Overview:
Denver organizers are scrambling to rebuild after a suspected arson destroyed City Park’s historic bandstand before the summer jazz series.
Six weeks after a suspected arson fire destroyed the City Park bandstand, community members and organizers across Denver are racing to preserve one of the city’s most recognizable summer gathering spaces.
The fire, which broke out in the early morning hours of March 26, left the 102-year-old structure charred from its roof to its columns. Part of the bandstand collapsed into Ferril Lake, and the city has since deemed the structure a total loss. But even as investigators continue to examine the cause, organizers say the focus has already shifted toward rebuilding and keeping the park’s summer traditions alive.
“Why would someone burn down the bandstand? I don’t know,” said Georgia Garnsey, president of the City Park Friends and Neighbors organization. “It was a perfect thing. It’s very lonely and charred-looking, so we’re doing our best with events.”
The bandstand has long served as a centerpiece for City Park programming, hosting performances, concerts and neighborhood gatherings for generations. Its destruction immediately raised questions about whether major summer events could continue.
For now, organizers say they will. City Park Day, scheduled for May 29, will become the first major event forced to adapt to the loss of the structure. The Denver Municipal Band is still expected to perform, though in a smaller configuration because organizers cannot afford the kind of large temporary stage infrastructure planned for other summer events.
“We need to keep the momentum going for summer,” Garnsey said. “People are already looking forward to summer events, and we need to make sure they happen.”
The annual City Park Jazz Summer Series is also moving forward, though in a reconfigured format. Organizers received city approval for a temporary stage to be erected roughly 300 feet south of the burned bandstand near the main sidewalk intersection by the food trucks. The stage will face Ferril Lake and the pavilion, an area that already serves as a popular seating location for concertgoers.
“City Park Jazz is getting a stage, and it’ll be south of the pavilion instead of at the bandstand,” Garnsey said. “Without the bandstand, we’ve talked to the Municipal Band, and they’re going to do a smaller group for us. We can’t afford to pay $10,000 for a stage, which is what City Park Jazz is getting.”
Concerts currently have permits approved for June 7, 14 and 21. Plans for July and August events remain unclear.
The sudden loss of the City Park bandstand has prompted a broad community response. Residents, nonprofits and nearby businesses have all joined fundraising efforts to help rebuild the structure and support displaced programming.
Leday Grant, owner of MyKings Ice Cream, said the fire hit especially close to home because of the business’s proximity to the park.
“I am a Colorado native. I grew up in Denver,” Grant said. “I’ve been going to the park since I was a little girl, pulling out your blanket, playing tennis or playing volleyball, kicking balls or whatever.”
Grant’s shop, located roughly half a mile north of City Park, will serve as the complimentary ice cream vendor for City Park Day this year.
“People walk from MyKings Ice Cream to enjoy the park, or vice versa, walking from City Park to enjoy ice cream after a day at the park,” Grant said. “When something like our neighborhood bandstand being torched happens, it kind of sucks because it really hits too close to home for us and for our customers.”
Community organizations mobilized quickly after the fire. The Denver Park Trust partnered with neighborhood groups to support fundraising, while Friends and Neighbors of Washington Park donated $18,000 toward rebuilding efforts.
According to Frank Rowe, executive director of the Denver Park Trust, the fundraising campaign promoted by local television personality Kyle Clark has already received widespread support.
“Word of Thanks raised ($47,939) so far,” Rowe said. “Kyle Clark ran the Word of Thanks campaign, and we were the nonprofit that received the donations.”
Still, organizers say rebuilding the structure will require far more funding. City officials estimate reconstruction could cost roughly $250,000 after insurance. Immediately after the fire, Garnsey said neighborhood organizers began contacting reporters, community groups and donors to spread the word.
“I immediately got on the phone and social media and contacted the reporters I knew and just got it out that we had a ‘donate’ button,” Garnsey said.
As planning continues, organizers hope residents will also help shape the future of the rebuilt structure itself.
“Tom Morris, who started City Park Jazz and was involved in the renovations, really wants a citizen meeting,” Garnsey said. “We’re hoping to have citizen involvement. Maybe DPR will have the meeting; maybe we’ll do it together. So the community can come in and talk about this: Do they want it returned to what it looked like? Or do they want something new?”
For now, the remains of the burned City Park bandstand still sit beside Ferril Lake, blackened and partially collapsed. But organizers say the crowds expected at City Park Day and throughout the summer could help transform that damage into momentum for rebuilding.
“It’s overwhelming,” Garnsey said. “They’ve got so many needs. Money is a problem. But they understand it’s important.”
