Last night the First Friday Art Walk took place here in Denver along Santa Fe Drive, and this month, it was all about the inaugural Dia de los Muertos Celebration and Parade. Santa Fe Drive was closed down for the parade, which was a lot of fun to watch. Everyone was dressed in their finest Catrina attire and seemed to be enjoying themselves very much. Afterwards, a group decided to put on an impromptu dance presentation (as seen in the above photo) in front of the Museo De Las Americas, which sponsored the event. A large crowd formed to watch them, to the frustration of the police, who wanted to reopen the street to traffic. Eventually a Colorado Barricades truck pushed everyone to the side, to the jeers and boos of the crowd, and traffic resumed.
Meanwhile, inside the Museo de los Muertos, they were having a costume contest, and I was able to nose my way up to the front to get a few photographs. Most, if not all, of the participants were Hispanic, which seems pretty reasonable since Dia de Muertos is a Mexican tradition and the Santa Fe Arts District is in fact still an Hispanic neighborhood. I suspect - but do not know for sure - that there is a high percentage of home ownership in this neighborhood. Otherwise I would think the hipsters would have taken over the area by now. Sadly, last night I noticed a number of art galleries that are now permanently closed. John Fielders' Photography Gallery closed months ago and nothing has ever opened in its' place. The Art District, a very large gallery and one of the most popular, also closed down a few months ago. Are there too many lookers and not enough buyers? If I am any example, hell yes. In any case, the woman in the photo on the left seemed pretty shy, and moved back into the crowd right away after posing for the judges. The official photographer asked her to come back so she could get a photograph, and I was able to get this photo at the same time.
I think the trio in the photograph on the right were in the contest too, and when someone asked to take their photo, I piggybacked onto this shot, too. They were drinking wine and having a good time, as was everyone else in the place. I must say, there was a very large crowd there, as there was at all the other galleries, too. One of these galleries was having a grand opening, with a free buffet table and lots of places to sit down. There was a couple painting a mural on the wall, and there was even a DJ spinning tunes (at a very high volume, naturally). The place was wall to wall with hipsters, of course. I walked in, could barely move through the room, and quickly walked out again, which is saying something when free food is available. Oh well, perhaps the buffet table will still be there next month, but with fewer hipsters.
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