Denver Art Museum
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What a week! The free activities moved right from Day of the Dead celebrations (see our list of Día de los Muertos events) into First Friday and the start of Denver Arts Week, complete with tonight’s Night at the Museums! The week actually runs through November 12; find out more about that lineup here.
Keep reading for some of the best free things to do in Denver this weekend:
Denver Veterans Day Parade & Festival
Saturday, November 5, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Civic Center Park
The first in-person Denver Veterans Day Parade & Festival will kick off on November 5. The parade includes marching bands, floats and car clubs; the festival features military reenactments and vendors. Find out more here.
Denver Film Festival: Virtual Reality Arcade
Saturday, November 5, 4 to 7:30 p.m., Sunday, November 6, 2 to 5:30 p.m.
Tattered Cover, 2526 East Colfax Avenue
Although most Denver Film Festival events are ticketed, the Virtual Reality Arcade – which has moved to the Tattered Cover Colfax this year – will often be open to the public. You can experience the Monte Gelato waterfalls in Rome; follow in the footsteps of Kubo, a Korean writer in Seoul in 1934, when Korea was under Japanese occupation; or meet a panda named Herbie. Get details here.
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Lumonics Light & Sound Gallery
Saturday, November 5, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
800 East 73rd Avenue, Unit 11
In honor of Denver Arts Week and the Denver Immersive Gathering, Lumonics is hosting this open house, where guests can view over 75 light sculptures in the gallery, performance space and art studio/school, and learn about one of the first and longest-running light art projects in the U.S. Complimentary refreshments will be served. For more information, visit lumonics.net.
Hijos del Sol Holiday Mercado
Saturday, November 5, and every Saturday through December 3, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. (or by appointment, 303-946-8873)
Hijos del Sol, 2715 West Eighth Avenue
The retail arm of the Latino Cultural Arts Center is ready with a fully stocked store for holiday shoppers whose taste runs toward one-of-a-kind gifts from global and local artisans, including beautiful handmade bags, hats, textiles, jewelry, carvings, decorations and more, from every corner of Mexico, Latin America and Denver. Visits to Hijos del Sol are usually only by appointment, but the shop will be open for the next four Saturdays; learn more here.
Super Market Denver Vintage Pop-Up Bar Crawl
Saturday, November 5, noon to 8 p.m.
Larimer Street, between 26th and 32nd streets
This summer, the city was teeming with guerrilla vintage markets led by intrepid and talented entrepreneurs who stuck together in order to succeed. Now, a small consortium of these gypsy vintage markets has pulled together the ambitious Super Market Denver Vintage Pop-Up Bar Crawl, spreading out more than sixty vendors at popular drinking spots on Larimer Street, including First Draft, Matchbox, American Bonded, Meadowlark, Big Sky Supply, Gold Point and Infinite Monkey Theorem. Support your local micro-businesses! Times vary at each stop; find a bar crawl map, vendor list and timetable on Instagram.
Mario Acevedo, Cats in Quarantine Book Launch
Saturday, November 5, 4 to 6 p.m.
BookBar, 4280 Tennyson Street
Denver artist, cartoonist, writer and animal lover Mario Acevedo, known for his paintings of Old Denver hot spots, is also the author of the hilarious Felix Gomez detective-vampire series and other books and stories. But in the darkness of the pandemic, Acevedo took up his pen and started drawing a daily single-panel cartoon called Cats in Quarantine, which he shared on social media to cheer up folks in lockdown…and which won a place in our most recent Comics Contest. Now these cartoons been collected in a book by local Hex Publishers, and Acevedo will share some of his favorite subtly malevolent cat panels at the launch at BookBar. RSVP for the free event here.
Denver Arts Week: Night at the Museums
Saturday, November 5, 5 to 10 p.m.
Around Denver
Many museums around metro Denver will be free Saturday night, and some will offer additional specials. A free shuttle will take people around to many of the museums; get all the details here.
A sampler of panels from Anguish Garden II, a new graphic novel from R. Alan Brooks.
R. Alan Brooks
Anguish Garden II Graphic Novel Premiere
Saturday, November 5, 6 p.m.
Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut Street, Boulder
Denver comic book author R. Alan Brooks and collaborating artists Kevin Caron and Jolyon Yates are excited to introduce fans to Brooks’s new graphic novel, Anguish Garden II, at the Dairy Arts Center in Boulder. The second in a series that began with the release of Anguish Garden in 2020 – a comic so controversial that it elicited death threats from white supremacists – Anguish Garden II delves into what draws people into radical ideologies and how easy it can be to fall under their sway. Learn how the sequel and art came together; the first fifty people in the door will go home with a free copy. RSVP here.
Do you know of a great free event in Denver? We’ll be updating this list through the week; send information to editorial@westword.com.