Denver Food & Wine Festival
Through Saturday. It may have started on Sept. 6, but the Denver Food & Wine Festival still has a couple days to go before it wraps up on Saturday, Sept. 9. The annual event — this year benefitting the Colorado Restaurant Foundation and its workforce development, mental health resources, and grants for restaurant workers — culminates in Saturday’s Grand Tasting, to be held at the Tivoli Quad on the Auraria Campus, 1000 Larimer St.
The event promises bites from more than 50 top local restaurants and “hundreds of sips from the Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits portfolio, poured by their team of professionals,” organizers wrote (Southern Glazer is a title sponsor). See the full lineup and pick up tickets, $150 each, for the 1-4 p.m. event at denverfoodandwine.com.
Breaking jaws, hearts
Friday-Saturday. Pop-punk icon Jawbreaker is part of a towering bill for the Saturday, Sept. 9, 1234FEST, including Rise Against, Rancid, Descendants, Joyce Manor, Pussy Riot, and Dillinger Four (see ticketmaster.com for more). But the night before that show at The Junkyard, you can see Jawbreaker for free as part of Levitt Pavilion Denver’s summer concert series.
The all-ages, amphitheater show near Ruby Hill Park runs 6-10 p.m., rain or shine, and includes openers Grumpster and Kevin Seconds. RSVPs are encouraged but not required. On-site parking is limited. 1380 W. Florida Ave. levittdenver.org
“Dog Man: The Musical”
Friday-Saturday. If you pay even a little attention to children’s books, you’ll know that the middle-grade series “Dog Man” is among the most popular (my son reads each new entry in about 15 minutes). To sate that demand while a nascent movie version works its way around Hollywood, author Dav Pilkey (also of “Captain Underpants” fame) and touring producers TheatreWorksUSA now have the stage adaptation.
Called, naturally, “Dog Man: The Musical,” the show runs 6 p.m. Friday, Sept. 8, and 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 9, in June Swaner Gates Concert Hall at the Newman Center for the Performing Arts, 2344 E. Iliff Ave in Denver. Tickets: $18-$34. Call 303-871-7720 or visit newmancenterpresents.com.
Shakespeare in the Parking Lot
Starting Saturday. As one of the metro area’s best free cultural events, Shakespeare in the Parking Lot could hardly be more accessible. In addition to the walk-up attendance, the program from the nonprofit Denver Center for the Performing Arts visits different destinations in the metro area with performances of The Bard’s “Romeo and Juliet” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
The mobile productions are centered around a pickup truck “set,” organizers said, that increases access for all in otherwise mundane or flat spaces. The series begins its fall run with a 1 p.m. performance of “Midsummer” and 3 p.m. “Romeo and Juliet” at Riverfront Plaza, 1610 Little Raven St. #115, in Denver.
It returns on Sept. 16 (Thornton), Sept. 23 (Centennial), Sept. 30 (Westminster), Oct. 7 (Denver) and Oct. 14 (also Denver). Visit denvercenter.org for more.
