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.

Downtown’s most distressed office buildings are also some of the region’s largest. Built during an oil and gas boom in the 1970s and 1980s, most are located in the Upper Downtown and Skyline Park areas, which had multiple blocks scraped to make room for taller buildings.

READ THE FULL PROJECT: At a crossroads: Downtown Denver is waiting for its rebound

Tenants are increasingly favoring smaller leases in the LoDo, Central Platte Valley and Union Station areas if they aren’t leaving for other districts. Denver has designated at least 30 of downtown’s towers as distressed, meaning they have a higher vacancy rate or have been emptied out for renovations or a new use. Click circles for details. Only buildings larger than 100,000 square feet are included.

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Originally Published: May 29, 2025 at 6:00 AM MDT