Denver’s long-running People’s Fair will not return in 2019, organizers announced on the event’s website today, marking the end of an era for one of Denver’s largest community festivals.
The website did not give a reason for the cancellation but offered this statement:
“The longstanding tradition of the People’s Fair will be taking a hiatus in 2019 and will look to return in 2020. We would like to thank all of the past supporters of the festival as we work to make People’s Fair even more unique, interactive, and a standout festival in the Denver community.”
The nonprofit festival, which has long been held at Civic Center park each June with live music, food, local vendors and more, was founded in 1972. It ran for years at the Esplanade at East High School, just off East Colfax Avenue, before moving to Civic Center due to its attendance growth.
The cancellation follows other major festivals pulling out of Denver this year, including the Grandoozy music festival and the Velorama cycling and music festival. Like the People’s Fair, Grandoozy has vowed to return in 2020 after a year-long hiatus — but there are no guarantees.
Calls and emails to Capitol Hill United Neighborhoods (C.H.U.N.), the longtime producer of the event which handed over the reins to the Denver-based Team Player in 2017, were not returned as of late Friday afternoon, nor were calls and emails to Team Player.
When it was first announced, Team Player and former C.H.U.N. employee Andrea Furness referred to the arrangement as “a partnership.”
“They’re still very much involved,” Furness said of C.H.U.N. in 2017, noting the 200 to 300 on-site volunteers she anticipated that year. “The partnership really is enabling C.H.U.N. to focus on their mission of the neighborhood work that they do, but not have the financial risk, which is challenging for nonprofits.”
For the past couple decades, the People’s Fair has been popular enough to shut down major arteries into the heart of Denver as it drew thousands of music, art and food fans to the area between the state capital and Denver’s City & County Building. It’s the same spot where other marquee city festivals such as A Taste of Colorado and PrideFest are staged, and have thrived, in recent years.
However, organizers of the People’s Fair have cited declining revenues as one of the main obstacles to putting on the event, which have been aggravated by weather-related issues, declining interest and the explosion of entertainment options in the metro area.
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In 2017, the budget for the People’s Fair was $360,000, down about $10,000 from 2016, organizers said, while anticipated revenue was $100,000. That was up from $87,000 in 2016, but Team Player still needed to fill the gap with corporate sponsorships and vendor-booth fees, which long kept the People’s Fair afloat.
C.H.U.N. remained the nonprofit beneficiary and permit-holder with the city of Denver, even as Team Player took over the official event production.
“I have mixed emotions,” Roger Armstrong, the former executive director of C.H.U.N. and director of the People’s Fair, told The Denver Post in 2017 as he prepared to leave the nonprofit due to budgetary constraints. “It’s hard to let go of an event you helped produce for two decades.”
Team Player runs numerous music and cultural festivals, athletic races, corporate events and tours in Colorado and Utah, while C.H.U.N. works in historic preservation, community advocacy and neighborhood improvement in central Denver. The latter nonprofit in 2016 reorganized itself into an all-volunteer group while it continued to weigh its priorities, C.H.U.N. officials said at the time.
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