In The NoCo

Fifty years ago in June, a small group of friends and activists from the gay and lesbian community gathered in Denver's Cheesman Park to be together and celebrate their identity. It was the first iteration of what's now known as Denver PrideFest. 

The event has evolved over the years, growing during good times but also during times of adversity and challenge for the LGBTQ community.  

This weekend, Denver PrideFest celebrates its 50th year. To help put those five decades into perspective, we spoke with Phil Nash, a longtime journalist, LGBTQ activist, and author of the new history book LGBTQ Denver. 

Find a schedule of events for Denver Pride’s 50th anniversary here. 

When she’s onstage, comedian Zoe Rogers talks about what she knows best: her kids. Her standup centers around her identity as a mom. She jokes about the difference between the proper mom etiquette she carefully displays to her children, and her internal monologue. 

Offstage, Zoe appreciates a standup routine that’s a genuine reflection of the comedian’s perspective. So, in addition to her own standup act, Zoe focuses on booking comedy shows in Boulder that bring in comedians from all different backgrounds.

Zoe organizes the The Dairy Arts Center’s monthly comedy performances and the annual Boulder Comedy Festival. This year’s festival kicked off on Wednesday, June 18 and continues through Sunday, June 23.

An exhibit at the Museum of Boulder illuminates the stories of Black Coloradans, highlighting their influence on the region's history and their impact on the future. 

Proclaiming Colorado's Black History centers on places like the once-bustling farming community of Dearfield; and notable people like businessman Barney Ford and philanthropist Julia Greeley, a formerly enslaved person who is presently a candidate for Catholic sainthood.

It's about sharing the lives and stories of people who aren't necessarily in Colorado's history books, said Adrian Miller, co-Project Director and lead curator for the exhibit.

"It's important because we're in a time now, across the country, where Black history is actually being vanished, where there are laws being passed and other things to discourage giving a more comprehensive view of our history," said Miller.

The project was several years in the making, and was shaped with a lot of community input and collaboration, Miller said. It includes a variety of installations, collections of oral histories, and an art display that delves into Afrofuturism. The exhibit will be open through September 2025. 

Miller joined host Erin O'Toole ahead of the exhibit's launch. We're listening back to that conversation today, in celebration of Juneteenth - also known as Freedom Day.

If you enjoyed this episode, you may also like our conversation with CSU Professor Ray Black. He led a Juneteenth bike ride in Fort Collins to illuminate and celebrate the city's Black history. 

This is an encore of our podcast from Sept. 28, 2023.

In Colorado, about 3,000 people go missing each year, according to the state's Search and Rescue Association. And when someone goes missing in the backcountry, every hour counts. 

Cold, dehydration and exposure to the elements make a person's survival less likely as time ticks by. Rescuers also deal with rugged mountains, steep canyons, dense tree cover, and extreme temperatures at high elevations. All this makes it more difficult to locate someone quickly.

But now, a new technology could give search and rescue teams a powerful new tool. It's called Lifeseeker – and it effectively turns a helicopter into a moving cell phone tower, able to detect a missing hiker’s mobile phone.

A Durango-based company, Colorado Highland Helicopters, is testing the new technology as it seeks FCC approval in the United States. Dr. Tim Durkin coordinates search and rescue programs for them. He joined host Erin O'Toole to explain how Lifeseeker works, and the potential impact it could have in Colorado.

Juneteenth commemorates the day in 1865 when the last of the enslaved people in our country learned of their freedom. It has been a federal holiday since 2021 – and a state holiday since 2022 – observed on June 19.   

People celebrate Juneteenth in different ways. Some head to music festivals – like this long-running celebration in Denver’s Five Points neighborhood. Some go to community gatherings – including a three-day event in Fort Collins. Others make a point to frequent Black-owned businesses. 

An associate professor teaching African American studies at Colorado State University will host a unique celebration this Saturday morning. Dr. Ray Black leads a bicycle ride through a historic Black neighborhood in Fort Collins. He joined host Erin O’Toole to share more about the meaning and significance of Juneteenth... and why a bike ride is a perfect way to experience history. 

Professor Black says the bike ride is a relatively easy 5-mile route and open to anyone. It begins at 7:30 Saturday morning at Lee Martinez community park and ends at Foothills Mall where Fort Collins’ Juneteenth community celebration takes place this weekend. 

The Patton Veterans Project is a three-day film workshop designed to give veterans, who may be suffering from PTSD or depression, a communal space to process their trauma. 

Vets who participate learn a “narrative therapy” approach to dealing with emotional trauma. At the end of three days, these vets walk away having made a short film about their personal story. 

The latest three day workshop included veterans from the Greeley, area. Their films will be screening tonight, Thursday, June 13 at 6 p.m. in the Aims Community College Welcome Center. 

The Patton Veterans Project was created by Benjamin Patton, grandson of the famous World War II General George S. Patton. Patton joined us along with Mike Leeman, Veteran Coordinator and former participant, to talk about the program. 

If you listen to music at all in 2024 it’s clear that female artists are a dominant force. From Taylor Swift to Beyonce, Dolly Parton to Billie Eilish, women are some of the top-selling artists in the business.  

But behind the scenes? It’s a different story. 

Statistics show only a small fraction of people in the music industry are women – not on the performing side, but in behind-the-scenes jobs like engineering and production. 

A new nonprofit called Project Traction has a mission to create opportunities for women and non-binary music producers.  It was founded by Jim Eno – the drummer for the band Spoon. He hopes to boost the number of women in these important industry roles by providing mentorship and hands-on studio experience. 

And the latest iteration of Project Traction is focused on Northern Colorado. 

Briana Harris, a singer and saxophonist in Greeley, is one of the musicians participating in Project Traction. She got to fine-tune her studio skills alongside Eno, producing a new music track from Denver-based indie rock band Barbara. She joined host Erin O’Toole to discuss the project – and why it’s important to elevate women in all roles across the music industry. 

Project Traction Volume 2 is accepting applications until Friday, June 14, 2024.  

Hear Briana Harris’ solo work here – and check out her work with The Burroughs here. 

“For Good Measure,” the Barbara track Briana co-produced is out now. Listen here: 

Barbara: "For Good Measure" (co-prod. Briana Harris) - KUTX 

The future of the Colorado River is in the hands of seven people who represent the states that use its water. And right now, they can’t agree on a set of new rules to share the shrinking supply - despite a quickly approaching deadline. 

Those negotiations typically happen behind closed doors, rather than in a public setting. But last week, representatives from Wyoming to California met at the University of Colorado Boulder for an annual water law conference. About 300 people with an interest in the future of the Colorado River were in the audience to hear what leaders had to say. 

KUNC's water reporter Alex Hager was there, too. He joined host Erin O'Toole to share some details from that conference.  

Pets give us companionship and keep us healthier. They can give us a reason just to get out of bed in the morning. 

Unfortunately, some people have had a difficult time being able to keep their pets in recent years. The cost of housing is up. Inflation makes it harder to afford veterinary care, pet food and other supplies. Eviction moratoriums and financial assistance programs that helped people during the pandemic have largely gone away. 

As a result, many shelters are at or near capacity. Now the people who run those shelters are turning to creative ways to help keep pets in their homes – with their owners. 

To learn more about these approaches, host Erin O'Toole talked with Mouse Jewell, a client intake specialist with the Longmont Humane Society, and Judy Calhoun, CEO at NOCO Humane, which serves Larimer and Weld counties.

Fifty years ago, in 1974, a pair of car bombings in Boulder killed six people.  Five of the six were University of Colorado students and alumni who had been part of a Chicano student activist group on campus called UMAS. 

Their names were Una Jaakola,Reyes Martínez, Neva Romero, Florencio Granado, Heriberto Terán and Francisco Dougherty. They were known as Los Seis de Boulder. 

At the time, the police said the activists likely blew themselves up with their own explosives – a claim that’s still met with skepticism today. The case remains unresolved.  

City officials recently unveiled a memorial in downtown Boulder. Artist Jasmine Baetz designed it to commemorate the tragedy. We spoke to Baetz about how she learned of Los Seis, and the artwork she created.