Things to Do in Denver This Weekend

This week in Denver, take a self-guided tour of the clock tower and check out various food events around the city. On Saturday, head to Estes Park for Frozen Dead Guy Days.

On a budget? Check out our list of free things to do. But for now, stick around for events worth the price of admission in and around Denver:

This Week

Clock Tower Self-Guided Tours
March 25 through March 27 and March 29, various times
1601 Arapahoe Street
Historic Denver invites people of all ages on a self-guided tour of the city’s first skyscraper, completed in 1911 and the final piece of the Daniels and Fisher Department Store. Today, the landmark offers visitors a glimpse into the city’s architectural past and stunning panoramic views of the surrounding area. Historic Denver’s self-guided tour will take you through the various highlights of the building, and participants will have the opportunity to access the 17th-floor observation deck. Get tickets, which are $11.02, here.

Profs & Pints Denver: Dietary Racism — A History
Wednesday, March 25, 6 to 8:30 p.m.
Woodie Fisher Kitchen & Bar, 1999 Chestnut Place
Hilary A. Smith, associate professor of history at the University of Denver and scholar of the histories of science, medicine, and China will talk about how biases against certain populations have skewed the recommendations of modern nutrition science at this Profs & Pints event. Get tickets here or at the door.

Bowl of ‘Zole 
Thursday, March 26, 5 to 9 p.m.
Skylight, 833 Santa Fe Drive
This celebration of agave spirits and pozole returns for its fourth year in the Mile High. Expect to taste your way through over 300 variations of tequila, mezcal, raicilla, sotol and bacanora, many from small producers that can’t be found elsewhere in town. You can also fill up on pozole from chefs such as Dana Rodriguez of Work & Class and Carne, David Lopez from El Chingon and Oscar Padilla from Chulo Tacos and Agave Blue Cantina. Tickets start at $55. 

Kettle to Kitchen
Thursday, March 26, 6 to 9 p.m.
The Post Brewing, 105 West Emma Street, Lafayette
Join the Post’s chef and brewing team as they highlight the connection between craft brewing and modern Americana cooking. Brewing malt, wort, hops and finished beer will be incorporated into various aspects of this five-course menu. The brewing team will pair beers made with rice grits and lemongrass, and will also create a separate Saison-style beer specifically for this event. The food offerings include a potato cannoli, asparagus & ramps, grain-crusted halibut, beer-glazed short ribs and German chocolate beer cakes.

Frozen Dead Guy Days
Saturday, March 28
Estes Park Events Complex, 1125 Rooftop Way, Estes Park
It’s time for coffin races, music, art and more weird stuff at the Frozen Dead Guy Days festival. Learn the lore of Grandpa Bredo, frozen in a state of suspended animation and awaiting a big thaw to bring him back to life. Tickets and more information are available here.

Through the Looking Glass: Writing the Self-Portrait Poem
Saturday, March 28, 1 to 3 p.m.
Center for Colorado Women’s History, 1310 Bannock Street
Feminist poet Kathleen Willard will lead a writing workshop as part of the Center for Colorado Women’s History’s exhibit, Domestic Bliss. Willard will guide participants into gathering memories for a full-bodied self-portrait poem and will “Willard will “share poems illuminating how the private spaces of the household — the tea table, the kitchen, the sewing room, and the knitting circle served as flashpoints for social justice, women’s rights, union organizing and protest.” There will be three writing prompts. No experience is needed and materials are provided. Get tickets here.

1986
Saturday, March 28, 6 p.m.
Truss House, 3400 Arkins Court
La Vladimira X and a lineup of other performers, including Lisa Frank 666, Mother Daddy, Apple and more, invite you into their dreamscape in which femininity and transness pulse through joy, pain, and the beautiful wreckage of the 80s. This show, a shimmering reflection on forty years of resilience, tragedy, and glamour, is told through installations, film, performance, vendors and music. Get tickets here.

Ongoing Denver Events and Museum Exhibitions

Lumonics Immersed
Fridays and Saturdays, 8 p.m.
Lumonics Light & Sound Gallery, 800 East 73 Avenue
Lumonics is a multi-sensory environment intended to bring guests into a state of comfort and expanded awareness. It features interactive art, such as light sculptures, painting, music, water fountains and projection. General admission tickets are $25.

Rainforest Yoga
Saturdays and Sundays, 7:45 to 8:45 a.m.
Butterfly Pavilion, 6252 West 104th Avenue, Westminster
Get your yoga mat and a towel and head to the Butterfly Pavilion for rejuvenating yoga surrounded by butterflies and exotic plants. Registration, which is $18, is required before the class. Register here.

Sunday Night Swing Dance Class
Sunday, March 22, 6:30 p.m.
The Pearl, 2199 California Street
Swing out every Sunday at The Pearl (formerly the Mercury Cafe) for live music and swing dance lessons. Each week, swing dance basics and a few other tricks are taught, and drop-ins, singles, couples, families and groups of all sizes are welcome. Tickets are $18.

Dinos Alive Immersive Experience
Through Sunday, March 29
Exhibition Hub, 3900 Elati Street
Taking up the space previously occupied by Titanic: An Immersive Voyage is Dinos Alive, a prehistoric playground with 35 life-sized animatronic dinosaurs and a VR experience. “With Dinos Alive, from the time you first enter all the way to the time you leave, the space is completely consumed by this feeling of being in a sort of Mesozoic-era Jungle,” says executive producer John Zaller. “We’ve got theatrical lighting throughout that’s creating this scene that’s transitioning from day to night, as though you’re going through the whole day with the dinosaurs.” Tickets are $18.90 to $34.90.

Brick Planet
Through Sunday, May 3
Denver Museum of Nature & Science, 2001 Colorado Boulevard
Brick Planet: A Magical Journey Made with LEGO Bricks is a massive display of LEGO artistry at the DMNS. The new traveling exhibition by acclaimed LEGO artist Sean Kenney transforms ecosystems from around the globe into vivid, playful environments made from more than 1.5 million colorful bricks. The exhibit is included with general admission to the museum.

Glowing Wild
Select dates through Sunday, May 10
Denver Zoo Conservation Alliance, 2300 Steele Street
Denver Zoo Conservation Alliance’s after-hours spring lantern event is back on select nights, showcasing sixty illuminated scenes of more than 175 larger-than-life lantern displays on its 80-acre campus. Enjoy food, beverages and live music as you stroll through the glowing lights. Tickets are available here.

The World’s Largest Dinosaurs
Through Monday, September 7
Denver Museum of Nature & Science, 2001 Colorado Boulevard
The Denver Museum of Nature & Science’s newest exhibit, The World’s Largest Dinosaurs, opens Friday, exploring “the biology and anatomy of sauropods — the largest land animals to ever walk the Earth.” The exhibit used to tell the story of sauropods includes a towering, life-sized model of a 60-foot-long Mamenchisauru. A special ticket is required in addition to general museum admission.

Conversation Pieces
Through October 11
Denver Art Museum, 100 West 14th Ave Parkway
Conversation Pieces is a new fashion exhibition at the Denver Art Museum made up of never-before-seen garments from the museum’s fashion archive. It’s also an interesting window into Denver fashion history. “Designers across time utilize a shared lexicon and a shared history,” says Director and Curator of Avenir Institute of Textile Arts and Fashion at the DAM Jill D’Alessandro. “They’re in constant communication with each other, whether they’re contemporaries or separated by eras. There’s a functionality to fashion that means they have the same root problem to work from. They’re responding to the body, to cultural shifts.” Conversation Pieces is included in general museum admission.

Moments That Made Us
Through October 18
History Colorado Center, 1200 Broadway
In honor of the U.S.’s 250th anniversary and Colorado’s 150th anniversary, History Colorado has collected fifty artifacts from defining moments in the country and state’s history, from George Washington’s spurs and a tape recorder from the Watergate investigation to historic documents and a firefighter’s helmet from the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Get tickets here.

Do you know of a great event in Denver? We’ll update this list throughout the week; send information to editorial@westword.com.