Six More Things to Do in Denver This Weekend

Were you planning to spend your weekend in the garden or a park? You might want to think again, unless that park is Winter Park, where Mary Jane is still open. Or perhaps you're planning on spending the day at the Arapahoe Basin beach? A-Basin is still open, too.

Still, snow or no snow, there's plenty to do in and around Denver. See our list of free events here, and art openings and activities here. Now keep reading for six events all worth the price of admission:
Mazes & Brain Games
Through September 25
Denver Museum of Nature & Science, 2001 Colorado Boulevard
The family that plays together will love Mazes & Brain Games, the exhibit that opened May 20 at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, with a completely hands-on design to get visitors moving, thinking and solving puzzles. The number of mazes alone will offer kids and parents all kinds of learning experiences, encountering illusionary obstacles while moving from one end to another, getting touchy-feely with grooved finger mazes, or following pathways of colors or musical challenges. Mazes & Brain Games is free with museum admission, $13.95 to $19.95 (free for members and children under three); learn more here.

Denver Silent Film Festival: We Need to Laugh
Through Sunday, May 22
Sturm Family Auditorium, Denver Botanic Gardens, 1007 York Street
Silent film lover Howie Movshovitz and his tight crew at the Denver Silent Film Festival weren’t kidding when they subtitled the three-day 2022 fest “We Need to Laugh.” After the pandemic-driven start-stop of cultural events such as theirs, laughter is everything. Now the fest is back and live at the Denver Botanic Gardens with a selection of eleven feature-length and short silent classics, live musical accompaniment and lots of laughs, courtesy of Buster Keaton, Fatty Arbuckle, Harold Lloyd, W.C. Fields and others. Find a schedule and buy tickets, $14.95 per screening, here, or a $75 all-access pass here.

Christopher Moore, Razzmatazz
Saturday, May 21, 7 p.m.
Tattered Cover Bookstore, 2526 East Colfax Avenue
The always witty Christopher Moore brings back the fun cast of ’40s-era wise guys and ditzy dames first introduced in the 2018 comic novel Noir with Razzmatazz, another Runyonesque romp that trades coasts for a San Francisco setting. In Razzmatazz, bartender Sammy “Two Toes” Tiffin and his girlfriend, Stilton, encounter a rash of plot twists involving drag-king murders, opium dens and a whole lot more lowbrow lunacy. You’ll know more after sitting in on Moore’s live book signing at the TC Colfax. Purchase tickets (including a copy of the book for $34) here.

Studio 55 Disco Party
Saturday, May 21, 7 p.m. to midnight
Fashion Factory, 2501 Dallas Street, Suite 200, Aurora
This ’70s-style disco, complete with a light-up dance floor and all the glittery debauchery of the Studio 54 era, is a fundraiser for Latin Fashion Week Colorado. There will be DJs, a dance contest and instruction, Stallion the Disco pony, and plenty of craft cocktails. Tickets are $20; get them here.

Blackademics
Saturday, May 21, 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, May 22, 2:30 p.m., continues weekends through June 19
Vintage Theatre, 1468 Dayton Street, Aurora
Playwright, author and breakbeat poet Idris Goodwin has been working wonders as the visionary director of the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. The latest Goodwin production is Vintage Theatre’s staging of Blackademics, a story about two Black women in academia — one on a tenure track at a prestigious college and the other on uncertain ground at a state university — who become adversaries over dinner in a restaurant that grows more threatening with every weird course. The denouement isn’t pretty. Learn more and get tickets, $20 to $34, here.

Distinguished Gentleman's Ride
Sunday, May 22
Denver
Calling all Denver gentlefolk! Movember is bringing together the Denver motorcycle community — and a passion for classic and vintage bike styles — for the eleventh annual Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride. The global event, which spans over 700 cities and 100 countries, unites motorcycle riders all over the world to raise funds for Movember, the leading men’s health charity, and garner awareness for prostate cancer research and men’s mental health. While the Denver route is still to be determined, it's time to start your engines, gentlemen. Find out more here.

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