Westword

It’s been a historic summer for Colorado artists. On June 2, Gov. Jared Polis signed Senate Bill 26-133, making Colorado the first state to introduce Artist Corporations (A-Corps), a new type of limited liability company that will give artists more creative control and legal protections in their businesses, demonstrating the value of artists and creative industries in the state.

“Imported Grapes,” a new collaborative album from Denver-based hip-hop artists RO$$A¥ and Vitorio, began germinating three years ago out of opposition. The pair met backstage while competitively performing, and each was impressed with the other’s abilities. After checking out Vitorio’s 2022 album “Textured Settings NYC,” RO$$A¥ (pronounced “rosé”) reached out about working together.

A state representative is fighting back in court against the Douglas County Board of Commissioners over contested local ballot language in the November election. The ballot measure, regarding how many representatives should sit on the board, has led to drawn-out public hearings and allegations of executive sessions behind closed doors. We told you the election would get spicy. State Rep. Bob Marshall of Douglas County filed a lawsuit on Monday, Sept.

Another music festival is coming to Denver, only this one doesn’t require sweaty walks through packed venues. Denver’s first PorchFest will arrive on Saturday, Oct. 3, to various houses throughout the Baker neighborhood, bringing a Colorado swing to a long-standing East Coast tradition that started nearly 20 years ago. The idea is simple: Nearly 200 local bands (yes, local) stretched across 84 front porches in the South Denver neighborhood.

Kansas City Chiefs fans celebrate in a packed house at Don’s Tavern. Football season is underway, and fans of teams across the nation are gearing up for kickoff. For Denver, that means legions of transplants looking for a bar to call home where they can not only catch their team of choice, but do so with like-minded fans. After all, pretty much every bar in Denver is a Broncos bar. There is no shortage of quality sports bars to pull up a stool and cheer the donkeys on.

Even before moving to the metro area in 2014, Brittany Hopkins Switlick had written a business plan to open a local yoga studio. She first hosted free classes in the park and in short order, debuted Container Collective Yoga. But following the pandemic and her divorce, she was ready for a break and closed the Lakewood brick-and-mortar in 2021.

To combat rising rates of gambling addiction and financial fallout, Colorado lawmakers have passed new sports betting regulations. Tuan placed his first sports bet on his 21st birthday. Within a week, it consumed his daily life. Legal online sports betting launched in Colorado in May 2020. A young basketball fan in Aurora, Tuan spent the following year inundated with gambling ads promising hundreds in bonus bets for depositing just a few dollars. It seemed like “free money,” he says.

If you grew up in the United States in the 1980s or ’90s, chances are you remember The Oregon Trail. For many like me, it was our first computer game and our first introduction to wilderness survival. We hunted buffalo, forded rivers, broke wagon wheels and, of course, learned about dysentery years before Google even existed, all while hoping our group would make it to Oregon City alive. Lately, the game has found a second life.

One of Colorado’s early adopters of the unlicensed psilocybin space wants to take the state to federal court for trying to shut down his operation. Darren Lyman has been a Denver-based psilocybin purveyor since 2023 out of his studios at 800 W. Eighth Ave., but his business, Lyman Support Centers, has existed in a gray zone.

Joyl Watkins has spent 31 seasons selling hot dogs outside Coors Field on the corner of 19th and Wynkoop. When the Colorado Rockies play their final home game of 2026 on Thursday, Sept. 24, the Diamond Dawgs owner plans to serve his last one. “This is my last season,” Watkins says. “I’m excited about it. I don’t really have a specific reason for retiring other than it’s just become a lot of work.