Within about a month, City Park gets two different winter seasons. Denver Zoo and the Denver Museum of Nature & Science open ticketed after-dark holiday events two days apart in late November. On Ferril Lake, the bandstand that burned in March is scheduled to come down, and the city is asking the public to sign a piece of its replacement. The lights cost admission. Leaving your name on the park's next landmark is free and takes one Sunday afternoon.
Demolition week on Ferril Lake
According to Denver Parks & Recreation, a fire in late March 2026 left the bandstand's structure and decking unusable and beyond repair. The Denver Fire Department listed the cause as undetermined. A structural assessment found that what was left of the bandshell could not be saved. The city has hired the firm Mundus Bishop to design a new one.
City Council District 10 set out the timing in its October 20 newsletter:
"Demolition of the City Park Bandstand starts next week, making way for a new community space that you can help celebrate by signing a beam."
The same District 10 update says the area will be fenced off during construction, with detours only while equipment is moving. The parks department says the closure around the work zone should not affect general access to the park. It is planning a careful removal to limit the impact on wildlife and on the lake. Wildlife was a real issue here. Assessors found swallow nests under the decking, and swallows are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The Denver Post reported in September that demolition was meant to wait until those birds had fledged.
The city's schedule puts construction of the new structure underway by the end of the year, with completion in June 2027, in time for the 2027 City Park Jazz season.
The beam you can sign, and the steel it joins
According to the city's assessment, the rebuild will keep the original stone piers and reuse the steel beams a structural engineer judged sound. The new bandstand will be the latest in a line of bandstands in City Park that goes back to 1896.
That is the setting for the Beam Signing Celebration on Sunday, November 8, at 3:00 p.m. City Park Alliance, City Park Friends and Neighbors and Denver Park Trust are inviting the community to sign a steel beam that will go into the new structure. RSVPs go through the city's project website. Nothing else on the City Park calendar this season is free and lets people put something of their own into the park.
Neighbors have already paid for part of it. The city set a goal of $250,000 to cover its insurance deductible and support the rebuild. The Denver Post reported that a $125,000 matching gift brought fundraising up to that amount. The parks department credits Next with Kyle Clark, Denver Park Trust, City Park Alliance, City Park Friends and Neighbors and area residents for supporting the effort.
Two light shows open two days apart
About two weeks after the beam signing, the park's two big institutions start their winter evenings. Zoo Lights opens Monday, November 23, and Magical Winter Nights opens Wednesday, November 25. Zoo Lights starts two days before the museum's event and runs one day past it.
Zoo Lights 35 | Magical Winter Nights | |
|---|---|---|
Host | Denver Zoo | Denver Museum of Nature & Science |
Dates | Select nights, Nov. 23, 2026 to Jan. 3, 2027 | Nov. 25, 2026 to Jan. 2, 2027 |
Setting | Outdoors, across 80 acres | Indoors, in transformed museum spaces |
Ticket sales | Members Nov. 2, public Nov. 5 | Available now |
Standard adult price | $29.95 | Members save $5 per ticket |
Adults-only nights | None listed | Dec. 3, 10, 17, 21 and Jan. 1 |
Zoo Lights turns 35 this year and promises three million lights. Denver Zoo's event page lists hours of 4:30 to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 4:30 to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The event is closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas. If you can choose your night, the price differs. Standard nights cost $29.95 for adults and seniors and $22.95 for youth. Value nights cost $25.95 and $18.95. Those are Nov. 29 through Dec. 2, Dec. 6, Dec. 8 and 9, Dec. 13 through 16, and Jan. 2 and 3. Children 2 and under get in free, and members save 10 percent. Because the value nights fall in the first half of December, you can visit before the holiday rush without paying the higher rate.
Magical Winter Nights at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science is a self-guided evening that the museum says takes 45 to 75 minutes. The route runs through a Grand Lodge with specialty hot cocoa, an iceless rink called Savanna Skating under a glowing baobab tree, a Cryptid Carnival where you can take a picture with Sasquatch, and a northern-lights room called Celestial Skies. The ticket also gets you into Mythic Creatures: Dragons, Unicorns & Mermaids, which includes a 17-foot dragon and a replica of P. T. Barnum's "Feejee mermaid."
The 21+ nights each have a theme:
- Thursday, Dec. 3: Winter Spirits & Brews Ugly Sweater Party, with samples of Colorado craft beer and spirits
- Thursday, Dec. 10: Après Ski
- Thursday, Dec. 17: Throwback Thursday, Holiday Flair Edition, with penguin-hosted karaoke at Glacier Groove
- Monday, Dec. 21: Winter Solstice Sparkle Party, on the longest night of the year
- Friday, Jan. 1: Holiday Pajama Party, with vintage films, breakfast burritos and mimosas
One part of the museum is closed this winter. The Gems & Minerals Hall has been closed since April 15 for a major renovation and is set to reopen in 2027 as the Dea Family Gems & Minerals Hall, according to the museum's renovation page. Like the bandstand, it is due back in 2027.
Before the lights or after, on Colfax
Both events start at dusk, so dinner usually comes before and dessert after. Several places within reach of the park's south side opened this fall.
Sadboy Creamery opened its first storefront on September 19 at 1201 E. Colfax Ave., Suite 101, according to the Denver Post. Westword reported that the shop sells pints and is open 4 to 8 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday and noon to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday. On a weeknight, check those hours against your Zoo Lights time slot.
Farther east, Westword's October 10 roundup included Dragon Cactus, a Mexican-Asian fusion restaurant at 3014 E. Colfax Ave., among its recent openings. Westword's September openings list also named Neo's Latin Kitchen at 1818 E. Colfax Ave. and Sweet Time Coffee at 3107 Colfax Ave. Just south of Colfax, Vegan Van moved into a storefront at 1490 Eudora St. in mid-October, Westword reported.
One familiar place is gone. Park & Co. at 439 E. 17th Ave. served its last burgers on October 19 after 16 years, the Denver Post reported.
The rest of the park's winter work
The bandstand is the most visible project this season, but the city has two other City Park projects on its calendar. Both are scheduled and neither has been announced as started.
The first is the roads on the park's west side. Denver Parks & Recreation plans to restripe and reorganize them to simplify how cars move through the park and to add space for walking and biking. The plan includes new signage and possibly physical barriers between cars and the walking and biking lanes. Work is tentatively scheduled for late 2026. That could overlap with the busiest evening traffic of the year, when Zoo Lights and Magical Winter Nights both bring visitors to the park after dark.
The second is the Living Land project, which has reached the South Meadow. There, the city plans to replace turf grass with native short grass prairie. The first step was updating irrigation equipment, which the city said would begin in late May. Next is soil steaming, a pilot weed-control method run with the city's Office of Climate Action, Sustainability & Resiliency and Indigenous community partners, which the city has scheduled for "later this fall." Native plantings and new walkways come after that. Construction on the project's other two pieces is scheduled for 2027. Those are native and traditional plantings at the Lily Pond and a gathering space at the former east playground, with a proposed intertribal arbor.
Put together, the park will look unfinished in places this winter, and the city's own timeline has the new bandstand, the renovated museum hall and the next phase of Living Land all arriving in 2027. Updates on all of these projects go out through the city's project signup.
Brian Richardson has watched City Park change across more than 20 years of working in Denver, and we follow projects like the bandstand rebuild because they shape how the blocks around the park are lived in. If you have questions about how park projects affect your home's value or plans for your property near City Park, Buildings & Residences of Denver is glad to talk it through, at the beam signing or anytime after. Contact Us.
