Barbara O'Neil

Denver

Assistant Editor at 5280 Magazine

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Articles

5 Things To Know Before You See Denver’s Newest Immersive Light Show

2 months ago | 5280.com | Barbara Urzua |Barbara O'Neil

The Local newsletter is your free, daily guide to life in Colorado. For locals, by locals. Sign up today! The Kirk of Highland is already a showstopper. The 135-year-old former church turned event venue in Denver’s Highland neighborhood feels like something out of Harry Potter. But while most people simply saw a beautiful building, Zürich-based artist collective Projektil found it to be a breathtaking blank canvas.
5 Can’t-Miss Shows at This Year’s Denver Jazz Fest

2 months ago | 5280.com | Alyssa Chutka |Barbara O'Neil

David Froman and Don Lucoff know a thing or two about jazz. Froman is president of 30-year-old nonprofit Gift of Jazz, which provides adult education music classes and holds monthly jazz education sessions for Denver Public Schools students. Lucoff has been working in jazz public relations since 1983 and is the founder of Denver-based marketing firm DL Media Music.
Go Behind the Curtain of Denver’s Strip Club Scene in This New Memoir

Mar 19, 2025 | 5280.com | Barbara Urzua |Barbara O'Neil

The Local newsletter is your free, daily guide to life in Colorado. For locals, by locals. Sign up today! Aimee Bushong didn’t spend her teenage years dreaming of dancing in hazy nightclubs. In fact, Bushong’s memoir, Rock ’N’ Pole, reveals that she was a typical awkward teenager, whose male classmates at her Aurora high school rarely glanced her way.
5 Events You Can’t Miss During Denver’s Month of Photography

Mar 4, 2025 | 5280.com | Barbara Urzua |Barbara O'Neil

When the Denver Month of Photography festival first launched in 2004, it recruited 30 local galleries to take part. Today, the 10th edition of the festival has burgeoned into a sprawling celebration of poignant snapshots with nearly 150 events at more than 80 locations throughout the metro area.
9 of the Best Indoor Playgrounds In and Around Denver

Feb 25, 2025 | 5280.com | Barbara Urzua |Barbara O'Neil

Don’t be fooled by this false spring, 60-degree days are not here to stay. When the snow undoubtedly returns and you can’t bear the thought of wrestling your tot into snow pants, you don’t have to resort to a Bluey marathon (although that doesn’t sound too bad). The Denver area boasts an impressive number of places for your little ones to get their wiggles out. So, we’ve rounded up nine of the best indoor play places around the Mile High City. The best part?
10 of the Best Places to Go Dancing in Denver

Jan 30, 2025 | 5280.com | Barbara O'Neil |Madi Skahill

Denverites may have a reputation for their prowess in the great outdoors, but they know a thing or two about getting down on the dance floor, too—which makes sense, given the dozens of spots to cut a rug on any given week night around town. Avoiding the rowdy crowds and washed-up club tunes, however, is an art in and of itself. To help you navigate, we put on our dancing shoes and rounded up our favorite places to get down in Denver.
5 Local Artists To Look for at This Year’s Art of the State Exhibit

Jan 15, 2025 | 5280.com | Barbara O'Neil |Charli Ornett |Barbara Urzua

The National Western Stock Show often takes center stage in January, but this month marks the kickoff of another can’t-miss event in Colorado—one that doesn’t necessitate cowboy boots and Stetson hats. First launched in 2013, Art of the State takes over the Arvada Center Galleries every three years and highlights the most poignant contemporary art from local makers.
This Colorado Author Saved Hundreds of Horses From the East Troublesome Fire

Jan 8, 2025 | 5280.com | Jessica Giles |Barbara O'Neil

The Local newsletter is your free, daily guide to life in Colorado. For locals, by locals. Sign up today! A big-city lawyer leaves her firm to become a ranch wrangler. That sounds like the start of a Hallmark movie, right? For years, Ami Cullen’s life could have been the inspiration for a feel-good flick.
With The Reservoir, Jake Brasch Examines His Own Addiction and Recovery Journey

Jan 1, 2025 | 5280.com | Barbara O'Neil

The Local newsletter is your free, daily guide to life in Colorado. For locals, by locals. Sign up today! On the first page of his script for The Reservoir, playwright Jake Brasch penned a straightforward note for the actors: “Play against the pain.
5 Old-School Film Photographers To See at This New Denver Exhibit

Oct 23, 2024 | 5280.com | Jessica Giles |Barbara O'Neil

Michael Behlen was sick of screens. Between staring at Microsoft Teams at the office, mindlessly scrolling through TikTok, and bingeing the newest Netflix show, the average American can spend more than 17 years of their lives gawking at pixels. This unsettling statistic—and what he’s observed firsthand—is what inspired the California-based photographer to found Analog Forever Magazine, a publication focused on film photography. “I see a pendulum swing a lot in society,” Behlen says.