BY PEYTON GARCIA | @CITYCASTDENVER

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Happy Friday, City Casters!

And happy Easter weekend to those of you who celebrate 🐇🐣🌷 as well as Passover, which begins tonight ✡️

Also, thank you to everyone who filled out our newsletter survey 🙏 All of the feedback was so thoughtful and will help me continue to make this the best newsletter I can!

One last thing before I release you into the weekend… We’re still looking for a new audio producer to join the City Cast Denver team! Think you’re up to the task? Check out the official job posting here 👈

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TODAY ON THE PODCAST 🗳️

Who Could Be Denver’s Next Mayor? 
In less than a year, Denverites will start casting their votes for the next mayor of our city. It may seem early in the race, but the field is shaping up to be an already crowded one. From a former gang member-turned-community activist to several state legislators throwing their hats in the ring, there’s plenty of interesting potential mayors to talk about. And it’s not just the mayoral race that will be juicy — lots of city council seats are up for grabs, and those people can make a big difference in the trajectory of Denver, too. Producer Xandra McMahon is joined by host Bree Davies and Westword founder and editor Patty Calhoun to preview the 2023 city election and provide some hot insider campaign goss. 

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THINGS TO DO WEEKEND

🦋 Saturday: Family Nature Club: Learn more about why and how to celebrate Earth Day at this Butterfly Pavilion family workshop. Tickets for non-members are $14 for adults and $6 for children, and include admission to the rest of the pavilion.

🐇 Saturday: Family Egg Hunt: Thousands of Easter eggs will be hidden around the 12-acre Four Mile Historic Park for a family egg hunt. The Easter Bunny will make an appearance for photos with the kids, and a bottomless Bloody Mary bar will be open for the parents. Tickets start at $16.

🍸 Saturday: Adult Easter Egg Hunt: Score free drink tokens and other adult prizes when you hunt down the Easter eggs hidden around Zeppelin Station this weekend. While you’re there, grab dinner at one (or all!) of the six food stalls dishing up globally-inspired bites.

🤣 Saturday: “Relationsh*t” Improv: For this show, the comedians on stage at Chaos Bloom Theater solicit awkward date stories from audience members and turn them into gut-busting improv sketches. There’s a show at 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. Tickets are $10. 

🏞️ Saturday: Free National Park entry: This Saturday kicks off National Park Week with free entry to the country’s national parks. On top of free admission at Rocky Mountain National Park, there will be no reservations required, plus Junior Ranger Activities and informational booths throughout the park. Free admission will also be available at Mesa Verde, Great Sand Dunes, and Black Canyon.

🍳 Sunday: Easter Eatin’: Looking to dine out on Easter Sunday? Dozens of local restaurants are offering special brunch, lunch, and dinner menus for the holiday, featuring tasty treats like smoked salmon Benedicts, Easter hams, legs of lamb, mimosa bars, carrot cakes, and lots more.

🍲 Sunday: Passover Family Seder: Judaism Your Way invites the local Jewish community to celebrate Passover Seder virtually this Sunday, with songs, stories, blessings, and your favorite Seder foods.

🤠 All Weekend: Rodeo All-Star Championships: This Saturday and Sunday at the National Western Events Center, the world’s top-ranking cowboys and cowgirls will compete in three rodeo performances for a chance to be named Rodeo All-Star. Visitors can also expect mechanical bull-riding, mutton-bustin’, after-parties, and a live country music concert.

⚾ All Weekend: Colorado Rockies vs. Chicago Cubs: Coors Field will host the Rockies’ series against the Chicago Cubs all weekend — Plus, it’s Jackie Robinson Day on Friday, so what better reason to get out to the ball game for peanuts and crackerjacks? (And for you baseball fans with a real sweet tooth, don’t miss this EPIC Elvis Shake 🤤)

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BONUS: A THEATER RECOMMENDATION 🎭

City Cast Producer Lizzie Goldsmith recently saw Vintage Theatre’s production of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” and she thinks you should too:

“Family dramas aren’t everyone’s thing, I get it. Sometimes they hit too close to home, or they just don’t provide enough of an escape. But when they’re done well, they’re electric, they’re gripping, they’re impossible to look away from.

That’s how I felt about Vintage Theatre’s production of ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,’ Tennessee Williams’ Pulitzer Prize-winning play, which is set on a Mississippi plantation in the 1950s. The intimate set places the audience right in the middle of Maggie and Brick’s apartment, and the performances will absolutely break your heart.”

The show runs through April 24. You can find out more and get tickets here.

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NEWS YOU SHOULD KNOW

• After more than two years of being closed for renovations, the Denver Central Library is ready to debut its new and improved children’s wing. New features include interactive toys and activities with a focus on children’s developmental needs. [Denverite]

• The RiNo Arts District has announced a new week-long mural festival to replace CRUSH Walls, which left the district last year. The new event will run Sept. 5-11 in tandem with the Westword Music Showcase. [Denverite]

• The CDC has extended its travel mask mandate by two weeks, with a new expiration date of May 3. That means masks ON when riding RTD trains and buses. [Axios Denver]

• Gov. Jared Polis has signed the Colorado Safety Stop bill into law. It allows bicyclists to treat stop signs as yield signs and stoplights as stop signs, getting them out of dangerous intersections more quickly. [9News]

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THIS WEEK’S PODCASTS

• THU: Thanks to TikTok, a Punk and Goth Boutique Serving Denver for 35 Years is Now World Famous

• WED: The Idaho Stop is About More than Cyclist Safety. It’s About Racial Justice. 

• TUE: Aurora Hired a New Police Chief to Reform the Department. Now She’s Fired.

• MON: 1800 S. Broadway: Part Two (Don’t skip Part One of this compelling two-parter on weed consumption in Denver!)

👉 Find all our shows at denver.citycast.fm.

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