All the News About Denver’s Best Residential Community Since 1960 • Volume 61, Issue No. 6 • June 2022
Bring On Summer Things Are Heating Up Around The Neighborhood Compiled by Cara DeGette GPHN Editor
Juneteenth Returns To Five Points The Juneteenth street festival returns after a pandemic hiatus to the Five Points neighborhood west of Park Hill Friday through Sunday, June 17-19. The festival, which generally draws 50,000-plus people, includes live performances, music, art, vendors and fun for the entire family. Juneteenth is also known as Jubilee Day, Freedom Day, and Emancipation Day. It celebrates the day African Americans in Texas learned of their freedom two years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. This year the Colorado Legislature adopted a bill, signed into law by Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, making Juneteenth an official state holiday. The Colorado action comes a year after President Joe Biden signed bipartisan legislation making June 19 a federal holiday — the first new holiday since Martin Luther King Jr. Day was created in 1983. Check out schedules and details for the two-day celebration at juneteenthmusicfestival.com.
Denver PrideFest June 25 & 26
Denver PrideFest is also returning this
year after pandemic hiatus. The two-day festival draws celebrants from across Colorado and the Rocky Mountain region. (Estimated attendance in 2019 exceeded 525,000, marking the 50th anniversary of Stonewall.) The weekend kicks off with a 5K Pride run that benefits The Center on Colfax on Saturday, June 25, followed by a two-day festival at Civic Center Park downtown. PrideFest includes more than 250 exhibitors, 30 food and beverage vendors, and live performances all weekend long. The PrideFest Parade kicks off on Sunday at 9:30 a.m. with colorful floats, marchers and music, with more than 100,000 people lining 14 blocks of Colfax Avenue from Cheesman Park to Civic Center, where the celebrations continue. More details and information is at denverpride.org/parade/.
Join The Great Park Hill Cleanup
The second annual Park Hill the Beautiful Great Alley Cleanup is taking place during two dates in June, and all Park Hillians are invited to do some post-COVID spring cleaning. The first cleanup is Saturday, June 4 for the portion of the neighborhood between Colorado Boulevard and Quebec Street north of 26th Avenue, to Smith Road. The
Scene from Denver’s Juneteenth street festival in 2019. The two-day festival is set to return this month after a two-year hiatus. File photo by Julius Garrido
second date is Saturday June 18, and includes all of Park Hill between Colorado and Quebec south of 26th Avenue to Colfax. Park Hill neighbors east of Quebec are also invited to join the fun. This is a chance to get outside, meet up with neighbors on your block, and get to work. Put on your work gloves and grab your rakes and brooms and pick up a year’s worth of stuff that has gathered along fences and garages. Haul out your clippers and saws to neaten up the vegetation. This old fashioned Alley Clean-up is
sponsored by the Greater Park Hill Community registered neighborhood organization, and kicks off the 2022 Park Hill the Beautiful Campaign. Cleaner alleys makes us all feel better about ourselves and the space where we live. To maximize efficiency, it is recommended that you and neighbors on each side of your alley pick a two-hour time slot between 8 a.m. and noon on the day of the clean-up, and proceed accordingly. The dates align with Denver’s scheduled large item trash pickup the following week, on Monday, June 6 and Thursday, June 23. continued on page 8
Inside This Issue PAGE 2
Late Spring Snowstorm Snaps Branches, Delays Garage Sales
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Take A Walk, Denver, And Embrace The Urban Wilderness
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City Park Jazz Is Back. Kick Back And Soak In The Music
Local Gardeners Share The Challenges And Frustrations, Joys And Satisfaction Of Making A Splendid Space By Jean Ercolani Park Hill Garden Walk Organizer
This spring I’ve had the distinct pleasure of interviewing several gardeners whose outdoor creations are among the eight featured in the June 12 Park Hill Garden Walk. We’ve discussed their love, challenges, frustrations, joy and knowledge of gardening. The pride these gardeners have for their outdoor creations is inspiring. All of them started with a bit of a mess and have created pure magic. Each of their gardens is as
unique as their individual personalities and are filled with interesting features, charm and a clear love of the outdoors and for entertaining. Cheri and Joe Huff have flanked their home with two distinctly different entertaining spaces. One features a full kitchen with a large dining table and a fireplace. The other — the Secret Garden — is more of a casual lounge space with plenty of seating, a water fountain and fire pit. The plants that surround this garden space add to the overall peace and tranquility of their Secret Garden. They made certain to maintain
continued on page 4
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Pure Outdoor Magic
the historic architectural features of their home when planning their outdoor spaces. A huge front porch that stretches across the front of the entire house, an herb garden, beautiful flowering plants and an interesting mix of trees, bushes and potted plants complete this lovely outdoor sanctuary. Garth and Debbie Jordan have created an outdoor space that reflects their love of nature and the beauty of native Colorado plants. Their journey creating an outdoor oasis was quite the undertaking. Their yard was initially comprised of pink decorative rock, bad soil, clay and mulch. They started by removing it — several tons of rock, dirt and mulch in all — and replacing it with several tons of good topsoil and compost and plant fertilizer to create a healthy soil base. This process took years, but as a result, they have beautiful outdoor space on all four sides of their home that include an urban forest, wild flowers and about 40
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Park Hill Garden Walk
The Black Canyon Of The Gunnison And Other Summer Destinations Beetlemania! Spotted Or Striped, These Bugs Make Good Pets
Upcoming GPHC Meetings Community meetings are conducted on the first Thursday of each month at 6:30 p.m., except for July and December.
The June community meeting will be held in person on Thursday, June 2, at 2823 Fairfax St. Can’t make it in person? Join via Zoom at greaterparkhill.org/ join-us/ community-meetings/ The August meeting is Thursday, Aug. 4.