Denver, CO
Downtown Denver leaders betting big on 'kickoff' weekend for rebranded 16th Street
DENVER — Paul Noel Fiorino has run for mayor of Denver, Colorado governor, and U.S. Senate, but he’s more musician than politician these days.
Fiorino will be playing harmonica and guitar at Skyline Plaza along 16th Street in downtown Denver this week.
“Essentially, they’re paying us to be here as part of the network of performers that the 16th Street has hired,” he told Denver7 on Thursday.
In March, the Denver City Council approved an additional $1.5 million to revive the former 16th Street Mall as it goes through a rebrand. That money is now being put to work to pay performers like Fiorino and fill vacant storefronts with art displays. Those include one storefront now decorated with an array of colorful cowboy hats, and another with dozens of giant straws hanging from the ceiling.
Read our previous coverage below:
This week, a Memorial Day EDM concert brought thousands of people to 16th Street, but also left questions. One viewer reached out to Denver7 asking, “What is planned to bring families, those with or without children, back into downtown?”
We took that question directly to Denver leaders.
“We have over 90 days of events this summer, so there’s something for everyone on 16th Street,” said Kate Barton, chief of external affairs for the Downtown Denver Partnership.
Downtown leaders are betting big on this weekend’s free “summer kickoff” celebration, with family-friendly activities including the World Cup of Speed Climbing. A large rock climbing wall has gone up near 16th and Welton.
Just blocks away at Civic Center Park this weekend, Outside Festival organizers are expecting about 25,000 people after an 18,000-person turnout last year. The hope is that the event drives even more people to 16th.
“There’s so much to celebrate in downtown right now,” said Barton.
However, the same viewer also asked Denver7, “What is the plan to address high cost and low availability to safe parking?” Denver7 also brought that question to Barton.
“We have a couple of opportunities with partners for some parking deals,” she said. “The Denver Performing Arts Complex has a parking deal before 10:30 in the morning if you’re bringing your family. There’s also some other affordable opportunities around. We also always encourage the use of transit to come downtown on the weekends.”
Barton hopes this weekend sets the stage for a busy summer downtown.
“This is really for us to be able to showcase everything that we’ve invested in as a city, and to start to invite people to experience it themselves,” she said.
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A Frontier Airlines plane has hit and killed a person at Denver’s international airport, prompting the evacuation of passengers. Authorities say the man jumped a perimeter fence and ran in front of the plane as it was taking off to Los Angeles.
Published On 10 May 2026
Denver, CO
Pedestrian fatally hit by Frontier airplane departing Denver for Los Angeles, flight canceled after
Posted:
Updated:
DENVER (AP) — A Frontier Airlines plane hit a pedestrian on the runway of the Denver International Airport during takeoff, airport authorities said, sparking an engine fire and forcing passengers to evacuate.
The plane, on route from Denver to Los Angeles International Airport, “reported striking a pedestrian during takeoff at DEN at approximately 11:19 p.m. on Friday,” the airport’s official X account wrote.
Neither the airport nor the airline has disclosed the pedestrian’s condition.
“We’re stopping on the runway,” the pilot tells the control tower according to the site ATC.com. “We just hit somebody. We have an engine fire.”
The pilot tells the air traffic controller they have “231 souls” on board and that and “individual was walking across the runway.”
The air traffic controller responds that they are “rolling the trucks now” before the pilot tells the tower they “have smoke in the aircraft. We are going to evacuate on the runway.”
Frontier Airlines said in a statement flight 4345 was the one involved in the collision and that “smoke was reported in the cabin and the pilots aborted takeoff.” It was not clear whether the smoke was linked to the crash with the pedestrian.
“The Airbus A321 was carrying 224 passengers and seven crew members,” the airline said. “We are investigating this incident and gathering more information in coordination with the airport and other safety authorities.”
Passengers were then evacuated via slides and the emergency crew bused them to the terminal.
Denver Airport said the National Transportation Safety Board had been notified and that runway 17L, where the incident took place, will remain closed while an investigation is conducted.
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