City Park Jazz launched its 40th annual summer concert series Sunday bringing music fans back to City Park just months after a fire destroyed the historic bandshell that had long served as the event’s centerpiece.

The free weekly concert series opened Sunday with a performance by the DJ Williams Band at the City Park Pavilion.

Founded in 1986, City Park Jazz has become one of Denver’s signature summer traditions, drawing between 8,000 and 12,000 attendees, according to organizers. 

The concert series features only Colorado-based musicians and is free to the public.

“Forty years ago, a small group of music lovers had a simple idea: bring great jazz to the park and let the community gather around it,” Andy Bercaw, President of the City Park Jazz Board of Directors, said in a statement announcing this year’s lineup. “This 40th season is a celebration of every musician who has graced our stage, every volunteer who has shown up, and every neighbor who has spread a blanket on the grass and made CPJ part of their summer.”

The season comes after a March fire that destroyed the nearly 100-year-old City Park bandshell. Denver Fire Department investigators have said they could not determine the cause of the fire.

Despite the loss of the structure, City Park Jazz organizers said the concerts would continue. Through fundraising efforts, the nonprofit is holding the event on a mobile stage for the 2026 season.

“It’s taken a lot of hard work to make this happen,” Bercaw said at the event. 

During the opening ceremonies, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston announced a fundraising campaign had raised $120,000 to facilitate the costs of this year’s series and rebuild the bandshell. 

“We’ll get your beloved bandstand rebuilt…and that is because of your kindness and your compassion,” Johnston said at the opening of the event. 

The destruction of the bandstand represented a major cultural loss for Denver preservation advocates said earlier this spring.

“For generations of Denverites, the bandstand was simply where you went to hear music in the summer,” said Jay Homstad, senior director of preservation advocacy for Historic Denver, previously said in an email to the Denver Gazette. 

Still, organizers said the “celebration of community” will continue the tradition. 

This year’s lineup includes jazz, blues, salsa and brass band performances throughout the summer including:

• June 14 — Spicy Pickles featuring Hannah Rodriguez
• June 21 — Hazel Miller & The Collective
• June 28 — Shane Endsley and the Denver Municipal Band
• July 5 — Brass Band Extravaganza featuring Bourbon Brass Band and Badda Boom Brass Band
• July 12 — BTTRFLY
• July 19 — Conjunto Colores with Rasta Salsa
• July 26 — Convergence
• Aug. 2 — Delta Sonics Blues Revue
• Aug. 9 — Jakarta

All concerts run from 6 to 8 p.m. Sundays at the City Park Pavilion.

Organizers said this year’s anniversary season will also feature tributes recognizing past contributors and performers-in-memoriam who helped shape City Park Jazz over the past four decades.

The nonprofit is additionally launching a pilot shuttle program during the July 5 and Aug. 9 concerts to assist attendees with mobility and disability-related needs. The shuttle will transport guests from parking lots at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science and the Denver Zoo directly to the pavilion.