Parks, Art and Culture Committee Meeting - March 31, 2026
Parks, Art and Culture Committee Meeting - March 31, 2026
The Parks, Art and Culture Committee of the Denver City Council met on March 31, 2026, at 10:30 AM (late start at 11:00 AM) in the City and County Building, room 391. Chair Flor Alvidrez presided. The committee considered two action items: a bison donation ordinance (26-0422) and a concession license at Pahaska (26-0398), along with two consent items. One consent item (26-0396) was removed for further briefing. All action items were approved, and the bison donation program’s sunset was rescinded.
Consent Calendar
- Council Resolution 26-0423: Approved a Park Use Agreement with Denver Civic Ventures, Inc. for year-round markets, sports/entertainment watch parties, and free public events at Skyline Park Block 1, Council District 10. Approved by consent.
- Council Resolution 26-0430: Approved a revenue agreement with Denver Mountain Parks Foundation, Inc. for seasonal operation of Mount Blue Sky Recreation Area under USFS permit through 12-31-2029. Approved by consent.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Lewis Talbull (Denver Mountain Parks staff, member of the native community) spoke emotionally about the spiritual and cultural significance of returning bison to tribal lands, describing bison as relatives and calling the transfer healing for indigenous people. He expressed full support for the bison donation program.
- Rick Williams (community member) shared personal stories of visiting tribal nations that received bison, describing the joy of the animals' return. He also noted that the name "Pahaska" (Lakota for "White Butte") was a nickname for Buffalo Bill, and expressed support for the Pahaska concession’s indigenous focus.
- Rick Waters (community member) spoke of the honor in giving back the buffalo and providing authentic storytelling at the Pahaska site. He emphasized the connection between the land and indigenous people, supporting both agenda items.
Discussion Items
- Bison Donation Ordinance (26-0422): Shannon Dennison, Director of Denver Mountain Parks, presented the history of the Denver bison herd (established 1898, one of the oldest conservation herds). She explained that the program, originally passed in 2021 with a 2030 sunset, has transferred 174 bison to tribes and nonprofits. The proposed ordinance removes the sunset, making the program permanent. Council members expressed strong support, with many sharing personal experiences at transfer ceremonies. Council President Sandoval noted Councilwoman Torres’ role in the original land acknowledgement and ordinance. Councilwoman Gilmore and Councilwoman Parady highlighted the program’s impact on healing generational trauma. Vice Chair Hinds framed the vote as both commemoration and celebration. The ordinance was approved.
- Concession License at Pahaska (26-0398): Shannon Dennison presented the 10-year contract with Explore Pahaska LLC, which will provide indigenous-focused food, beverage, retail, and cultural programming at Lookout Mountain Park. The building, dating to 1921, needs substantial investment. Explore Pahaska will invest ~$400,000 upfront and pay 9.5% of gross receipts (2% for capital improvements). The vendor is in active discussions with Takabe, a local Native American eatery. Council members asked about the process for content and naming of the Buffalo Bill Museum; Dennison stated broader site questions will require future community outreach. Councilwoman Gilmore noted the 15-month notice given to the prior concessionaire. The resolution was approved.
- Item 26-0396 Removed from Consent: Chair Alvidrez removed the Chick-fil-A sponsorship agreement (26-0396) from the consent calendar for a briefing, stating the committee will work with the mayor’s office on the best path forward.
Key Outcomes
- Council Bill 26-0422 (Bison donation) and Council Resolution 26-0398 (Pahaska concession) were approved in a block vote: 6 ayes (Hinds, Parady, Romero Campbell, Sandoval, Watson, Alvidrez), 0 nays, 1 absent (Lewis). The bison donation program’s sunset is rescinded, making it permanent.
- Consent items 26-0423 and 26-0430 were approved by consent.
- Item 26-0396 (Chick-fil-A sponsorship) was removed from the consent calendar for further review; no vote was taken.
Meeting Transcript
Welcome back to this monthly meeting of the parks Arts and Culture Committee of Denver City Council. Join us in the Parks Arts and Culture Committee starting now. Good morning, everyone. Happy Tuesday. I'm really excited to be here at Parks Art and Culture Committee talking about our bison transfer. But before we get started with our great presentation, we'll start with introductions from council members. We'll start with committee chair, Councilman Heinz to my right. Vice Chair, you're the chair. Committee vice chair. Chris Heinz. Good morning, Stacey Gilmore, District 11. Good morning, Manisanne, Northwest Denver District. One. Good morning, Darrell Watson. Fine District 9. And we have no council member. Oh, we have one council member online. Hi. Thank you for joining us. Shannon, do you want to introduce yourself and take it away? We're really excited to hear your presentation. Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me this morning, Council members. My name is Shannon Denison. I'm the director of Denver Mountain Parks. We also have our executive director at Denver Parks and Rec Joel and Clark here as well, as well as a few other members of the DPR team. We also have Lewis Talbull online from Denver Mountain Park staff as well. Well, I'm very excited to present to you this morning. You all ready to go? All right, I will jump right into it then. This morning we have two items for council consideration. We have Council Resolution 260398, which is a concessionaire contract at Pahhaska at Lookout Mountain Park, and Council Bill 260422, which is the bison transfer ordinance. You all can let me know if you want me to take a break to talk about questions for each one, or if you'd like to address them separately. As I mentioned, uh these are both for the Denver Mountain Parks. Just a quick refresher. We're gonna be talking about two specific parks today, uh, or two specific items. We're gonna be talking about uh bison transfer, which is applicable to Genesee Park and to Daniels Park, uh, as well as Lookout Mountain Park, uh, which is located just west of Golden. We'll start with Council Resolution 260398 for the concessionaire contract of Pahaska at Lookout Mountain Park. Uh lookout Mountain Park. Uh, if you've grew up in Denver, you're probably very familiar with it. It's uh one of our more popular mountain parks. It sees about half a million visitors per year. At the site, we have Buffalo Bill's Grave, the Pahasca Cafe and Gift Shop, and the Buffalo Bill Museum, all uh within a central complex. Uh the building, the uh concession building dates back to 1921 and was operated by a concessionaire through the end of 2024. The Buffalo Bill Museum was constructed in 1977 and is entirely operated by City and County of Denver staff. And over the last several years, it's been a key opportunity to reimagine the space to advance the uh game plan for a healthy city. There's a significant need for transformation at Lookout Mountain Park. Uh currently we have aging infrastructure, uh, underutilization of the site, underrepresented history and culture, lack of revenue diversity, and limited operations space, and we'd really like to move this in a different direction and achieve a future condition of having historic inviting mountain charm, daytime and evening activation, improved reflection of native history, a new event facility and transportation someday, um, and uh someday a new facility for public and staff. Uh but at this point in time, this is really the first step in that direction. I want to share sort of a photo tour of what we're looking at, uh, the historic condition of Pahaska uh from 1921 and the more recent condition.
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