4 AUGUST 6-12, 2026 westword.com WESTWORD | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | NEWS | LETTERS | CONTENTS | W ® 10 NEW CLOWNS ON THE BLOCK Denver is clowning around like never before. BY GRACE WILSON 6 TINY HOMES, BIG QUESTIONS What does Denver’s micro- community closure mean for the model? BY SAGE KELLY 14 PEACHY PERFECTION How to make the most of this summer’s Palisade Peach season. BY ABIGAIL BLISS 17 FINDING YOURSELF Telly settles into her identity on her debut album “Para El Mundo 2.” BY CLEO MIRZA 10 Culture 14 Cafe 17 Music CONCERTS/CLUBS ................................... 18 24 Marijuana CANNABIS CALENDAR ............................ 24 HIGH NOTES ............................................. XX VOLUME 49 NUMBER 49 AUGUST 6-12, 2026 E D I T O R I A L Senior Editor, News 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 McKin- ley, Abigail Nueve, Ryan Pachmayer, Kristin Pazulski, Adam Perry, Evan Semón, Toni Tresca Music Listings Matthew Jones Cover Designer Kristin Bjornsen Editor Emeritus Patricia Calhoun 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 Brad Belanger, Remy Diamond, Rachel Gilmore, Keith Gordon, Trey Konsella, Kirby Quick, 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 National Editor Sam Eifl ing 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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N A T I O N ’ S F I R S T P U B L I C N A T U R E L I B R A R Y O P E N S I N C O L O R A D O There’s a library in the Denver metro area where you can play in the mud, work in a gar- den and check out everything from telescopes and bird-watching kits to waterproof tents and snowshoes. Inside, there’s a wall of live plants, a darkroom with twinkling stars on the ceiling and a fi replace with a bench that can be heated in the winter. Oh, and there are books, too. Adams County’s library system, Anythink Libraries, will open the nation’s fi rst public library with an outdoors focus on Saturday, Aug. 8. Sitting on a 15-acre campus adjacent to the 140-acre Aylor Open Lands in Thorn- ton, the 33,000-square-foot Anythink Nature Library welcomes people inside just like any other library. But the point of visiting is to get outside. “The vision for the nature library is to help people fi nd their place in nature,” says Anythink Executive Director Mark Fink. Although it’s located in Adams County, any Colorado resident can get an Anythink library card for full access to the system’s services. And people are going to want to check out the Nature Library. Fink says the $43.4 million project was funded through certifi cates of participa- tion, a type of lease-purchase agreement to fi nance a new facility, and took almost exactly two years of construction. A Native American Advisory Council was integral to the library’s design process. “Our advisory council members shared their knowledge and wisdom about how we could be good stewards of the land and fi nd ways to connect with the land and the library space,” Fink says. Several of those ideas are realities of the library today: a sunroom overlooking the gardens where storytimes will be held, an immersive darkroom where people looking for a low-sensory environment can fi nd quiet and native Colorado fl ora and fauna across the campus. There is no Dewey Decimal System. Books are instead organized by topic, includ- ing fi ction, poetry, Indigenous knowledge and outdoor instruction manuals for garden- ing, hiking, foraging and more. Another sec- tion of the library offers outdoor equipment that can be checked out. A cafe will serve up coffee, tres leches cake and other snacks, and the whole building is fi lled with natural light thanks to its many windows, which, by the way, are made of bird-safe glass. “It has little dots on it,” Fink explains. “Birds sense those dots and know that there’s a barrier in front of them, so they know to veer away instead of hitting our windows.” Fink adds that Anythink is going for LEED gold certifi cation for the building, a recognition for environmentally friendly construction ef- forts. “We have over 300 solar panels on the roof of the building. Those solar panels will cover about half of our utility costs,” he says. “We have 40 geothermal wells that provide the heating and circulation for the building. ...All of the stone we used in the building is local to Colorado.” That includes the fi replace, which is made of redstone from Crested Butte. There is also a boulder climbing area inside the library where kids and adults alike can get some practice in. “We heard that a lot of folks, especially folks who live in apartment buildings, don’t have outdoor spaces of their own, so we wanted to provide that kind of space and gear for people to use,” Fink says. Outside, there is indeed a mud pit (and a clean-up area, although the library recom- mends bringing a change of clothes) as well as a loop trail, a nature play area and various gardens — including one at the center of the library, which Fink says will eventually have a telescope and fountain. “A lot of those outdoor experiences will inform the gear that we’ll offer that people can borrow,” Fink says. “It could be a bird- watching journal with a fi eld guide they can take out on the property — they can take it home as well. What we’re really trying to do is fi nd ways to connect people with nature, and buying all the gear can be a barrier for some people. We want to provide the access and all the pieces that people need to have that nature experience that they’re looking for.” The library will work with nonprofi t and government partners to provide an extra layer of support for people looking for resources and education, according to Fink. “People think that nature in Colorado means going to the mountains, but we want to show that you can have a really amazing outdoor experience in your backyard, in the plains, on the prairie,” Fink says. — Kristen Fiore KRISTEN FIORE
