LOOK: A year on the 16th Street Mall

I keep seeing images of the 16th Street Mall surface in the Denverite image vault, and it made me realize what a massive topic it has been this year.

We've covered Mall-specific news and larger stories that happen to cross it. Here's a collection of images and stories from Denver's "Main Street."

Crime

The summer seemed to be dominated by stories of violence on the mall.

Authorities blamed disturbances on so-called "urban travelers," which made us ask, "What is an 'urban traveler'?"

The mayor said he might have gotten rough with perpetrators of violence during the Downtown Denver Partnership's annual meeting.

Then Andy looked deep and found that crime rates overall on the mall were down, even though there seemed to be some hysteria about impending danger.

Then we posted up out there all day to see how you really felt about it, which actually turned out to be kind of sweet.

Protests

When more high-profile police killings of unarmed black men struck a national chord in July, the Mall was the venue where Denver came to air its grievances.

Likewise, anger in the wake of the presidential election led thousands to flood the Mall and other places in protest.

Improvements

Lots of nice public art was installed for your viewing (and touching) pleasure.

RTD added a fleet of emissionless buses to move people down the promenade.

And, related to the aforementioned violence, the Downtown Denver Partnership hired private security to bolster the police presence.

Spectacle

One time we dove into the library's Western History Collection to find the ghost of 16th Street's past.

And then Andy interviewed the guy who designed it.

And then there was that one time we saw a ton of grotesque zombies everywhere.

It was a wild year.