Just for laughs
Wednesday-Sunday: For the fourth year in a row, the Boulder Comedy Festival puts a spotlight on women and diversity in the industry, showcasing a wide variety of comedians, including nationally touring comics featured on Comedy Central, Netflix and Amazon to festival winners, newcomers and Colorado-based headliners. They include Hannah Jones, Chip Nicholson, Amy Brown, Ali Kareem, Zoe Rogers, Ricky Ramos, Joshua Emerson and more.
The shows, which are fun and relatively inexpensive (typically $25-$35), run June 19-23 at multiple venues throughout Boulder, including the Dairy Arts Center, the Junkyard Social Club, Boco Cider and Finkel & Garf Craft Brewery. All shows are 18+. bouldercomedyfestival.com.
The Skyline Beer Garden returns in 2024. (Provided by Downtown Denver Partnership)
Beers in the big city
Thursday-Sept. 29: An outdoor beer garden makes its annual return to downtown Denver’s Skyline Park, at 16th and Arapahoe streets, on June 20, offering eight (mostly Colorado) craft beer taps, cans of hard seltzer and non-alcoholic beer, barbecue from Blessed BBQ (which has a kiosk downtown), and a miniature golf course. Local breweries include Odell, Prost and Bootstrap.
Hosted by the Downtown Denver Partnership in an effort to bring and keep people downtown, the Skyline Beer Garden is open Wednesday and Thursday, 4 to 7 p.m.; Friday, 3 to 9 p.m.; Saturday, noon to 9 p.m.; and Sunday, 1 to 8 p.m. through Sept. 29. It is closed on Monday and Tuesday. Get more information about the beers and food at summerindenver.com/beergarden.
Get a tray full of meat and 3 sides at Uncle’s pop-up at The Block Distilling on Fridays and Saturdays this summer. (The Block Distilling)
Tray Day
Friday and Saturdays through Aug. 31: Chef and restaurateur Tommy Lee of Uncle Ramen and Hop Alley is teaming up with The Block Distilling and GetRight’s Bakery this summer for a weekly popup called Uncle’s Meat ‘n’ Three. The cafeteria-style service takes its name from the Southern tradition of offering an entree and three sides. In this case, the dishes will have an Asian culinary twist. Some previous examples include smoked brisket peanut curry, lemongrass pork shoulder, spicy chili crisp cucumber salad and steamed buns with Furikake butter.
The popup takes place every Friday (starting at 5 p.m.) and Saturday (starting at 2 p.m.) through Aug. 31 from the shipping container in front of The Block, 2990 Larimer St. in Denver. Trays cost $18 and will be available until they sell out. GetRight’s will have lime pie for $5. The Block will be serving a specialty boba milk punch cocktail called One Night in Bangkok, with its Spring Gin, Thai tea, lemongrass, sweetened condensed milk and bubbles.
A scene from Studio Ghibli’s “Spirited Away.” (Denver Post file image)
Animation celebration
Saturday-Dec. 11: Japan’s Studio Ghibli has made a name for itself over the past 40 years for its innovative, animated features that are both thought-provoking and fun to watch. On Saturday, Harkins Northfield 18 Theatres, 8300 E. Northfield Blvd., in Denver’s Central Park neighborhood, debuts a six-month series featuring a dozen movies from Studio Ghibli.
The first film is the award-winning “Spirited Away,” with an English dubbed version at 7 p.m. and a Japanese version with subtitles showing at 10 p.m. Tickets are $9 for individual showings, or guests can purchase an all-access pass for $59. Various other movies will be shown on Wednesdays and Saturdays through Dec. 11, including “Castle in the Sky,” “From Up on Poppy Hill,” “Kiki’s Delivery Service,” “Ponyo” and “Princess Mononoke.” Get more at harkins.com.