The 37th annual Colorado Black Arts Festival is happening all weekend long at Denver's City Park West.
The festival will run July 7-9. Admission is free and is open from noon to 8 p.m. on Friday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday.
Performance stages have historically hosted the sounds of Gospel, Neo-Soul, R&B, Blues, Jazz, Hip Hop, and Traditional Dance, with this year including a headlining by '80s pop/R&B Los Angeles band, Klymaxx on Saturday at 7 p.m.
The all-female band is most known for their musical hits, "Meeting In The Ladies Room," "The Men All Pause," and Billboard Magazine's No. 3 song of 1986 "I Miss You."
There will also be a Hair & Beauty Pavilion, a celebration of Black hair and beauty featuring free floral hair crowns, head wrap tutorials, donation-based product bags, product demonstrations with hands-on activities for hair and makeup education. A panel conversation centered on the question "Did the Natural Hair Movement Fail?" is also planned.
The festival will also feature a literary and visual arts row, an art garden, a local vendors marketplace and a food court featuring foods from the American South, the African continent, the Caribbean and other American favorites.
Historically the festival organized the Boogaloo Celebration Parade, but this element of the celebration has been canceled for 2023.
Parking is available in the park and the blocks surrounding the West end of City Park with the three main gates at 17th Avenue Park Esplanade, 21st and York Streets, and next to the Martin Luther King Jr. monument.
