Doors Open Denver
Audio By Carbonatix
We’re full into fall, and a cornucopia of cultural activities are spilling out all over town, with mural fests, markets and more.
Keep reading for five of the best free things to do in and around Denver this weekend:
Street Wise Boulder Mural Festival
Sunday, October 2, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Street Wise HQ at 1909 Broadway and around Boulder
The fourth year of the Street Wise Boulder Mural Festival has created sixteen new murals in downtown and central Boulder, with a lineup that includes 21 Colorado-based and four out-of-state artists. There are walking tours of the murals at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. daily, or you can wander on your own. Related events are free; get the details here.
Handmade in Colorado Expo
Sunday, October 2, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Fillmore Plaza, Fillmore Street, between First and Second avenues
Handmade in Colorado returns to Fillmore Plaza in Cherry Creek North for its fourteenth year, bringing loads of fall artisan goods and goodies – all made in Colorado. Enjoy live music while you stroll and shop, and when you’re ready to sit down, pop into one of the neighborhood eateries. Admission is free; find info here.
Doors Open Denver
Through Sunday, October 16
All over Denver and online
Doors Open Denver returns, with eight new virtual tours as well as virtual tours archived from DOD 2020 and 2021 that you can watch for free on the Denver Architecture Foundation website. The new virtual tours include looks at Eugene Groves’s Nordlund House, J. Roger Musick’s Bitman-Hower House, Watkins Stained Glass, the United States Air Force Academy, U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum, Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre, Historic Elitch Theatre and the Howard Berkeley Park Chapel. In addition to these free online tours, you can ante up for dozens of in-person tours and other programs. Get all the details here.
and two almost-anytime bonuses:
Echoes From the History Colorado Collection, Season Two
Anytime on SoundCloud
Got fifteen minutes to learn something new about Colorado in the ’30s? At 3 p.m. every Monday for ten weeks, History Colorado is offering another episode of Echoes From the Collection, hosted by Arlo White of Hypnotic Turtle. The second season, which launched in August, is a series of dramatic readings culled from interviews conducted in Colorado in the early years of the Great Depression by the Civil Works Administration. And on the next two, Thursdays there will be special releases where objects in the museum collection come to life and tell their stories. Tune in here anytime for a free listen.
Edge Effect: La inclusión de mi raza (The inclusion of my race)
Through November 13, Wednesday through Sundays, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Tail Tracks Plaza, 1550 Wewatta Street
The Biennial of the Americas and Black Cube Nomadic Art Museum partnered on the latest Edge Effect project: La inclusión de mi raza (The inclusion of my race), a temporary public-art installation by Guadalajara-based artist Gabriel Rico at Tail Tracks Plaza. Rico’s outdoor installation includes totemic sculptures composed of an array of objects donated by the Denver community and an interactive AR experience. It’s open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays through November 13 (but on view 24/7).
Do you know of a great free event around Denver? We’ll be updating this list through the week; send information to editorial@westword.com.