Five Things to Do for Free in Denver This Weekend

Spring is really here, and the outlook is sunny on the cultural scene. Get in the game at free shows, concerts, Boulder Arts Week...and Easter Sunrise Service, back at Red Rocks for a 76th year.

Keep reading for five of the best free events in town this weekend:

Zone Marketplace Tenth Anniversary Celebration
Saturday, April 8, noon to 6 p.m.
Zone Marketplace, 725 Santa Fe Drive
The Zone Marketplace, a small-business retail incubator founded by Newsed, is celebrating its tenth anniversary with cake, champagne toasts and speeches on Friday and special shopping deals and giveaways on Saturday. Get the details here.

Boulder Arts Week: Boulder Art Association
Saturday, April 8, 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Around  Boulder
The Boulder Art Association has a packed lineup for Boulder Arts Week, which runs from April 7 through April 15. It starts at 11:30 a.m. April 8 with the 5@11 Art Critique Group at the R Gallery + Wine Bar, which will be followed by the Open Gait Parade starting at 4 p.m. that day. Artists dressed in black, with art in hand, will walk in parade formation down the Pearl Street Mall until 6 p.m., then retire to the R Gallery to celebrate with happy hour specials. Get more details here.

Get Free
Saturday, April 8, 6:30 to 9 p.m.
Mercury Cafe, 2199 California Street
Get Free is an opportunity to remember the radical roots of our culture and for abolitionists to practice joy as resistance. See the film Bring Down the Walls and listen to a panel discussion led by Franklin Cruz with Bianca Mikahn, DeAndre Carroll and Mia Fischer. Admission is free until 9 p.m.; a House Social Afterparty follows with DJs MTYU, EJAY, and JEROME. Get details here.

Easter Sunrise Service
Sunday, April 9, 5:30 a.m. (doors at 4:45 a.m.)
Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Morrison
The Colorado Council of Churches — an ecumenical and social justice organization that represents thirteen Christian denominations and over 800 churches across Colorado — is sponsoring the 76th annual Easter Sunrise Service at Red Rocks. Musical worship begins at 5:30 a.m., with the worship service at 6 p.m. This year's preacher is Father Pablo Burson, presiding bishop of the Ecumenical Catholic Communion and co-founder of the Church of the Beloved in Northglenn; he also works in transformational education at Regis University. Additional worship leaders are Reverent Tamara Boynton and Wesley Moncrief, a social justice and ethics student at the Iliff School of Theology. The musical worship leaders are Blood Brothers, Sharon Hicks and Father Michael J. Nicosia. The service will also be streamed live at cochurches.org, where you can find more information.

Snap Crackle Poetry: Valerie Szarek
Sunday, April 9, 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Mutiny Information Cafe, 2 South Broadway
In April, Mutiny’s monthly second-Sunday poetry reading and cereal party hosted by South Broadway Press features distinguished local poetry princess Valerie A. Szarek, a veteran scenester who calls herself a “performance poet and musician, energy healer, Shamanic Practitioner and ceremonialist.” Start the morning early at 9 a.m. with a notebook and Cheerios; sign-up for the open mic begins at 10 a.m. before readings formally start at 10:15 a.m. Admission is free, but coffee and cereal are not; RSVP at Eventbrite.

Bonus:

Denver Auto Show Ticket Giveaway
In honor of the 120th anniversary of the Denver Auto Show, scheduled for April 12-16 at the Colorado Convention Center, the Colorado Automotive Dealers Association is giving away 120 tickets; one complimentary ticket is available per email address for as long as the tickets last. A coupon code will be offered for discounted admission for those who do not receive a free ticket. Enter the code FREETIX at denverautoshow.com for a free ticket. Good luck!

Do you know of a great free event in metro Denver? We'll be updating this list throughout the week; send information to [email protected].