Hattie Boyd
Audio By Carbonatix
Our Best of Denver 2026 cover sent us over the moon, and we wanted to give our best readers a lift, too. So we commissioned Best of Denver cover artist Hattie Boyd to create a new piece capturing the spirit of the city, which now adorns tote bags and stickers available to Westword members.
When we founded Westword almost fifty years ago, we were committed to publishing a free weekly paper for Denver, and that philosophy carried over when we introduced the 24/7 westword.com: We believe that access to information should be free. But independent journalism doesn’t come cheap, and retail advertising — for years our only means of support — has dropped drastically over the past two decades. That’s where our members come in.
Since Westword introduced the membership program six years ago, it’s doubled in size. Today, we have over 1,400 members, who contribute enough every year to cover the cost of two staff writers. And in these challenging times, that’s key to the continued health of the Westword newsroom, and our ability to fulfill our mission of uncovering the bad news in this city…and covering the good news, too.
Good news like Denver’s growing group of creatives. A student at the University of Colorado Denver, Boyd grew up in Colorado Springs and enjoys not just this state’s very great outdoors, but allof its urban amenities. The art, for example: “Even though it’s going to be my job, I go see it in my free time,” she says. She likes looking at the murals downtown and in RiNo, and the shows at the Emmanuel Gallery, which just turned 150.
Hattie Boyd
We loved her Best of Denver cover, which captured so much we love about Denver — this may no longer be a cowtown, but we like to celebrate the best of its past even as we look to the future. And now you’ll be able to see even more of Boyd’s work around town, in the hands of Westword’s members.
Want to grab a tote, sticker, hat or other commemorative Westword swag? Become a member or renew your membership; get all the details here.
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