First, the bad news. If you are one of those small arts organizations that makes wine available to your audiences for free or … wink, wink, for … suggested donations … without a permit, you’re still breaking the law.

But if you are one of those that have gone to the trouble of obtaining what the city calls an “art gallery event permit,” you’ll likely be happy to learn that its permissions were expanded last Friday when Gov. Jared Polis signed the bipartisan HB 1061 into law at a made-for-media event staged at the Adiluna Boutique in Olde Town Arvada. 

Not only does the new law expand the number of events at which permit-holders can offer complimentary booze from 15 to 24 each year, it widely expands who can acquire one of those permits. Before, it was art galleries only. Now it is pretty much any small retail business. 

The original “art gallery event permit” was mostly conceived as a way to allow galleries hosting First Friday art walks or monthly art openings legal permission to attract street traffic with free wine. The new law says, essentially, that right should extend to other businesses as well.

It is a question of simple fairness, said Joe Hengstler, director of the Olde Town Arvada Business Improvement District. “Before, that gallery permit was not available to retailers, but there was a feeling that small shops that sell candles or scarves or clothing should also be able to offer complimentary wine,” Hengstler said. “This change is a simple, streamlined way of treating those businesses equally.”

The newly expanded law, called HB 1061, grew from a bipartisan bill sponsored by Republican Rep. Rick Taggart, Democrat Rep. Lindsey Daugherty and Democratic Sen. Rachel Zenzinger.

“I just met the owner of Adiluna Boutique, and she has been trying for four years to hold events where customers can enjoy a complimentary drink,” Polis said. “This bill will now give small business owners another way to attract and retain customers.”

The whole subject of liquor licenses is a box even Pandora is too terrified to open, but suffice it to say there are a lot of different ones. Denver offers 22, in fact. For example, there is a separate “arts liquor license” that only covers how our biggest cultural institutions, like the Denver Center for the Performing Arts and the Denver Art Museum, must approach alcohol. There are different ones for clubs, cabarets, brew pubs, B&Bs and more.

But, if you are like me, you might be confused why the governor was signing a new state law into effect when you apply for a liquor permit through the city. Turns out, “liquor licenses are one of the few licenses required in the city of Denver where there is dual licensing,” said Eric Escudero, communications director for Denver’s Department of Excise and Licenses.

Meaning: The city and the state both require a liquor license. “The city and state work closely together in liquor licensing,” Escudero explained. “The city does the initial intake on most applications, and as soon as we approve the application, it is sent to the state for final approval.”

Now, as for all of those many arts groups (and small businesses) that offer wine (for free or a donation) without a permit of any kind? That’s allowed only at a private event like a wedding. “But if it is a business that is accessible to the general public, a liquor license is required,” Escudero said.

So if a small local theater company is providing wine at a performance that is open to the public, “there would be a requirement for a liquor license,” Escudero said. Which kind? That depends. “But generally, a theater offering alcohol could legally sell it to the public if they had a tavern liquor license,” he said.

‘Frozen’ returning to Denver

The Denver Center’s Broadway division has announced a return engagement for Disney’s “Frozen,” which was brought to first life in Denver on its way to Broadway in 2017. Its among seven newly added attractions to the previously announced 2023-24 season, including one that looks at the life and times of Cher as played by three actors:

• “Jesus Christ Superstar” (Jan. 23-28, 2024)
• “Chicago” (Jan. 30-Feb. 4, 2024)
• “The Improvised Shakespeare Company” (Feb. 7-March 31)
• “Hairspray” (March 5-10, 2024)
• “Shrek, the Musical” (March 14-17, 2024)
• “The Cher Show” (May 3-5, 2024

As always, subscribers get first dibs. Dates for a public sale will be announced later.

Flynn visits ‘The Order’ film set

We told you back in March that Denver City Councilman and former investigative journalist Kevin Flynn’s nonfiction book “The Silent Brotherhood” is being made into a Hollywood film about the white supremacy movement. Flynn just returned from a week on the film set in Calgary. Flynn’s co-author, Gary Gerhardt, died seven years ago, but his daughter, Kim, brought some of his ashes along for the visit.

“We buried a piece of Gary on the shooting set,” Flynn said. Gerhardt, he added, always said their now 34-year-old book would make for a great movie.

Flynn said he had “incredible access” to lead actors Jude Law and Nicholas Hoult, director Justin Kurzel and others. The logistics of the film, which will be called “The Order” and be released sometime next year, “blew me away,” he said.

While it’s a total bummer that Colorado’s once glorious, long-abandoned film incentives have many Colorado-based stories now being filmed in Canada and New Mexico, Flynn added that Calgary ”reminded us very much of Denver in its setting on the plains just east of the Rockies.”

Celebrating 100 years of The Sink

Woah: The Sink is celebrating its 100th anniversary in Boulder. And next Wednesday (June 14) at the Boulder Theater, the iconic pizza place will premiere a documentary that will tell its full, low-ceilinged history. If those walls could talk. (Actually, those walls can. They have the tale fully etched into them.) This promises to be a beer-soaked celebration of one of Boulder’s most beloved landmarks. Tickets $15 at axs.com.

Rynders kicks up her dukes

Denver nurse, dancer and actor Tara Rynders, who has garnered national attention in recent years for using the healing power of dance to help nurses cope with COVID stress, will perform her new piece “Ringside” at this weekend’s Presenting Denver Dance Festival. Using boxing as a metaphor, “Ringside” provides an intimate look at the complicated experience of being a nurse during the pandemic. It plays at 8 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at the Byron Theater on the University of Denver campus, 2344 E. Iliff Ave. Info at newmancenter.evenue.net.

Art and artist in Golden play

Miners Alley Playhouse’s moving production of Sarah Ruhl’s play “The Oldest Boy” – about an American mother and a Tibetan father who have a 3-year-old son they come to believe is the reincarnation of a Buddhist lama – is remarkable for all sorts of reasons. One is the powerful local stage debut of Tessa Fuqua, a primarily commercial and film actor. She plays a gentle monk who insists the boy be relocated to a Tibetan monastery for training. Another is that the Golden playhouse has given its entire lobby over to Fuqua’s award-winning artwork, which spans from water colors to murals to street chalk art. You can see her – and her art – through Sunday only, when “The Oldest Boy” completes its run. Info at minersalley.com

Just do it

There are busy arts weekends, and there is this coming weekend, when you have, all at once:  The Denver Chalk Art Festival, 150 artists on the streets of the Golden Triangle neighborhood (Saturday and Sunday); the Denver Fringe Festival – 55 acts at 12 venues throughout Five Points and RiNo (Thursday through Sunday);  the Five Points Jazz Festival on Welton Street between 25th and 29th streets (Saturday); and the 56th annual Denver Greek Festival at 4610 E. Alameda Ave. (Friday through Sunday). For starters.

And finally …

A celebration of life for longtime Denver Art Museum curator Ann Daley will be held from 3-5 p.m. Monday, June 19, at the museum. Please email your intention to attend to [email protected]. A streaming option will be available.