Where School Ends And Summer Begins
Annual City Park Ice Cream Social Set For June 2
by Greg Davis
Board Chair, City Park Alliance
The City Park Alliance and City Council District 9 will once again be hosting the City Park Ice Cream Social on Thursday, June 2 at the City Park Pavilion from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
With the help of sponsorships from the Denver Zoo and Denver Museum of Nature and Science, the tradition carries on. The event will feature free ice cream, face painting, street performers, and a concert with the Denver Municipal Band.
For most Denver Public Schools, the social occurs the night before the last day of school. What better way is there to get ready for summer than to meet with your friends and neighbors in City Park for a family-friendly festival that celebrates City Park’s historic legacy?
Why ice cream?
It’s no doubt that this has been a controversial few years for City Park. Park advocates have been at odds over numerous issues from Parks and Recreation Events Policies to Gasification of Waste at the Zoo to stormwater treatment in the golf course.
In the midst of all of these issues, people have asked me why the Ice Cream Social should continue in its current form. Some suggest it should become an event focused on park policy and affecting change.
There is a time for policy and there is a time for celebration. Simply put, this is a time to celebrate City Park’s unique history.
A word about the band
Did you know that Denver has the longest continuously active municipal band in the entire United States? The Denver Municipal Band was founded in the late 1860s by Alex Sutherland. The band performed concerts throughout the late 1800s until 1891, when it became officially known as the Denver Municipal Band.
The band has operated as a professional municipal band since then, and City Park has been the most infamous concert venue for the band. The Denver Municipal Band has been performing free concerts for the public since the 1890s at City Park. In the past three years, the City Park Ice Cream Social has become the band’s opening event.
We consider this to be a tremendous honor to be able to kick off the Denver Municipal Band concert schedule again in 2016 at the most appropriate historical location, the City Park Bandshell. This year, the City Park Alliance will continue gathering signatures to re-name the City Park Bandshell after Park Hill’s Gerald Endsley. Mr. Endsley, who passed away last year, started playing in the Municipal Band in 1966 and acted as conductor from 1995 to 2014. Today, his daughter Marguerite continues the family tradition and manages and plays in the band.
Rubbing elbows with the players
One of the recent additions to the City Park Ice Cream Social has been to invite policy makers and nonprofit organizations with free booth space in the City Park Pavilion. The purpose of this is to provide people with an interest in City Park planning and policies a non-threatening environment in which to learn and discuss their ideas.
City Park Alliance will be there with posters showcasing recent fundraising, projects, and park planning efforts. Other groups that have been invited to the event include the Park to Platte Stormwater Team, the Denver Zoo, the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, the Park People, the City Park Neighborhood Advisory Committee, First Tee, Historic Denver, the Inter-Neighborhood Cooperation, Denver Parks and Recreation planning staff, and all of the neighborhood associations surrounding the park. What a great chance to meet people and learn about what is going on in City Park.
A new tradition
For the first time, this year’s Ice Cream Social will be on a weeknight. In years past, the event was on the Friday after Memorial Day.
We hope that this new date can establish a new tradition of ringing in the summer for all the neighborhood families. Come on down and join us. It’s time we gather together to celebrate our friends, our family, and our park, City Park. For more information, visit https://cityparkalliance.org/icecreamsocial/