Denver, CO
Denver’s best 4/20 food and drink specials to satisfy cannabis cravings
Denver is well known for its green space, but every April it gets even greener with the arrival of 4/20.
The signature local event is, of course, the Mile High 420 Fest, which will bring Gucci Mane, Afroman, Big Boss Vette and a smattering of other musicians to Civic Center park. Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison will also be ablaze with tunes from Wiz Khalifa and Flatbush Zombies.
But 4/20 is as much about food as it is about cannabis and music. That’s why restaurants around the Front Range offer specials that often revolve around mind-bending flavor combinations. We’ve collected some of the more interesting items and discounts to satisfy your munchies.
Also check out this guide to Denver’s best stoner eats, curated by the guys from “Stoned Appetit” podcast.
Chill at the Alamo Dankhouse
This month, Alamo Drafthouse movie theaters on the Front Range show throwback flicks guaranteed to make you giggle. Through April 26, moviegoers can catch “The Big Lebowski,” “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” “Friday,” “Mallrats” and more on the big screen, while noshing on a special menu of munchies. Snacks include loaded mac-and-cheese topped with pulled pork and Funyuns; a chocolate parfait sprinkled with Cocoa Puffs cereal; and a “munchie crunch” that includes popcorn, cheese balls and Chex cereal seasoned with cool ranch flavoring.
Alamo Drafthouse has three local locations in Denver (4255 W. Colfax Ave.), Littleton (7301 S. Santa Fe. Dr., Unit #850) and Westminster (8905 Westminster Blvd.). Movies and showtimes/dates vary by location.
Ike’s THC sandwich
There are myriad ways to infuse your food with weed, but Ike’s Love & Sandwiches isn’t doing that to celebrate the high holiday. Instead, the local shops are rolling up turkey, honey and Cheetos sandwiches for their THC – get it? – special. Available now through May, the item features Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, cheddar cheese and your favorite veggies, and the turkey can be substituted for a vegan version of the deli meat. Even better, reward members get a $4.20 discount on their purchase.
The THC sandwich, created in partnership with WeedMaps, is available at Ike’s Love & Sandwiches in Denver (1512 Larimer St., Unit 40R and 8300 E. 36th Ave., Unit 130) and Highlands Ranch (1525 Park Central Dr., Suite 400).
Hit a bowl of ramen
Osaka Ramen, which was just crowned the Front Range’s best local ramen shop by readers of The Denver Post, is promoting a “loaded bowl” special for the holidaze. On Saturday, all ramen will be discounted to $14.20 and diners can add a side of mochi doughnuts or a can of IKEZO’s sparkling Sake “Jelly Shot” for an additional $4.20. Your choice on whether or not they go in your ramen or get consumed separately.
Light up a Baklava Blunt
Steuben’s (523 E. 17th Ave, Denver) will prepare a menu of munchies on Saturday that you might need to be in the right headspace to eat. We’re talking dill pickle chicken wings, pizza grilled cheese, baklava blunts, and Froot Loop martinis to name a few items.
A Cheba Hut collab with Cypress Hill
Cheba Hut sandwich shop embraces the stoner lifestyle year-round, so it’s no surprise the company is offering a 4/20 special. This year, it’s getting insane in the brain with help from hip-hop group Cypress Hill, which designed a cocktail for the occasion. The Low Rider cocktail ($7) is a twist on a spicy margarita featuring tequila, lime juice simple syrup, jalapenos, salt and lime. According to a Cheba Hut spokesperson, Cypress Hill wanted to design a drink they’d have before hitting the stage on tour. (I guess they got sick of the tequila sunrise.)
Pair the beverage with a Nug-size sub for just $4.20 on Saturday at Cheba Hut’s 17 locations along the Front Range. Additionally, Cypress Hill travels to Red Rocks Amphitheatre on April 27 as the supporting act for Sublime with Rome.
Dank beer releases from New Image Brewing Co.
New Image Brewing Co. has two lit beer offerings to celebrate 420 and depending on how you prefer to consume, you might gravitate towards one or the other. The first, Colorado Harvest, is for old-school flower heads. This West Coast-style IPA is made with dank hops and terpenes, offering the same aromatic punch as opening a jar of weed. The second beer, Sour Diesel Peachra, attempts to capture the essence of weed gummies. It starts with a sour beer base that’s then loaded with apricot and peach, Citra hops and a dose of sweet Gelato terpenes.
Both beers are available on draft ($8.50 per pint) and in four-packs ($17-$18) at New Image’s Arvada (5622 Yukon St.) and Wheat Ridge (9505 W. 44th Ave.) taprooms.
Grab bagels and beer in the high country
Coloradans headed to the high country – emphasis on high – should stop by Outer Range Brewing Co. (182 Lusher Ct., Frisco) for a pungent beer release paired with a nostalgic snack. The brewery will release Shrubby DIPA at 11 a.m. along with special themed merch. And then from 3 to 6 p.m., the soon-to-open Odell’s Bagels will pop up to serve pizza bagels. Yes, just like the kind you used to microwave in your youth, but probably better since they’re made fresh. At 4:20 p.m., the brewery will offer samples of the new beer to patrons onsite.
Get that Blue Dream ‘shake
On Saturday, plant-based eatery Meta Burgers will serve a Blue Dream milkshake ($8) inspired by the popular cannabis strain. The flavor is blueberry cheesecake made with oat milk and topped with green sprinkles. It’ll be available at both locations in Edgewater (5505 W. 20th Ave.) and Boulder (1905 29th St., #1174) while supplies last.
Weed chocolates (but not that kind)
Pineapple Express and Munchies are two new bonbon flavors from Temper Chocolates and Confections (2669 Larimer St., Denver). Don’t be fooled, there’s no cannabis in these sweets, but we can’t promise they won’t get you sugar high. The Pineapple Express includes pineapple, sage, caramelized white chocolate ganache in a milk chocolate shell, while the Munchies features milk chocolate, Nutella ganache with a soft brownie layer in a dark chocolate shell.
If you’re more of a Beyonce fan, try the “Cowboy Carter” inspired recipes, available through April.
More green beer
Briar Common Brewery & Eatery (2298 Clay St., Denver) makes a dank twist to its flagship Hoptimist IPA by adding cannabis and hop terpenes that “non-psychotropic but carry the full flavor and aroma of both sources’ shared genetics,” said head brewer Jacob Sabo. Its release is slated for Saturday.
Online deal from Mellow Mushroom
So you’re planning to order a pizza for dinner on 4/20? If you order from Mellow Mushroom, you can add a side of pretzel bites for $4.20. The bites feature the pizza joint’s signature dough tossed in garlic and cheese and each order comes with a side of PBR beer cheese (regular or spicy). Use the code MEL420 at checkout to get a piece of this deal.
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Factors such as declining birth rates and families moving out of the city are contributing to declining enrollment at Denver Public Schools. In turn, it’s reshaping the district’s future.
“I think we’re in a good position, but it’s responsible for us to always be looking in the future and knowing we have to make some adjustments,” said Chuck Carpenter, the district’s CFO.
In a two-year span between this past school year and next, DPS expects a decline in enrollment of around 1,700 students.
“We haven’t really seen anything like this,” said Carpenter in response to the consistent decline.
Because of this trend, the district is facing a $28 million structural deficit over the next five years.
“We have a balanced budget now, and we’re not predicting that we’ll have an unbalanced budget in three years,” said Carpenter. “We’re saying we need to make adjustments over the next three, four years, so that our budgets are balanced.”
DPS’s Director of Campus Planning, Andrew Huber, told CBS Colorado in an interview last month that those adjustments will likely include closing down more schools.
“Additional school closures will be necessary in the upcoming years. When exactly that would be is hard to forecast right now,” said Huber.
The district’s CFO says his biggest takeaway from a recent round of closures is to make sure to give families options for what’s next.
“No one wants their school closed, but the second-best option isn’t going to be the same for every family,” said Carpenter.
This issue could be one Denver faces for years to come.
“We sort of say, how many kids are born here? Because in five years, those kids will be kindergartners,” Carpenter added.
The city’s birth rate peaked in 2005, meaning those babies have already graduated high school. And, according to the Colorado Department of Local Affairs, more young families move out of Denver and into surrounding counties than move into the city.
“I think school consolidation is very — I understand why people want to talk about it, but I think it’s more about, like, how do we make sure that the programs that are offered are rich programs,” said Carpenter.
Carpenter also says the district is closely monitoring some potential cuts to federal grants for students of poverty and language learners. He says those decisions will be made by October for the start of the new fiscal year, and cuts would have a “terrible” impact.
The Denver Broncos hosted eight tryout players at mandatory minicamp this week, including quarterback Sawyer Robertson. It sounds like the team has made decisions on those tryout players, and Robertson won’t be signed (at least not right now).
Instead, the Broncos are signing offensive lineman Reid Holskey (according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler) and cornerback Blake Cotton (according to the Denver Post‘s Parker Gabriel). Holskey (6-6, 306 pounds) spent time on the Houston Texans’ practice squad in 2025 before joining the New York Giants in January. He was cut by New York last month. Cotton (6-2, 195 pounds) is a rookie who spent last fall at Utah, totaling 30 tackles and seven pass breakups in 13 games.
The two moves came one day after Denver wrapped up minicamp. The 91-man offseason roster was already full, so the Broncos will need to make corresponding moves to make room for Holskey and Cotton on the roster.
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Sean Payton has seen enough. The Denver Broncos’ third practice of mandatory minicamp, which was set to happen on Thursday, has been canceled.
“Just schedule-wise, today will be our last day,” Payton said after Wednesday’s practice. “I just finished telling them that. It’s unusual because there’s a lot of packing, a little bit more than normal when you’re moving into another facility. So when we’re back here, we’ll be in the new building.”
The Broncos are moving into their new state-of-the-art facility, but the decision to cancel the final practice of the offseason was motivated primarily by what Payton has seen thus far and how the team is shaping up.
Thus concludes the Broncos’ offseason training program, which featured eight total practices as a team, four of which were open to the media. There was more on-field activity than that, including walkthrough practices unseen by the press, but in essence, we’re talking about eight sessions.
Some players have already begun to separate themselves in their respective competitions. Others have really popped, while some have failed to really stand out in any meaningful way.
By way of a Broncos stock report, let’s get to the biggest winners and losers of mandatory minicamp.
Winner: Bo Nix | QB
Nix finally returned to the practice field on Tuesday, the first day of minicamp. He was limited to individual drills only, but it was still great to see him out there.
On Day 2, though, Nix took another big step forward, participating in a 7-on-7 drill that included a highlight-reel touchdown pass to RJ Harvey. Just getting Nix back on the field was a big win for the Broncos, but seeing him progress over two days and look overall very sharp was more than a little encouraging.
Winner: Jaylen Waddle | WR
Waddle has been a lightning rod since the practices were opened to the media. He just looks different. That speed and explosiveness really add an element to the Broncos’ offense that has been lacking.
It’s been palpable. But arguably just as exciting is what Waddle’s teammates and coaches have been saying about him. Payton has called him a “force multiplier,” which is another way of saying that he makes everyone around him better.
Not that we really had reason to doubt it, but Waddle has been as advertised thus far, and then some.
Loser: Marvin Mims Jr. | WR
Mims is not listed as a loser because of any specific negative plays, like a dropped pass or a mental miscue. It’s just that, with other receivers, including Waddle, shining, generating buzz, and earning plaudits from Payton, Mims didn’t really.
Mims is a similar receiver type as Waddle, but the newcomer made it clear how much separation exists between them in practice. Now, Mims is still important to the Broncos, especially as a returner, and Payton did compliment his clutch gene and contributions in big games, but you have to wonder how he fits into the game plan on offense. That question still hasn’t been answered.
Winner: J.K. Dobbins | RB
Dobbins was his usually talkative self at minicamp, but the fact that he was healthy and out there doing his thing is a major win for the Broncos. It’s good to have him part of the daily process at Broncos HQ again because he’s one of those veterans that takes players under his wing, and elevates them.
Winner: Que Robinson | OLB
With the recent off-the-field drama the Broncos have dealt with, some extra attention was paid to the Broncos’ outside linebackers. Robinson, in particular, separated himself during minicamp.
His get-off is something else, and he was dispruptive during the Broncos’ team periods. Vance Joseph has said he views Robinson as a “future starter.” Pending Cooper’s situation, the future could be now, though Elliss will also have something to say about that.
Robinson had one heck of an offseason. I’m really looking forward to his second year.
Loser: Jonathon Cooper | OLB
After being arrested twice in the span of a week, the Broncos excused Cooper from mandatory minicamp. It would seem the Broncos want to create some distance from Cooper until his legal troubles are resolved, one way or another.
It’s a shame, in more ways than one. Beyond what legal ramifications might await Cooper, he’s very likely to be suspended by the NFL, and the Broncos releasing him at some point is not outside the bounds of the plausible. It’s a good thing that rush linebacker room is stacked.
Winner: Matt Henningsen | DL
None of these winners has been quite as surprising as Henningsen. He made a huge play on Day 1 of minicamp, tipping a Sam Ehlinger pass and returning it to the house.
Henningsen followed that up with another disruptive Day 2. He’s gone from being an after thought in the Broncos’ defensive line conversation to establishing himself as a bona fide threat for the roster.
Loser: Jahdae Barron | CB
Like Mims, Barron wasn’t bad during the offseason; he just didn’t pop, really, in any way. He broke up one pass on Day 2 of minicamp, but beyond that, there wasn’t much to see.
It will be interesting to see how Barron performs in training camp. We know the Broncos have high expectations for him, and a role on defense, even if as a depth piece, will be created for him, but I was hoping to see more signs of a Year-2 leap by now.
Winner: Jonah Coleman | RB
Another as-advertised player. Coleman has proven he’s ready for the NFL, which was partly what attracted the Broncos to him in the draft.
Coleman stood out in a major way at minicamp and made it clear that the Broncos have more than just a J.K. Dobbins insurance policy on their hands. Coleman is a force to be reckoned with.
Winner: Tyler Onyedim | DL
Like Coleman the Broncos’ first pick in the 2026 draft has looked NFL-ready. The Broncos still haven’t signed Onyedim, but that didn’t stop him from participating in the offseason program, which is a good harbinger.
Rocking the No. 98 jersey, it’s easy to mistake Onyedim for the guy he was drafted to replace: John Franklin-Myers. That’s especially true when the rookie is out there making plays like JFM. Onyedim has earned praise from his teammates, including the All-Pro Zach Allen.
Winner: Evan Engram | TE
Engram looked very good in minicamp this week. He looked like a big, athletic, smooth, explosive receiver, which is what he’s been in the NFL.
Engram wasn’t really all those things in his first year with the Broncos, but I’m hopeful that Year 2 will be different for the two-time Pro Bowler. He’s had a good summer.
Winner: Troy Franklin | WR
Franklin seems like the obvious No. 3 receiver in the pecking order. That doesn’t mean he’ll get the No. 3 snaps on an exclusive basis, though.
As the Broncos’ No. 2 last year, Franklin wasn’t able to fully live up to that, although he took some big steps forward in his second year. As the No. 3, it’s more his natural spot and that should allow him to continue to thrive in the offense, especially with the connection he has with Bo Nix dating back to Oregon.
Winner: Sam Ehlinger | QB
Ehlinger had a great offseason. He looked way more comfortable and far sharper in the offense in what is his second go-around in Payton’s offense.
Ehlinger was sharp this summer, and if he can continue to build on the foundation he’s created, it could create some uncomfortable conversations at Broncos HQ.
Loser: Jarrett Stidham | QB
Stidham has been less noteworthy this summer, but that doesn’t mean he’s been bad. In comparison to Ehlinger, though, Stidham wasn’t as good, which is curious, considering his standing as the team’s primary backup since 2023.
If Ehlinger ends up leapfrogging Stidham, what do the Broncos do? They’re holding a competition for QB2, and they have to be prepared for the possibility of Ehlinger winning it, especially after his strong summer.
If Ehlinger forces this issue, Stidham could become expendable. Stidham is very unlikely to be a cut candidate because of his contract, but as a trade piece? There’s a reason the rumor mill has been active on the Stidham topic this offseason. It’s something to watch.
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