Civic Center Park Begins Reopening After Clean Up, Plans For Christkindl Market Move Forward
DENVER (CBS4) - The City and County of Denver reopened several parts of Civic Center Park on Wednesday. The Department of Public Health & Environment will also lift the public health order that was issued for the park in September. Even as the park gradually reopens to the public, there is still plenty of work left to do before the park fully reopens.
New security camera will soon be installed, and several areas of the park will be resodded. One of the parts of the park that will remain closed will be some of the historical structural areas, like the Voorhies Memorial and the Greek Theater as they are still under restoration.
"We're doing a lot of restoration work to those memorials, said Scott Gilmore, Deputy Executive Director of Denver Parks and Recreation. "We're having stone fixed. We're having stone repaired. We're actually doing a lot more repair work related to that plus we are treating all the historical structures with an anti-graffiti coating."
While some areas of the park are open, other parts will remain closed like Pioneer Fountain at the corner of Broadway and Colfax, MacIntosh Park Plaza at 15th Avenue and Cleveland Street, as part of ongoing restoration efforts. Curfew rules will still be in effect from 11 p.m. until 5 a.m. to try to keep things clean.
"What we don't want to do is just open everything back up and go right back to where we were. That is just the definition of not being very smart," Gilmore said.
As the park continues to be restored, it is in good enough shape for a holiday event to return. The Denver Christkindl Market, which is a celebration of German culture and welcomes guests to experience an authentic German holiday market, will be at Civic Center Park for the second year in a row. Originally the event was going to be moved to Skyline Park.
"Civic Center Park is much bigger, and it gives us a lot of room to grow. So, we've added a few vendors this year. So, we're going to have a bigger footprint and we're planning on increasing that footprint over the next couple of years as well," said Samantha Tillner, Executive Director of the German American Chamber of Commerce Colorado Chapter.
The Christkindl Market will be open from Nov. 19 to Dec. 23.
"Because of the success last year of being in this park, and the way it was laid out and how beautiful it was, this is the park it should be in," Gilmore said.
"We're excited as a department, as a city to start to reopen this park back up. But, what we're most excited about is trying to make sure that the public feels safe and welcomed in this park."
