DENVER —South Broadway is ready for another big weekend as its Halloween parade draws crowds back to the area. The event follows a busy stretch with Bluecifer's First Rodeo and Porchfest taking place over the past couple of months.
Caitlin Braun, executive director of the Broadway General Improvement District, explained this weekend is one of the busiest ones of the year, when restaurants and bars are filled with people checking out the area.
"Historically, the parade has been one of the busiest days of the year, if not the busiest for most of the bars and restaurants on the stree," said Braun. "I do know that some people set record days and sales from Porchfest. I know 404 had their busiest day of all time for Porchfest, so bringing new festivals, new people, new foot traffic to the street is super impactful for these small businesses."
With roughly 40,000 people attending last year, Saturday is shaping up to be a busy one. Braun said the parade helps draw in people who've never explored South Broadway and inspires them to find new favorites.
"There was a narrative for a long time that things were not good here, but that's not the narrative that I'm seeing here on the ground. I live here, and I work here every day, and you can kind of feel the excitement building; new festivals are coming. We're going to have stadiums on either side of us within a few years, like the time is right for Broadway," Braun said.
For businesses like Electric Dream Boutique, the owner Adrienne Scott-Trask is preparing for all ages to step foot into her store. She said the parade is one of her favorite events in the area and helps put South Broadway in the spotlight.
"It just brings in new people and when the right people find us and are excited about us and we know that they're going to come back later, aside from just the event, that's really amazing," Scott-Trask said.
From western wear to vintage finds to Halloween-themed goodies, the boutique has it all. Now, Scott-Trask is bracing for the weekend rush.
"Tomorrow will be a 15-hour workday for me. Yeah, it's going to be a long one, but it will be amazing for me," said Scott-Trask. "I would say probably the top 1 or 2 events of the year for me personally, just from the enjoyment factor."
She's not the only one prepping for the crowds. Matthew Clark, the owner of Hi-Dive, knows just how special this weekend is, especially this year, when the bar has its first float in the parade.
"It's very exciting. We love all the festivals. The festivals bring people down here to see what we're doing all the time, so it's a fun way to get all these people down here for Halloween and they're like, 'Oh, this place is great. Let's come down here on other weekends and do our shopping and our hanging out and our dining and our drinking and seeing live music and seeing art.' So we love all this stuff, with more eyes we can get on South Broadway the better," Clark said.
Hi-Dive has been a Broadway staple for 23 years, with Clark taking over in 2012. While the area has changed a lot since then, Clark's seen firsthand the positive impact recent events have had on the area.
"There's a real community here and hanging out at the coffee shops, hanging out in the vintage stores, hanging out at the bars, hanging out at the music venues. There's like a real sense of camaraderie and togetherness that is really special and it's been like that for a long time, so the fact that this summer and this fall, we're getting a lot of eyes on it is really special," Clark said.
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