In the minutes before 10 a.m. on June 27, a crowd of parade goers rushed around on the drought-strained grass at Wagner Park, pinning and adjusting the last pieces of their costumes. Musicians tuned their trombones and trumpets under Aspen Mountain’s collage of green hues. A familiar throng of Aspen locals scuffled among themselves — cheeks flexed with excited anticipation — hugging friends and waiting for the Mallfest 50 Art Parade to begin. The brass band counted down to their first number.
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Aspen’s pedestrian mall, Aspen Public Art planned a series of summertime events and installations with the city of Aspen and the Red Brick Center for the Arts. Members of the city-funded initiative commissioned artists to paint intersections and set up kite-like canopies that now adorn different corners of the car-free streets. And in June, they hosted an art parade, inviting artists and performers to dress up, dance, play music and create custom sculptures that nod to some aspect of the city’s culture or history.
Costumes were designed in response to the prompt, "What do you love most about Aspen?" Getups were bright, outlandish and gravity-defying, reminiscent of the city’s core landmarks, including the pedestrian mall itself. One pair of artists dressed up as the bricks that pave the mall, donning human-sized, red cardboard boxes that covered everything but their shins and shoes.
After the parade began, Nika Meyers glided through a swarm of people along Cooper Avenue in a multi-layered white dress. Feathers and pine needles hung from her chest and hips. A white, palm-frond-sized feather hung like the lamp of an angler fish from a mesh nest on her head. She called herself an “early mountain bird” and snagged the crown for best costume overall. She sees pedestrian malls like Aspen’s as cultural hubs.
“I just always associate them with amazing businesses, local culture, a really deep way of getting to know a place,” Meyers said.
A long history
Crews finished building Aspen’s pedestrian mall in 1976, four years after it was approved by the city council and 20 years after the idea was first conceived by architectural design students. It took years of debate and two high schoolers collecting signatures on a referendum petition to force government officials to move on the project.
“We sat out in front of the Aspen Post Office,” said Margot Dick, who attended Aspen High School in 1972. “There was no mail delivery at the time, so everybody had to come and get their mail. We collected, I don't know how many, but it was a lot — way more than were required.”
The walkways have since become the site for both community events and hijinks. The Aspen State Teachers College, a “no-credit, fun college of the Rockies,” was formed around the same time in the mid-1970s. Before trees were planted along Cooper and Hyman avenues, the group’s so-called faculty and students used the mall for some of their most memorable pranks.
“We were having a creative session, trying to figure out what we could mock in town — what we could make fun of,” said Slats Cabbage (aka Marc Demmon), president of the less-than-real college. “I said, ‘Well, you know, the mall with the bricks down and no trees, it looks like a big bowling alley.’”
Cabbage helped organize the stunt, where a large keg rolled down the center of the mall, toppling over a set of 10 people dressed as bowling pins. He reminisced about those years — what he considers the good times in Aspen.
“It was the highest concentration of the craziest, most creative people you've ever met in your life,” he said.
When asked what it would take to bring some of that energy back to Aspen, he replied, “More crazy people.”
A town backdrop
Saturday’s parade eventually departed the pedestrian mall to march over streets otherwise home to motorized vehicles, while dancers made pit stops to perform. Arm in arm, a Folklórico dance troupe waited for its musical cue, holding the growing crowd at attention.
Aspen Santa Fe Ballet canceled its Folklórico program last year after almost three decades, following the retirement of its longtime instructor Francisco Nevarez-Burgueño. But in April, the nonprofit Dance Initiative tapped some of his former students to take the helm and teach the traditional Mexican dance. Saturday was their first public performance since the relaunch.
“We're moving on to a new chapter of our lives,” said Angel Najera, one of Nevarez-Burgueño’s former students. “We're gonna try to do the same thing he did.”
He was nervous before they began, butterflies trilling in his stomach. But at once, his leather-heeled boots kicked off the pavement. The dancers, dressed in classic western garb, followed him, tipping their cowboy hats and yelling, “Hey!” as they tapped and twirled in unison, restarting a beloved cultural tradition.
Mallfest 50 was designed to honor Aspen’s urban planning decision 50 years ago to forgo parking and paved roadways in favor of a pedestrian mall. But while elected officials gave speeches about the landmark’s history during the parade, most attendees spoke of the mall like a backdrop, setting a tone for the city’s food, festivals and outdoor values.
Mallfest 50 organizers set out to honor Aspen’s pedestrian mall; residents came to pay homage to their city.
