The Best Place in Denver to Spend an Inexpensive Afternoon: The 16th Street Mall
71Denver's 16th Street Mall
Denver's 16th Street Mall: A Downtown Gem
In these recessionary days, it is nice to find a place of entertainment where it is not necessary to drop the entire contents of one's wallet in one sitting. One such place in the Denver Metro Area is the 16th Street Mall in downtown Denver.
There is always something going on down at "the Mall", which is a long stretch of 16th Street open only to pedestrians. No vehicles are allowed except the famous "Free Mall Ride" bus featured in the picture. You can zip from one place to another along the Mall or it's a great way to rest your feet for a time while deciding what to do there!
Denver's Famous Painted Cows
A short time ago, there were literally 20 or 30 of these beautiful painted cows all along the 16th Street Mall in the Mile High City. However, most of these beautiful animals went off to other pastures when the Denver cowboys auctioned them off for charity. They brought in a pretty penny, I heard!
Only about two or three of these remain grazing on the 16th Street Mall. I think they kept the most attractive ones--what do you think? The painting on this one features the cowgirl's arm extending down the cow's leg. Very unique, IMHO.
Denver's Famous Painted Pianos
So I know you are asking yourself what the Mile High folks did on the 16th Street Mall to replace the cows? It is hardly bereft of excitement, my friends: the latest happenings are now a large number of painted pianos!
Now visitors can enjoy the tinkling of the ivories by whoever wishes to participate on these unusual pianos. I have not heard of any other city doing something similar, have you?
If you play or fancy yourself to play piano, sit right down! Otherwise, tune in to one of the various musicians who give performances daily.
Umphrey's McGee keyboardist Joel Cummins
An Inexpensive Afternoon Concludes
After a day's inexpensive sight-seeing at the 16th Street Mall, complete with a few rides on the Free Mall Ride and having been serenaded by the beautiful pianos there, now what?
There is a tourist information center right there on the Mall where you can investigate other local happenings which occur on a regular basis in Denver Area. There are free days at the many museums, festivals galore and just plain old street performer entertainment that is wallet-friendly in these cash-poor times!
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The Mall is such a fun place with the avant-guard entertainment by the locals. During the DNC, there were some human robots and funny!
There are a lot more street musicians there--guitarists, drummers, flute players, etc. They do make a visit quite festive. Thank you.
Yes, plus there are one-person bands. Quite the showing of talent!
Hi, this is a great idea! I wish they would do that in my town, I love the cows! cheers nell
Now that I have purchased a video camera, I think I'll go down and film some of the musicians there--truly the Mall is an exciting place. ;-)
Laura in Denver Great tips laura. Downtown is a fun place to go. Me for one likes to have the bucks when I go downtown because of the great shopping. Another great tip is taking the light rail to downtown to avoid parking costs. The food, Coors field, Pepsi center, a horse n buggy ride, the plays are all great for our economy but can run into the big bucks. The Molly Brown House is really inexpensive and fun to tour. The museums are not a bad price. I like the lofts they add to the scenery. Walking around and looking is free but for me I like to have money so rarely go downtown. The Christmas lights and parades are lots of fun. Thank you for sharing. Hugs Galore to you. Do you live downtown? I am farther south. Merry Christmas Laura.
I never noticed the pianos. I will take better notice next time around.
I have moved south as well, but lived in Denver on starting HubPages.
Best to you! Merry Christmas!
WoodsmensPost 19 months ago
My family and I loved the 16th street Mall when we lived in Westminster,Colorado along with our trips to Boulder. Great hub, the painted cows would have been a site to see. Denver is so exciting!!!