4 JUNE 4-10, 2026 westword.com WESTWORD | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | NEWS | LETTERS | CONTENTS | W ® 9 ‘FAX OF LIFE Can Denver’s longest street survive endless construction? BY KARL CHRISTIAN KRUMPHOLZ 14 HARD COUNT Is homelessness really down in Denver? BY SAGE KELLEY 16 OUT OF THE DARK Colorado artist Tom Cross paints in a hand-dug, ten-foot- deep pit. BY TONI TRESCA 19 RUNNING DRY Colorado’s drought is reshaping Denver’s farm-to- table dining. BY KARA ELDER 21 BLACK RENAISSANCE Juneteenth at Levitt Pavilion will be one of the hottest hip- hop shows of the year. BY EMILY FERGUSON 16 Culture 19 Cafe 21 Music CONCERTS/CLUBS ................................... 22 27 Marijuana CANNABIS CALENDAR ............................ 27 HIGH NOTES ............................................. XX VOLUME 49 NUMBER 40 JUNE 4-10, 2026 E D I T O R I A L Editor Patricia Calhoun News Editor Thomas Mitchell Food and Drink Editor Antony Bruno Music Editor Emily Ferguson Culture Editor Kristen Fiore Social Media Editor Katrina Leibee Staff Writers Sage Kelley, Hannah Metzger Senior Contributors Brendan Joel Kelley, Alan Prendergast, Michael Roberts Contributors Gil Asakawa, Teague Bohlen, Justin Criado, Audrey Ferrer, Nick Hutchinson, Karl Christian Krumpholz, Skyler McKinley, Abigail Nueve, Ryan Pachmayer, Kristin Pazulski, Adam Perry, Evan Semón, Amber Taufen, Toni Tresca, Kastle Waserman Music Listings Matthew Jones Cover Designer Monika Swiderski Editorial Intern July Ramirez P R O D U C T I O N Production Manager Michael Wilson Assistant Production Manager Erin Kirk Graphic Designers Caleigh Gearheart, Tori O’Connor C R E A T I V E S E R V I C E S Senior Graphic Designer Allie Seidel A D V E R T I S I N G Senior Multimedia Account Executives Amy Camera, Aaron Lembke Multimedia Account Executives Remy Diamond, Rachel Gilmore, Keith Gordon, Trey Konsella, Kirby Quick, Dalton Wilson, Allison Wissink Operations Manager Carver Hodgkiss Digital Sales Coordinator Anne-Grace Hartman Director of Digital Sales Alan Heath C I R C U L A T I O N Circulation Manager Ty Koepke B U S I N E S S Director of Business and Operations Russell Breiter Financial Accountant Robert Scribner AR Coordinator Stacy Phillips IT Systems Manager Kris Robinson Receptionist Cindy Perez Associate Publisher Tracy Kontrelos Publisher Scott Tobias V O I C E M E D I A G R O U P Executive Editor Chelsey Dequaine-Jerabek Editorial Operations Director Bridget Thomason Director of Membership and Community Development Jennifer Robinson Digital Operations & Audience Strategist Allison Stephenson Audience Strategist Lauren Antonoff Hart Corporate Controller Beth Cook Legal Counsel Steve Suskin Chief Financial Offi cer Jeff Mars Chief Executive Offi cer Scott Tobias V M G N A T I O N A L National Advertising: 1-888-278-9866, www.voicemediagroup.com Senior Vice President of Sales Operations Joe Larkin D I S T R I B U T I O N Westword is available free of charge. 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ILLUSTRATION BY MONIKA SWIDERSKI “ANOTHER ROUND,” ANTONY BRUNO, MAY 28 A G L A S S A C T Plenty of places to get $4 beers and mixed drinks. If you want fancy, plenty of places for that, too. Antony Farris Posted on Facebook The bars in Denver are too “richy high class.” The best bars to go to are the holes in the wall, like the Yamhill Pub in Portland. Or Yazoos down by the Mission. Unless you’re serving gourmet craft beer, you have no excuse to be an “elitist” bar. I’m not spending fi fteen bucks on a cocktail I can make at home. Wayne Michael Posted on Facebook Just buy a six-pack and hang out on 16th. There. I saved you $50. Kayla Rose Buena Vista I don’t like dive bars. Glad there are more spots these days to get good real drinks. Vince Polizzi Denver Westword is hilarious. The last post I saw was “one reader says 70% of Denver bars are pretentious with overpriced cocktails.” Now, this is actually a better article, because Denver has some very nice bars and great dives as well. Joe White Lakewood I just wanted to commend the author of these establishment descriptions. So well- written, you made me want to hit three spots in particular. Adam Farland Aurora I don’t know how you missed it, but thanks for not mentioning my go-to. Shhh: I don’t want my favorite outdoor bar to get any more crowded. Sally Marshall Boulder Westword’s focus on bars is sobering. Lance Myers Denver “COLLISION COURSE,” PATRICIA CALHOUN, MAY 24 T H E W R I T E S T U F F Just a brief note of thanks regarding West- word’s continued balanced publishing of reader opinions - this time regarding the Locantore couple’s writing on the Colfax BRT project. I just became aware of the lobbying groups associated with the Locantores and other folks both in Denver and the United States – focused on the Yimby initiatives, as well as groups like Greater Denver Transit – because of your news organization’s reporting. It’s very important that all lobbying organiza- tions are brought to public awareness as we move forward living in Denver, so we can un- derstand what the proposals are and how they will affect our lives as citizens and ta payers. Again, thanks for your good work. Cameron Beattie Denver Editor’s note: In general, we reserve this Letters to the Editors space for comments on stories that appeared in the print edition of Westword – since this column only appears in the weekly paper. But we also publish posts sharing readers’ opinions on westword.com several times a week. On May 31, for example, we shared com- ments about our Tina Peters coverage, includ- ing this: “Look at another disgusting editorial. Why don’t y’all explain what really happened... like the election fraud. More scum reporting.” If you’re a longtime reader, you might re- member that years ago, you could leave com- ments at the end of our articles. But due to some bad behavior and no resources for moderating those comments, we turned off that feature. Now technology has evolved and, partner- ing with Arena, we can more easily monitor comments to help ensure a safe, respectful, welcoming space for all on westword.com. So once again, you can now post responses at the end of any article that moves you to comment. And you may just see that comment in one of the Reader Response posts we publish every weekend, or even in this column.
