4 DECEMBER 25-31, 2025 westword.com WESTWORD | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | NEWS | LETTERS | CONTENTS | W ® 6 YEAR IN REVIEW A bridge too far and other falls from grace. BY PATRICIA CALHOUN 8 A NEW DAY DAWNS IN AURORA This was a city to watch in 2025. BY BENNITO L. KELTY 14 ARTFUL SOLUTIONS In 2025, local culture continued to evolve in the face of federal funding cuts. BY KRISTEN FIORE 17 FOOD FADS The top Denver dining trends of 2025. BY MOLLY MARTIN 19 TAKE NOTE The biggest stories on the Denver music scene in 2025. BY EMILY FERGUSON 14 Culture 17 Cafe 19 Music CONCERTS/CLUBS ................................... 22 26 Marijuana CANNABIS CALENDAR ............................ 26 HIGH NOTES ............................................. XX VOLUME 49 NUMBER 17 DECEMBER 25-31, 2025 E D I T O R I A L Editor Patricia Calhoun News Editor Thomas Mitchell Food and Drink Editor Molly Martin Music Editor Emily Ferguson Culture Editor Kristen Fiore Social Media Editor Katrina Leibee Staff Writers Bennito L. Kelty, Hannah Metzger Senior Contributors Brendan Joel Kelley, Alan Prendergast, Michael Roberts Contributors Gil Asakawa, Teague Bohlen, Hyde Chrastina, Jacqueline Collins, Justin Criado, Audrey Ferrer, John Flathman, Susan Froyd, Jason Heller, Nick Hutchinson, Danielle Krolewicz, Karl Christian Krumpholz, Kristen Kuchar, Skyler McKinley, Abi- gail Nueve, Ryan Pachmayer, Kristin Pazulski, Adam Perry, Evan Semón, Amber Taufen, Toni Tresca, Kastle Waserman, Helen Xu Music Listings Matthew Jones Cover Designer Monika Swiderski P R O D U C T I O N Production Manager Michael Wilson Assistant Production Manager Erin Kirk Graphic Designers Kami Miller, 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, Nate Easley, Trey Konsella, Kirby Quick, Christian Sanders, Allison Wissink Operations Manager Carver Hodgkiss Digital Sales Coordinator Anne-Grace Hartman Director of Digital Sales Alan Heath Advertising Director Teri Driskell 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 Editorial Director Chelsey Dequaine-Jerabek Editorial Operations Director Bridget Thomason Director of Membership and Community Development Jennifer Robinson Digital Operations & Audience Strategist Allison Stephenson Audience Strategist Dallon Adams 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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Peri- odicals postage paid in Denver. Domestic subscriptions may be purchased for $100/year or $50/six months. Postmaster: Send address changes to Westword, P.O. Box 5970, Denver CO 80217. Mailing address: P.O. Box 5970, Denver, CO 80217 Street address: 1278 Lincoln Street, Denver, CO 80203 For general information, call: 303-296-7744 For Editorial, email: [email protected] ON THE COVER BRADLEY HANSEN LETTERS T O T H E E D I T O R YOU CAN COMMENT ON ANY STORY AT WESTWORD.COM; SEND LETTERS TO [email protected] Don’t miss a word! The stories in this print edition are just a fraction of the pieces we publish every week on westword.com. For a cheat sheet on all that content, subscribe to our daily newsletter at westword.com/profi le. You can also follow @denverwestword on Facebook, X, Threads, Bluesky, Instagram and TikTok. And it’s all free! PHOTO BY BROCK MARLBOROUGH “FULL PLATE,” MOLLY MARTIN, DECEMBER 18 F E D U P ! Great list from Molly. Too bad I can only afford to eat at a couple of those places. Jill Frankel Denver Wow…some of those prices are eye-wa- tering…I’m sure the fare is mouthwatering; it better be. Michael Segler Denver As a Denver native, I will be unliking and unfollowing the Westword page. I ap- preciate the fact that you address the issues that the other media doesn’t. But Westword keeps rotating subjects. And is not writing about anything new, interesting or intrigu- ing that will attract visitors and a positive income fl ow for the locals and the City of Denver. Westword keeps rotating articles about overpriced concerts, sporting events and street markets, and the “opening and closing of restaurants.” Which is a really bad article to write. It makes the city look like it’s closing down all of its restaurants. Again, I appreciate the magazine ad- dressing the subjects that matter. But like Denver, I don’t think this magazine is do- ing its best to write about anything new, interesting or intriguing. And it isn’t attract- ing any visitors or a positive income fl ow for the locals. Denver is losing affordable housing, affordable food options. Parking is scarce now. And Denver doesn’t even have a carnival. Civic Center Park and East High School should have carnivals. Having a carnival would attract money to both parts of the city. What city do you know of does not have a regular carnival? Randal Friedman Denver “GOING IN CIRCLES,” BENNITO L. KELTY, DECEMBER 4 H I T T H E R O A D Thank you for your work on keeping us Den- verites informed and entertained. With the lack of neighborhood media, the quality of our information at the most impacting scale to residents is deteriorating. As a resident of the Speer neighborhood in the West Wash- ington Park Neighborhood Association RNO area, I’m requesting that you upgrade your names and phrases for our little part of Den- ver. Please use “West Washington Park” as the full name of the neighborhood, “Washington Park” as the proper name of the third-largest park in the city and “Speer neighborhood” for anything north of Alameda Avenue in the WWPNA area, including the east side businesses on “Central Broadway.” We may colloquially use Wash Park or West Wash Park internally and among ourselves, but it’s not appropriate for media or offi cial use. Obviously, it’s expected to use the shorthand if quoted or as a business name. The Baker neighborhood shares the Cen- tral Broadway corridor (from Speer to I-25/ Mississippi, west side of the road) with the Speer neighborhood north of Alameda and West Washington Park South of Alameda — it’s not all in Baker. South Broadway is the district of Broadway roughly south of I-25 or Mississippi Ave (where it begins is not an important issue while the Gates/Broadway Station area is still dirt bathtubs — might be important as development rises). And please, for the love of localism, do not use SoBo except when it is in the name of a local place! No one uses it in the area and we don’t need to perpetuate more corporatism intrusion of our urban areas. Thomas Topero Denver You can’t redesign streets to soothe fear while ignoring the people who actually use them. I would like to know how many trans- plants vs locals were in these discussions. What’s wild is learning these conversations have been happening for years without real public input. Commutes disrupted. Voices ignored. Call it what it is, not improvement but appeasement. We don’t need tweaks. We need real infrastructure. And we’re not ready for that, especially in a budget crisis. Faunte Daveon Denver
