Free Things to Do in Denver (and Beyond) This Week

It’s April, and Denver’s cultural calendar isn’t fooling around. With the Colorado Rockies returning to Coors Field and a big First Friday tomorrow, the city should be all fun and games. And Boulder Arts Week gets underway, too; it runs through April 12.

But first, you can visit the Molly Brown House Museum this afternoon for free, and also celebrate the start of National Poetry Month.

For more options, check our list of activities worth the price of admission. Now keep reading for free things to do in Denver (and beyond) this week:

This Week

EMPOWERink Medical Tattoo Studio
Thursday, April 2, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
425 South Cherry Street, Glendale
EMPOWERink, a new tattoo studio, is hosting a grand opening that includes iight refreshments and info about its women-oriented services. Register here.

Molly Brown House Museum SCFD Voter Evening
Thursday, April 2, 4 to 7 p.m.
1340 Pennsylvania Street
Thanks to the SCFD, there’s no admission fee to visit the Molly Brown House Museum on the first Thursday of each month from 4 to 7 p.m. This is your chance to get up close and personal with Denver’s most famous heroine, Margaret (never Maggie) Brown, whose life was far more interesting than pop culture suggests. For starters, the fight to save her Denver home inspired the creation of Historic Denver.

National Poetry Month With Anythink Libraries
Thursday, April 2, through April
Adams County Libraries
Throughout April, Anythink Libraries’ seven locations will offer a range of poetry-focused experiences led by Aerik Francis, Adams County poet laureate. “Poetry invites us to slow down, listen closely and discover new ways of seeing the world,” says Francis. “Through these workshops and events, we hope to create spaces where people feel inspired to experiment with language, share their stories and build community through creative expression.” One of the featured events is Word/Play: Generative Writing with Francis, set for 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 2, at the Huron Street library. At 6 p.m. today, Anythink Perl Mack Library will host Moving the Words with Franklin Cruz, a bilingual workshop combining creative writing with movement and dance to explore storytelling through the body. And at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, April 4, Anythink Commerce City will offer The Music of Our Lives with Suzi Q. Smith: a poetry writing workshop focused on sound, rhythm and the music of language.

Opening Day Party at McGregor Square
Friday, April 3, 9 a.m. through the day
McGregor Square, 1901 Wazee Street
The party starts early at McGregor Square, with the bar open at 9 a.m. and a DJ starting at 10:30 a.m. If you don’t have tickets to the big game against the Phillies, you can watch on the 66-foot McGregor Jumbotron.

Opening Day Patio Party at Denver Union Station 
Friday, April 3, 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Union Station, 1701 Wynkoop Street
Celebrate the start of the 2026 Colorado Rockies season at a patio party at Denver Unio Station; there will be games, face painting and live entertainment including Paizley Park, Denver’s favorite Prince tribute band, grooving on Wynkoop Plaza from 11:30 a.m.to 2:30 p.m. 

Game Day on the Block
Friday, April 3, 11 a.m.
Dairy Block, 1800 Wazee Street
LoDo’s Dairy Block micro-district is celebrating the return of baseball with activations in the Alley, including the Rockies Living Wall by handsome Little Devils, as well as a DJ and live bluegrass music. The Milk Market will be offering deals on food and drinks, and the Maven will host Game Day Lobby activations from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m, And after the game, there will be a free performance by Denver band Be Kind Remind, which plays a mix of ’80s hits, alternative, country, rap and classic rock, in the Alley at 5:30 p.m.

CU Boulder Open Doors
Friday, April 3, noon to 3 p.m.
CU Visual Arts Complex, 1085 18th Street, Boulder
In honor of Boulder Arts Week, CU Boulder is highlighting the school’s connection to Boulder’s art community. Free drop-in activities include printmaking with MFA student Luis E. Pérez; watercolor painting with student educators from the CU Museum of Natural History; and Crafts, puzzles, tarot cards and more with the CU Art Museum, plus visit the MFA Thesis Exhibition, featuring the work of Dati Alsaedi, Cesar Herrejon, and Mahda Purmehdi.

Celebrating HerStory
Friday, April 3, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.
REI, 1415 Platte Street
Celebrate the end of Women’s History Month at this event focusing on the accomplishments of women in the great outdoors. The keynote speech by Raquel Sapp, founder of Backcountry Pulse, will focus on “Redefining the Finish Line,” and invite you to reclaim the power to write your own stories. Also on hand: Becky Jensen, who literally wrote the book on braving the Colorado Trail while managing fear of the woods and the mom guilt of leaving family behind in search of adventure with her debut memoir, No Man’s Land; Latasha Greene of Jitterbug Art Studio; and Sarah and Brett Bowlin of Bowl & Kettle. The suggested donation is $15, but no one will be turned away.

Earth Month Bread to Beer Tapping Party
Friday, April 3, 6 p.m.
Odell Brewing Co. Sloan’s Lake Brewhouse & Pizzeria, 1625 Perry Street
Celebrate Earth Month at a unique Bread to Beer tapping party for Wheat Don’t Waste Ale, a limited-release specialty ale crafted by Odell Brewing using over 100 pounds of recovered sourdough bread from Rebel Bread. Savor the new beer, support Denver-based food recovery nonprofit We Don’t Waste and participate in an Earth Month-themed adult spelling bee for a chance to win a swag bag filled with goodies.

Walk Off Hot Night With Ken Arkind
Friday, April 3, 7 p.m.
Mutiny Comics and Coffee, 3483 South Broadway, Englewood
Walk Off Hot Publishing is releasing a chapbook edition of Duende by legendary poet Ken Arkind, llustrated by Charly Fasano. To celebrate the collaboration, Arkind, who now lives in Australia, will be the featured poet for Walk Off Hot Night. Duende is a long-form poem that delves into the constant changes of this once little city, while serving as a tribute to beloved poet and mentor “The Professor” Lenny Chernila. At the event, Fasano and Vincent Cheap will screen their short film adaptation of Arkind’s poem “Denver.” The evening will also feature a solo set by author and rocker Zach Boddicker, and a reading by comic book artist and ultimate zinester Cori Redford. 

Colorado College NASU Powwow
Saturday, March 4, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Ed Robson Arena, 849 North Tejon Street , Colorado College
The Native American Student Union at Colorado College is hosting the 35^th annual NASU Powwow, which celebrates the resilience and pride of Indigenous communities, including Oglala Lakota , Cheyenne, Arapaho, Haliwa-Saponi, HoChunk/Dakota, Pawnee/Dakota, and Osage tribes. There will be a grand entrance, a blessing, competitive dancing, drums and other live performances and vendors.

Ongoing

SCFD Free Days
Locations and dates vary
Thanks to the sales tax you pay into the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District, many arts institutions around the metro area offer occasional free days and programs. For example, there’s no admission charge at the Buffalo Bill Museum and Grave on Wednesday, April 1; the Molly Brown House Museum is offering free visits on the afternoon of Thursday, April 2. For more bargains, check the SCFD site.

Colorado State Capitol Tours
Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
200 East Colfax Avenue|
The Capitol is open Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Free guided tours are available, but limited to thirty people on a first come, first served basis. Check in at the Visitor Information Desk, which opens at 9 a.m.

America 250 – Colorado 150
Through 2026
Around the state
Happy 150th birthday, Colorado! On August 1, 1876, Colorado became a state, and there will be celebrations all year — at the same time this country is celebrating its 250th anniversary. You can find a full list of the activities at Am250CO150.org, but don’t miss the already-open exhibits at the History Colorado Center: Moments That Made US, 38th Star: Colorado Becomes the Centennial State, and the new John Fielder show, Majestic Mountains.

“We Are the Land”
Denver’s YouTube
On February 7, Landmark Preservation staff and the American Indian community celebrated the culmination of more than three years of work to preserve and celebrate the history and culture of Denver’s current American Indian population, as well as Tribal Nations with cultural and historic ties to the land that is now Denver, with the oral history project “We are the Land: American Indian Life, Legacy and Future in Denver.” The project includes an accompanying documentary produced by Off the Road Productions, “We Are the Land,” which is now available on Denver’s YouTube channel.

Beyond the Western Horizon
Through July 31, Tuesday through Thursdasy, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Madden Gallery at Museum of Outdoor Arts, 6363 South Fiddlers Green Circle, Suite 110, Greenwood Village
The Museum of Outdoor Arts just opened Beyond the Western Horizon, an exhibit featuring 21 artists and 60 artworks depicting aspects of the American West — people, animals, landscapes and objects — in paintings as well as sculptures and mixed-media artworks. The artists include Edward Aldrich, Raj Chaudhuri, Lorenzo Chavez, Maeve Eichelberger, Ian Fisher, Bruce A. Gómez, David Kammerzell, Buffalo Kaplinski, Andrea Kemp, Corbett Kesler, Crystal Latimer, Amy Laugesen, Michael Magrin, William Matthews, Patrick Oates, David Sherwin Parker, Craig Marshall Smith, Robert Spooner, Daniel Sprick, Clyde Steadman and David Uhl. “Our exhibition will display a range of artworks from nostalgic, romantic cowboys to contemporary cityscapes executed in Realism or Expressionism. We’re exhibiting an array of sculptures: glazed clay horses, Plexiglass saddles and cast longhorn skulls encrusted in thousands of tiny glass beads,” says MOA founder Cindy Madden Leitner. “We invite visitors into Madden Gallery to drift and to dream among inspired and inspiring artworks branded by the aesthetic of American West.” 

Colorado Scenic and Historic Byways
Through April 19, Fridays through Sundays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Sangres Art Guild’s 3rd Street Gallery, 59000 Highway 69, Westcliffe
Ready for a road trip? Celebrte Colorado’s sesquicentennial with a visit to Westcliffe, where 3rd Street Gallery has a traveling show of 52 photographs taken along Colorado’s Scenic and Historic Byways.

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