway in the Baker neighborhood, will feature more than 200 local and national independent acts from diverse backgrounds and genres. That includes All Them Witches, Flyna Boss, DeVotchKa, La Luz, El Ten Eleven, The Velveteers and dozens more.

The event has hosted more than 10,000 performances over the years and had millions of dollars of economic impact along its business corridor, Duffy said, while introducing countless thousands to local and national bands.

She noted the event is ending only “in its current form,” meaning she’s open to another organization restarting some version of it. However, The UMS’s $1.4 million budget is still too much for Youth on Record to sustain, given that the entire organization only has a $2.2 million budget for next year, Duffy said.

“We’re a small independent business, just like any of the ones on South Broadway,” Duffy said. “But the larger question is: how much of economic development in a neighborhood should be on the shoulders of a cultural festival? What’s the role of city and state subsidies? We don’t want to skimp on our mission of supporting up-and-coming artists. Mission costs money.”

With rising costs for security and public safety; artist fees (The UMS prides itself on its high artist pay, Duffy said); pricey permits and weather insurance due to climate change; and other newly urgent issues, it’s just not sustainable, she said. She pointed to a sharp drop in music festivals in the U.S. last year — — and noted that 40 or so festivals have been canceled just since the start of 2025.

Event organizers cited similar reasons as Duffy, such as newly high production costs, as well as safety and security concerns. But competition from single concerts, declining ticket sales, and other logistical challenges are weighing on events ranging from Bonnaroo, which was partly canceled this year, to Coachella and Burning Man, which both failed to sell out.

“We’ve poured our love, sweat, and tears into this festival. Year after year, giving it everything we’ve got,” said Casey Berry, co-owner of The UMS, in a statement. “The 25th Anniversary will be no different. No regrets, no pity parties — just a celebration for the ages!”

Duffy hopes that important conversations about music, sustainability and cultural support will continue at this year’s UMS, both during the festival and its , an industry- and artist-focused event taking place July 25-26. Denver’s music scene has always evolved alongside The UMS, she said, and she doesn’t want to slow anything down.

World-touring, Grammy-nominated act DeVotchKa, one of this year’s UMS headliners, played the second-ever UMS and benefited from Denver’s DIY, underground scene of the early 21st century — of which The UMS was exemplary, said singer Nick Urata.

“I love the full-circle feeling and symmetry of playing the early ones and now this final one,” he said. “We did a lot of slogging and dragging and got a lot of rejections in the early days, and I remember that feeling of playing The UMS and being super excited and super nervous at the same time. Like, ‘This is it! This is our make or break moment!’ ”

Former Denver Post reporter and critic John Moore with a quartet of bands at a one-day showcase at the Bluebird Theater. Denver Post pop-music critic and editor Ricardo Baca in 2006 grew it into a South by Southwest-style festival, where one wristband granted entry into multiple venues. (Full disclosure: I helped out that first year on South Broadway.)

“I sympathize because I can’t really know the full weight of economic issues it takes to pull off a fest of this size,” Moore said. “But I do know that we set up a domino and tipped it purely to raise the profile of local bands in Denver. When you think about all of the beautiful memories and performances that happened as a result of that one domino, it’s really overwhelming. I’m grateful to everybody who had anything to do with it.”

Over the years, The UMS evolved under different managers, with the event turning from a shoestring Denver Post production to a nonprofit event of the Denver Post Community Foundation, then a sole production of Two Parts (starting in 2018), and lately, a Youth on Record/Two Parts event.

Executive festival directors and managers such as Moore, Baca, Kendall Smith, Will Dupree and Two Parts have all left their stamp on The UMS, with Youth on Record in emphasizing artist care, sober and all-ages options, an accessibility guide, and other progressive features that are rare at most music events.

Like South by Southwest, The UMS also spun off unofficial day parties that helped birth major Denver acts such as Nathaniel Ratliff and the Night Sweats (Rateliff was a regular solo artist at the fest), while lending credibility to new faces and voices.

“I do think it’s been a perfect evolution, which leads you to go, ‘Well, then why isn’t it working?’ ” Duffy said. “But I also think that’s a sign of the times. The UMS had been able to outrun this tidal wave of music festivals closing everywhere else, until this year. But I 100% am proud of and stand by what we did with it.”

Visit for this year’s full lineup, venue list and tickets.

Unhinged Fest will play the National Western Stockyards July 26-27, with a roster of metal, hardcore and post-punk bands like Knocked Loose, Lamb of God, In This Moment, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Body Count, Power Trip, and more (full lineup and tickets available at ).

Despite a sleepy period just after the holidays, the Denver festival scene has ramped up in recent weeks with news of Unhinged and other large events debuting in or returning to Denver; see the retooled, three-day Punk in the Park (July 18-20, also at National Western Stockyards) and the 5th annual Deadbeats Backyard Jamboree (Zeds Dead & Friends, July 4 at Civic Center park).

Englewood, which has seen an inflow of Denver businesses over the past year or two, will also host a music festival, Swallow Hill Music’s first on June 7. The day-long party, headlined by Kiltro, will takes place near South Broadway and West Hampden.

The announcements belie a wary festival circuit that has gone increasingly niche to attract crowds. Denver does not have a Coachella or a Bonnaroo — two national festivals that feature a wide range of genres and music lovers — but we do have the 25th, indie-focused , which highlights 200-plus up-and-coming acts (July 25-27 along South Broadway), and further afield, the , with a whopping 420 performances on 40 stages (April 18-19 in Fort Collins).

Denver has not supported many new, mainstream festivals in recent years, with examples such as Grandoozy and Vertex coming and going after only one year. Rolling Stone this week asserted as organizers vowed that the sprawling, Austin event would return in 2026 with a single week of scaled-back programming (instead of two, as usual).

While it appeared that Colorado was facing some festival fatigue, with individual bookings at amphitheaters and venues such as Mission Ballroom, replacing larger events, that may not have been the case as stalwarts such as Telluride Blues & Brews, JAS Aspen Snowmass Experience, Bravo! Vail and Country Jam joining the new(er) events.

While acts like Coldplay, Chris Stapleton, Post Malone, Metallica and The Lumineers will headline the major arenas and amphitheaters around Denver, smaller venues along the Front Range and in the high country are growing their nationally headlining roster at an astonishing rate — even if they will never match the calendar at Red Rocks Amphitheatre (more on that below).

But there are also plenty of questions for music fans about the future. Here are 6 of those questions, along with some answers, for the 2025 concert season, which is just around the corner as shows start at Red Rocks on March 8 with , featuring Gramatik.

1. Will promoters get bots under control?

Probably not. Malicious bots that snatch up large numbers of tickets the moment they go on sale — then drive up prices for the re-sale market — , with new ones sprouting up the moment another disappears. Industry professionals are skeptical they can tame them, though they’re trying, said AEG Presents Rocky Mountains president Don Strasburg.

Ticket seller AXS — a spin-off of AEG that was also founded by Colorado billionaire Philip Anschutz — says it fights bots with its virtual waiting room, “where fans can join before an event goes on sale, allowing the platform to filter out automated bots and randomly select users to access tickets …” It’s a fairness issue, said the company, which sells most of the concert tickets at Red Rocks and all the tickets at city-owned venues.

The Federal Trade Commission and state lawmakers continue to investigate bots and re-sellers as well, leading to progress such as Colorado’s transparency-in-pricing bill, which as of August allows buyers to see fees before they click “purchase.”

2. Has country overtaken jam bands as Colorado’s hottest music?

Yes. With the proviso that country has always been more mainstream than jam bands in terms of ticket sales, radio play, industry profile, and booking. They may not always dominate Red Rocks’ calendar, for example, but the number and size of country concerts in metro Denver is growing, with major shows from Morgan Wade (Feb. 23 at Mission Ballroom), Post Malone and Jelly Roll (June 15 at Empower Field), Keith Urban (July 17 at Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre), and Chris Stapleton (Aug. 22 at Ball Arena) and dozens more this year.

Grand Junction’s Country Jam also returns June 26-28 with Luke Bryan, Bailey Zimmerman, Cody Johnson, Tracy Lawrence and more. That’s not even mentioning the artists in the sweet spot of the country-jam-band crossover, from Americana and bluegrass to the twangy singer-songwriters populating theaters and clubs. We’re also likely getting a new country bar in LoDo, as plans have been filed for a mechanical bull in the space . And the TouchTunes digital jukebox company reports that many of the most popular songs played in Colorado are by artists like Morgan Wallen, Zach Bryan and Toby Kieth.

3. Have we reached full festival fatigue?

Yes. Promoters and artists have said there’s little room for new, multi-day events in the metro area, given that Colorado mountain towns are already bursting with them (see blues, folk and jazz fests through the summer in Telluride, Snowmass, Lyons, Vail, etc.).

Denver’s Underground Music Showcase, which returns July 26-28 along South Broadway, already features more than 100 local and national acts, while local mini-fests (see the excellent ) and packed bills have filled the demand for multi-performer events. That includes Civic Center’s returning Outside Festival (May 31-June 1), with Lord Huron, Khruangbin, Sylvan Esso, Trampled by Turtles and more.

On top of that, long-running fests that went on hiatus haven’t returned, such as the Westword Music Showcase, Arise Music Festival and Meow Wolf’s Vertex — not to mention the canceled Grandoozy, SnowBall, Velorama, and Mile High Music Festival of years past. The demand just isn’t there anymore.

“Festival fatigue is real,” said AEG’s Strasburg. “And one thing that’s been said before, but it’s true, is that Colorado already hosts the greatest festival in the world each year with its season of Red Rocks shows.”

4. Will Phish ever play Dick’s Sporting Goods Park again?

Maybe. The band this week confirmed a trio of dates at Folsom Field, July 3-5, marking its debut at the Boulder venue that typically hosts University of Colorado football games. Strasburg told The Denver Post that AEG Presents, which is handling the shows, works on a year-by-year basis and wouldn’t commit to a 2026 return.

So, it’s possible. But if the Folsom shows go well — and there’s every reason to believe they will, given Phish’s slick operations, constant sell-outs and fan loyalty — it would make sense for them to play a Colorado venue with fewer shows and more tickets than their annual Labor Day run at Dick’s in Commerce City, which has been going since 2011 (minus the 2020 off-year).

Phish is also well positioned to take over the regular Dead & Co. runs at Folsom, which ended in 2023, and make their multi-night stand a new summer tradition.

5. Has Red Rocks hit full calendar capacity?

Yes. For the first time, promoter AEG Presents, which books most Red Rocks shows, said the venue cannot fit any more events, minus the occasional rescheduled show or yet-to-be-announced booking. That bucks years of growth at the venue, which now hosts about 150 concerts each year through October and early November.

That’s a good thing for music fans seeing their favorite artist at arguably the world’s best venue. The revenue it generates for the city of Denver, which owns the historic amphitheater, ensures its upkeep and improvements, according to Denver Arts & Venues. But even as its calendar has expanded to winter months in recent years, there’s still a hard, seasonal wall that prevents most shows from reaching into December or February, promoters said.

There’s warm-weather room to grow at other amphitheaters, however, with bookings increasing in stature and number at Dillon Amphitheater, Buena Vista’s Meadow Creek, Ford Amphitheater, Levitt Pavilion Denver, and various high-country outdoor stages.

6. Will Ford Amphitheater and its neighbors ever come to terms?

Likely, but there’s no guarantee. Disagreements over noise levels at the luxury outdoor venue in Colorado Springs have pitted some neighbors against Venu, which owns the amphitheater that debuted in a big way just last year. But despite contentious city council meetings, constant emails from the Ford Hurts Families group, and public appeals, its owner, as well as promoter AEG Presents, are optimistic about putting a lid on it with new sound retention walls, tunnels, neighborhood noise-sensors, and other negotiated efforts.

“We recognized that we needed to bring this to a conclusion, and we have worked diligently with the city and residence of Colorado Springs to come to a resolution,” Venu owner JW Roth said via email this week. “We are jazzed about the upcoming season, and we feel great about the resolution that we accomplished!”

“We hope to see Venu make good on their promises …” critics wrote in the latest Ford Hurts Families newsletter, while noting that their current agreement could allow mitigations promised for 2025 not to be built until after the coming season, and attendant disruption, as they put it, has already occurred.

Scott-Trask has cleaned up vomit and graffiti on her windows and blood splattered on the front door of her shop. A vandal shattered her door’s glass panel in March. She said she was also struggling with the cost of rent and extra expenses tacked on by her landlords as they contend with rising property taxes.

With over three years left on her five-year lease, she’s debating whether to move — or leave the state entirely.

“We can’t afford to be here anymore, and we’ve only been here a year and a half,” Scott-Trask said. “It’s making it feel impossible to exist here as a small business — and I mean the entire city, not just Broadway.”

Several quirky, independent stores like Scott-Trask’s are fighting to stay afloat on the iconic Denver corridor, while others succumb to business pressures that have closed their doors for good or pushed them elsewhere. As more investor-backed projects and chains move into the neighborhood, Broadway’s future is looking less avant-garde than its past.

The street has lost a string of legacy establishments — most recently, Mutiny Information Cafe, a bookstore and community space that closed at 2 S. Broadway and was set Friday to reopen farther south on Broadway in Englewood; and Sol Tribe Custom Tattoo & Piercing, a tragedy-marred shop at 56 Broadway that shuttered permanently in July.

But empty storefronts aren’t the whole picture. Broadway has welcomed new additions, including Brooklyn’s Finest Pizza, Rhapsody Karaoke & Chicken Wings, Beet & Yarrow Florist, MAKfam restaurant and La Forêt restaurant. Several blocks south of Electric Dream Boutique, BurnDown, a multi-story restaurant, bar and live music venue, is drawing crowds.

“It’s time for whatever ‘new Denver’ wants,” said Mutiny co-owner Jim Norris, who previously served as a partner in the now-defunct 3 Kings Tavern nearby. “Just because Mutiny is not here doesn’t mean the neighborhood’s gonna die — it just means that it’s going to change.”

The corridor has long been recognized as its own destination within the city, largely because of the funky businesses that call it home. The street is dotted with restaurants, dive bars, breweries, thrift stores and music venues that give Broadway its distinct free-spirited, gritty vibe.

In Mutiny’s case, Norris said, worries about security and higher rent ultimately forced the shop to pack up and relocate.

Other Broadway business owners say they are weathering safety concerns, costly commercial leases, the lingering financial strain from the COVID-19 pandemic and, more recently, the construction and parking impacts from a major extension of the corridor’s two-way protected bike lane.

For some businesses and their landlords, rising property values — and the soaring tax bills that result — have been hard to keep up with. A Denver Post analysis of data from the assessor’s office shows that between the 2019 and 2023 assessments, valuations of commercial and industrial properties along Broadway between Third and Virginia avenues increased by nearly 39% on average.

Still, several of the many remaining entrepreneurs are adamant that the city isn’t witnessing an exodus from Broadway. They say Denverites shouldn’t give up hope on a corridor that’s determined to swim, not sink.

“All of the talk about how South Broadway is moving to Englewood is also really harmful and very frustrating for those of us that are staying,” said Rose Kalasz, the owner of , 38 Broadway. “We’re not going to leave.”

One of the new faces of business on South Broadway is Alex Vickers, who opened BurnDown near Virginia Avenue with co-owner Reed Sparks in May 2023.

“We were hoping that, with this spot, we kind of compete with other neighborhoods, right? So South Broadway is suddenly in league with, say, Highlands or RiNo,” said Vickers, 35.

He’s watching business improve year over year, he said. He hopes his restaurant, at 476 S. Broadway, becomes a staple along the corridor, helping attract other businesses to his block — which is quieter than those north of Alameda Avenue.

Safer and “more gentrified” than in past

The area known informally as “South Broadway” consists of the blocks south of Ellsworth Avenue — Denver’s north-south dividing line for addresses — along with a few blocks to the north that include the Mayan Theatre. The Baker neighborhood is where much of the action on Broadway takes place.

Mark Tabor, the president of the Baker Historic Neighborhood Association, bought his first house there in 1987. He remembers Broadway as a haven, even decades ago, for an eclectic mix of people, including the LBGTQ+ community.

“It was sketchy back then, but it was really a fun neighborhood,” Tabor said. “It had a very active commercial district, even back then.”

After spending time away, he returned to Baker a decade ago.

“It’s like night and day,” Tabor said of the change he observed. “It’s so much safer — and, unfortunately, more gentrified, too.”

A few of the shuttered businesses reminiscent of “old Denver” included Fancy Tiger Crafts Co-op, which was by high rent, and Hope Tank — strangled by the pandemic that later reopened as an event space on East 22nd Avenue in City Park West.

, a bar slinging drinks for two decades, closed last year after lease negotiations fell through. The location at 58 Broadway was filled by another watering hole, .

Remaining business owners are still trying to shake off the last dregs of financial strain caused by the pandemic and Denver’s bike lane construction. The controversial $14 million city project, which kicked off in October 2022, resulted in a 1.5-mile protected bikeway on Broadway when it wrapped up in February.

Adam Hodak, the owner of bar, signed his lease at 46 Broadway in 2019 before opening in 2021. He’s resided in the Baker neighborhood for 16 years.

Hodak turned a former pet store into a bar — one of the notable conversions along the corridor. A Big Lots location at 65 Broadway was transformed more than a decade ago into Punch Bowl Social, itself seen as a buzzy entertainment and bar space when it opened. More recently, , a gay bar at 145 N. Broadway, closed and was replaced in 2019 by wine bar, now one of the multistate chain’s five Denver locations.

Businesses like Dave’s Hot Chicken and Boulder Barbers have opted to occupy the ground floor spaces of newer apartment buildings developed in recent years.

When Hodak’s bar opened, “Broadway, at that time, was booming.”

“It was sort of my dream to open my bar on South Broadway,” he said.

But during the pandemic, the corridor’s foot traffic plummeted, with not much room for outdoor dining along the busy thoroughfare. “Coming out of COVID, we lost a lot of restaurants,” Hodak said.

And since then, he’s watched the rapid turnover of businesses at several locations along Broadway. Hodak points to the pandemic as the corridor’s No. 1 hurdle, but bike lane construction ranked as No. 2, he said.

Angel Macauley, the owner of , took a break from researching small business loans to speak with The Denver Post. Her lingerie store, at 26 N. Broadway, opened in 2019.

Like Hodak, she criticized the bike lane construction and its impact on parking. When construction was underway, she had to take on a second job to make ends meet, she said.

As a business owner, “it’s been great up until this last year,” Macauley said. “There’s no more parking now that they put these (expletive) bike lanes in.”

What’s worse: Crime or its stigma?

Concern about crime varied among entrepreneurs on South Broadway. Several worried about its impact on their businesses. But others were nervous that an exaggerated stigma tied to the risks on Broadway could drive customers away.

Kalasz, at Awakening Boutique, has handled broken windows and theft, but she said crime didn’t feel more troublesome along the corridor.

“In any neighborhood in any city, I think that we would have the same problems,” she added.

However, the incidents at Electric Dream Boutique not only left Scott-Trask feeling violated, she said, but also “really alone.”

“There is no one there to help you with it. The city doesn’t help,” she said.

Over the past four years, crime has fluctuated along a four-mile stretch of Broadway from Colfax Avenue to Evans Avenue, according to the Denver Police Department. So far this year, the data show fewer incidents reported along the corridor compared to recent years.

From January through August, police recorded 765 reports of criminal offenses, including 119 incidents of larceny, 93 drug offenses and 80 reports of simple assault.

For the same time period in 2023, police received a total of 846 reports along that part of Broadway, and reports totaled 796 in 2022 and 864 in 2021.

The effects of that crime also pose problems for landlords. Derek Vanderryst of DV Development Group said it had been a challenge to adequately handle the mounting problems at his two buildings on the street — the Werner building, 76-98 S. Broadway, and the White Palace building, at the corner with Bayaud Avenue. Businesses operating out of his properties include Voodoo Doughnut, Insomnia Cookies, Badger’s Pub and Ritual Tattoo.

Vanderryst, who first managed the properties and then , says he often deals with trash on the sidewalks and in the alleys. He bumped cleaning services up from once a week to twice a week, to no avail.

“I don’t even look at my cameras anymore,” he said, “because I know it’s just gonna make me so upset.”

He points to homelessness and drug use on Broadway as major challenges. Like other landlords, he’s also been shelling out more for rising property taxes and insurance bills, among other costs. He manages nearly 20 rental units but says he can’t retain lessees because of safety concerns.

Several months ago, a man lit one of Vanderryst’s buildings on fire by throwing burning paper into vents, causing about $10,000 in damage.

“I’ve lost a ton of tenants,” he said. “Nobody really wants to stay after they’ve been there for a while. They’re like, ‘This is just crazy.’ ”

Scott-Trask said she wished Denver offered grants to help business owners repair damage like graffiti — fixes that stretch her budget thin.

“That all comes out of my pocket at the end of the day,” she said.

After more than a decade on Broadway, Mutiny’s Norris was also left upset about the lack of support from the city, which he said was investing “everywhere else but here.”

For him, the problems stacked up: broken windows, safety concerns, visible drug use in the area and an inability to pay a higher rent.

But he ended on a positive note about the community: “The neighborhood is great, and there are great people still down here doing great things,” Norris said.

“I believe in the street”

For Luke Johnson, who owns Luke & Company Fine Pet Supply & Outfitter, the solution to many of the corridor’s hurdles lies in the establishment of a business improvement district. It would fill the corridor-investment gap that some local entrepreneurs lamented. As the president of the Broadway Merchants Association, he’s helping create it.

Johnson said a BID would rely on business owners putting their tax dollars toward objectives such as 24-hour security, landscaping, benches and local events, including the Broadway Halloween Parade. This year, parade organizers had to fundraise to pay for pedestrian barricades that were newly required by the city.

If all goes to plan, the BID should take effect in January 2026, Johnson said. For now, his association can’t collect money to accomplish those long-term goals, but it does represent the voices of Broadway’s mom-and-pop shops.

“People are still interested in putting a business on Broadway,” Johnson said. “We just have to make it better. And that’s kind of where the BID comes in.”

He argued that “the economics of (Broadway), while not cheap, still make it an attainable place for someone to open an 800-square-foot dream of theirs.”

Johnson, 36, has continued investing in Broadway’s future since he opened the original location for his store on the street in 2016. He spent $5 million on a building at 530 Broadway in 2020, and he reopened his store there in 2023.

“I believe in the street, and I’m not the only one,” Johnson said. “Do we have more room to grow and to be better? Absolutely.”

But as a deaf person, she often has to fight for basic information. At the Rocky Mountain Folks Fest at Planet Bluegrass in 2019, for example, it took 20 minutes “and the intervention of a band member’s wife” to tape off an area where an American Sign Language interpreter could be seen. At Ball Arena, there was no way for her to learn about penalties or injuries on the stadium’s screens.

“We pay the same price (as everyone else) and should be able to enjoy the entire event,” Garcia said. As for concerts, she explained that more deaf people attend than you might expect. Not being able to hear music doesn’t preclude someone from feeling the vibrations, having a social experience with friends or family, or cheering and dancing along with thousands of other fans.

As is often the case, it fell to Garcia and other disability-rights advocates to force the issue. She contacted Disability Law United, a Denver nonprofit legal organization, to push Ball Arena to add LED open-captions, as they’re called, or standard subtitles. It eventually did. Garcia and others also fought for Red Rocks Amphitheatre to add more disabled seating and better parking (it eventually did), and got Planet Bluegrass to explore on-stage interpreters.

Despite the passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act in 1990, which prohibits discrimination based on disabilities and sets standards for public accessibility, music venues in particular have been slow to respond. Red Rocks, for example, has been hit with three lawsuits related to accessibility over the last decade, while disability-rights advocates had to pressure the owners of Ball Arena and Empower Field — which both host big shows in addition to sports — to add subtitles to the big screens.

But things are improving slowly, said Emily Shuman, director of the , which provides guidance and training to organizations for ADA compliance. More arts and culture purveyors are stepping up to see what they can do, and she’s lately been showing them on how technology can assist in accessibility.

That includes assistive listening systems — such as hearing loops, which transmit sound directly to hearing aids equipped with telecoils, reducing background noise and enhancing clarity — as well as live captioning, wayfinding apps for accessible seats, online tools for ADA reservations, touchscreens and Braille displays, and adjustable-text websites with easy-to-see color contrasts.

Some newer venues such as Mission Ballroom and Levitt Pavilion, as well as the organizers of July’s sprawling Underground Music Showcase, are also finally doing right by disabled people, advocates said, with accessibility guides and disabled-patron options that go beyond the average venue.

Still, most venues only meet ADA compliance because they’re forced to, activists said. About 27% of U.S. adults, or 70 million people, have a disability, according to the . The CDC defines a disability as any condition that makes it more difficult to do certain activities, from vision, hearing and movement issues to memory and mental health.

Last year, 4,605 ADA lawsuits were filed nationwide — a stunning 42% increase from the previous year, according to a report from .

“It’s amazing to me that the ADA has been around so long, and yet so many (business owners) still aren’t aware of it,” Garcia said. “It’s to ask venues to set aside disabled seating, or have an on-stage interpreter, or really anything (disability-related).”

No excuses

Training is important, Shuman said, since even businesses with good intentions can create obstacles. That means accidentally blocking an ADA bathroom stall with a trash can, but also not training staff on disability etiquette, or the best interior routes for people with disabilities.

“I tend to avoid venues where there’s no seating and all standing,” said Gene Drumm, 76, who has a heart condition brought on by strenuous activity. He’s been attending concerts at Red Rocks for 40 years, but stopped going after he got tired of “hassling” staffers for assistance and information on easy routes to his seat — or any accessible seating at all.

“It was actually painful to deal with the stairs and slopes, and getting in and out in general,” said Drumm, who named Lyle Lovett and Van Morrison among his favorite Red Rocks shows. “And it’s too bad because I loved going. But I have no desire to put up with that anymore.”

There have been recent improvements at Red Rocks, such as an accessible shuttle that runs on a continuous loop during shows from the Upper South Lot to a drop-off point approximately 275 feet from Row 1, according to city staffers.

But it was too late for Drumm. He said he could understand if Red Rocks were a private business, but as a city-owned venue he saw no excuse. In 2022, to settle discrimination claims that Red Rocks charged more for accessible seating — an average of $130 per seat — than regular seats (promoters Live Nation, AEG and PBS12 also settled). The move recalled a 2016 class-action lawsuit that claimed concert-goers who use wheelchairs were restricted to “all but the most distant seats.”

That was followed by a 2017 lawsuit against the city to force ticket resellers to stop controlling the accessible seats at Red Rocks (also settled).

Earlier this year, however, Denver Arts & Venues, the city agency that runs Red Rocks, touted some improvements. Slopes in parking lots and along ramps have been adjusted to increase accessibility and comply with the ADA, said venue manager Tad Bowman. New parking spots were also added on the south side for those with disabilities, and some bathrooms were updated.

“We’ve heard from fans about not having places to use a restroom while standing in line, but also about keeping the top-circle lot as accessible parking for shows,” he told The Denver Post in February. “This has all been designed to meet ADA requirements.”

Alison Butler, who helped push for the Red Rocks changes and is now now Denver’s Division of Disability Rights director, echoed Drumm, saying there is no excuse for taking decades to comply.

“The ADA is almost 34 years old, so it gets difficult to sympathize with businesses who say, ‘How can I possibly do that?’ ” Butler said. “I fully understand that operating a business is difficult and that there are lots of rules you have to learn and follow.

“The ADA is one of them,” she continued. “So it’s like saying, ‘Oh my gosh, I have to pay my workers? I have to pay taxes?’ It should just be the cost of doing business.”

The ADA is supposed to be self-enforcing

However, venue owners — particularly at historic and independent clubs — have said there are only so many pricey, time-consuming upgrades that can be done before they go out of business.

Even venues with progressive politics struggle with compliance. When Skylark Lounge manager Bob Ashby applied for a permit to voluntarily install a platform lift in the back of his indie venue’s staircase, he was turned down by the fire department, which said it would narrow the stairway too much. His only other option was to build an exterior elevator shaft, which was quoted by contractors at $100,000.

“It’s a totally prohibitive cost and I’d have to borrow a ton of money,” said Ashby, whose friend, Denver-based rocker Nathaniel Rateliff, co-owns the venue. “It’s just not a sustainable thing to do, but it was a real heartbreaker because we had totally planned on making the upstairs accessible.”

The lack of an elevator still prevents physically disabled people from heading upstairs, something that rankles Kalyn Heffernan, a musician, artist and disability advocate who uses a power wheelchair. This year she put together the 24-year-old .

To do it, she and consultant Jessica Wallach audited venues on their disability access, though she said they weren’t trying to shame anyone or force compliance. They were simply providing information for people with disabilities so they’d know what to expect.

The Skylark hosted one of the stages for the July 26-28 fest, which took place along a mile-long stretch of South Broadway. An Accessibility Team was stationed at The Youth on Record tent near the Showcase Stage, and roamed throughout the festival footprint, Heffernan said, with signs identifying them as such. Heffernan did not judge the character of the 12 venues and four outdoor stages or assign blame, she said, but rather assessed them as straightforwardly as possible.

Heffernan understands that Denver doesn’t provide resources to upgrade venues, and that accessibility is often a negotiation, not an objective state of being.

“If you’re building a playground, I don’t want you to cut out the monkey bars just because I can’t use them,” she said. “I don’t want to take that away from kids, and maybe not everything is perfectly accessible, or equitable to make it that way.”

This year, the UMS website and app offered standard and large-print versions of the guide, rating indoor and outdoor spaces for their ground slopes, proximity to accessible bathrooms, air circulation and views of the stage. It’s helping set a standard for other festivals to follow, she said, although there is still a need for on-stage interpreters and low-sensory areas for people to decompress.

Business operators have some protection in not upgrading. The ADA isn’t enforceable in the traditional sense, Butler said, and buildings constructed before 1992 can be excepted from certain upgrades — even when they’re renovating or building new spaces.

There’s no database that tracks local compliance, either, which puts the onus on disabled people and legal entities to pressure venues into paying attention.

“The ADA is supposed to be self-enforcing in a sense,” said Shuman. “The Department of Justice has authority to enforce it, but there’s no ADA police, and buildings are not inspected for that.”

A glimmer of hope

A few forward-thinking venues such as Ruby Hill Park’s Levitt Pavilion have started going beyond basic requirements by spending tens of thousands of dollars on ADA upgrades — no lawsuits needed, Heffernan pointed out.

Levitt’s project, completed in 2023, included the installation of a level concrete dance floor and an ADA-accessible path connecting it to the main plaza. The venue now has a safer and more durable surface for all audiences, and ADA-accessible areas up front and farther back, said executive director Meghan McNamara. There is also sensory accessibility ASL interpretation during concerts and events.

Drumm, meanwhile, praised the Buell Theatre and other Denver Center for the Performing Arts venues, as well as Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre for their accessibility options. Large venues are quicker to upgrade, he’s noticed, given their resources and scale.

“I think it’s incumbent upon artists and music festival promoters to say, ‘We’re not going to go there,'” the city’s Butler said. “Ultimately, (businesses) will find a way. We’ve made historic buildings accessible, but only if there’s massive pressure. They’ll say, ‘We can’t do it. It’s going to cost $50,000…’ Well, you just lost two major concerts, and that’s $50,000!”

Tuesday. Ascendant pop-rock artist Olivia Rodrigo, a product of Disney shows such as “High School Musical,” is opting to build a career that lasts over one that flames out. Part of that includes the 21-year-old paying tribute to peers and forebears with her choice of supporting acts on her Guts Tour (see The Breeders and Chappell Roan, in particular). She’s upgrading to Ball Arena for the first time on Tuesday, July 30, after last playing a pair of shows at Mission Ballroom. The concert with PinkPantheress is sold out, but as intrepid fans have learned, after-market tickets (often deeply discounted, if you can wait until the last minute) will not be hard to find.

The next night at Ball, ’90s alt-rock queen Alanis Morissette returns for a show spanning her masterful catalog of hits as part of the Triple Moon Tour. Tickets for the Wednesday, July 31, concert are $49-$149 via .

Wynkoop Brewing’s hot wings challenge

Monday. Feeling spicy? Wynkoop Brewing Company is getting in on the hot-wings trend by holding its own hot-wing competition featuring five increasingly painful sauces. Dubbed the Wynkoop Hot Wing Games, the self-inflicted mayhem is a contest to see who can go the longest without drinking water — with gift cards, beer and Wynkoop swag for winners. The sauces include a trio of styles chosen from the “Hot Ones” YouTube show, plus a pair of fiery entries from Wynkoop’s own chefs.

The Monday, July 29, event runs 6-8:30 p.m. at 1634 18th St. in Lower Downtown Denver. Entry is free, but Wynkoop encourages RSVPs via . 18-and-up. Visit for more.

The 24th Underground Music Showcase

Friday-Sunday. Denver’s biggest, most dynamic music-discovery festival is back for its 24th year, with more than 200 artists along a 1-mile stretch of South Broadway. Denver’s Underground Music Showcase this year is also focused on wellness, organizers said, with all-ages and sober support amid other options, thanks to nonprofit co-owner Youth on Record.

The mix of local and national acts spans rock, pop, punk, hip hop, country and R&B, with Beach Fossils, Tkay Maidza, Amyl and the Sniffers, The Mañanas, Neoma, Rubio, Vacations, Priya Ragu, Godly the Ruler, Mareux and dozens more. Shows at the walkable event take place at 4 outdoor and 10 indoor stages, between 6th and Alameda avenues.

The fest runs Friday, July 26-Sunday, July 28. Tickets: $60-$75 per day, or $125 for a full weekend pass (prices do not include service fees). Get tickets, lineup details, transportation options and an accessibility guide at , where you can also download the free UMS app.

Other worthy fests: Su Teatro’s 28th Chicano Music Fest (through July 28; ) and the 21st Global Dance Festival at Stockyards Event Center (July 26-27; )

Family fun at Arapahoe County Fair

Through Sunday. Bring the whole family to the 118th Arapahoe County Fair, which kicks off Thursday, July 25, and continues through Sunday, July 27, at 25690 E. Quincy Ave. in Aurora. Tickets include access to on-site parking, unlimited carnival rides, CPRA rodeos, fireworks (weather and fire restrictions permitting), NSPA truck and tractor pulls, Canine Stars Stunt Dog Show, mutton bustin’, Top Hogs pig racing, line dancing lessons, petting farm, 4-H livestock shows, Kids Corral and numerous other activities, organizers said.

Food, beverages and other vendors will be available for purchase. General admission is $25; kids under 36 inches tall get in free. Pours on the Plains, a craft brew festival for 21-and-up attendees, requires a separate ticket for the 6:30-9:30 p.m. event on July 26 from 6:30-9:30 p.m. 11 a.m.-12 a.m. Friday and Saturday, and 11 a.m.-10:30 p.m. Sunday.

“I worked at Sputnik for 10 years and I’d stayed in contact with (owners) Matt LaBarge and Alison Housely,” said Joe Phillips, who’s buying Sputnik, 3 S. Broadway, with former Sputnik manager Spencer Madison. “I knew they were thinking about selling so I went up to them and said, ‘Before you consider any offers, think of me.’ ”

The conversation, which started earlier this year, was geared toward retaining the bar’s character and culture, Phillips said. Phillips co-owns , where Madison also works, but plans to keep the staff and culture separate at his businesses — although both are known for their vegan menus and drinks — and preserve Sputnik’s “raw” appeal.

He declined to share a purchase price, but said he received a good deal and will be taking over the lease. He and Madison will officially take ownership the first or second week of August, he said.

Selling the bar is bittersweet, said current co-owner and co-founder LaBarge. But the pandemic’s devastating effect on mom-and-pop businesses, shifting nightlife tastes, and other factors prompted him to envision a future without it.

“It was important to us with the sale that it didn’t just go to some corporate entity,” LaBarge said. “Instead it’s with people who truly like the place and are looking to improve on it.”

Opened in 2003, Sputnik was at first a sister bar to the Hi-Dive rock venue, right next door at 7 S. Broadway. When Labarge sold the Hi-Dive a decade ago to a new ownership group (of former Hi-Dive employees, it must be noted) Sputnik officially split off. But it has retained its close relationship with the Hi-Dive, given that employees first worked at both places for years after it opened.

Phillips plans to keep the same 15 or so staff members at Sputnik, he said, but shave down its menu for the sake of efficiency. He won’t get rid of “sacred cows” such as the hand-dipped corn dogs, the Cubano, and poutine, he said. Sputnik has long been a popular pre- and post-concert stop on South Broadway, as well as a brunch favorite and social hub for The Underground Music Showcase, which .

Phillips’ longtime passion for Sputnik prompted him to move from Capitol Hill to the Baker neighborhood, he said, and it remains his favorite bar.

“Sputnik took a hit during COVID just like everyone else, and they’ve been dealing with a huge change in habits,” he said. “People aren’t staying out as late or drinking as much. So these are challenges that they’ve faced, and that we’ll face as well.”