Rest Period Update To help protect park resources and maintain balance between recreational use and public events, rest periods have been established to restrict the permitting of public events in Denver’s six busiest parks. Rest periods (when a park cannot be permitted for a public event) are in effect from April 1 to October 31 each year.

Rest periods range from 2 to 4 weekend days per month, depending on the park. In addition, the 5th weekend in a month cannot be booked for public events (with exceptions for historical priority events), and no new events can be booked on Memorial Day weekend, July 4th, and Labor Day weekend. The holidays and 5th weekend in a month are not considered rest dates, thus rest days are counted separately.

The parks that have rest period in place (and their goal number of rest dates) are:

• Civic Center Park: 2 weekend rest days per month

• City Park: 3 weekend rest days per month

• Stapleton Central Park: 3 weekend rest days per month

• Sloan’s Lake: 3 weekend rest days per month

• Washington Park: 3 weekend rest days per month

• Cheesman Park: 4 weekend rest days per month

Each year, the Denver Parks and Recreation Parks Permit Office determines the exact rest period dates after the priority (historical) events are booked, but prior to the permit opening date (typically early November). These dates are published online (included within the “Blackout List”) and with the Office of Special Events. The decision to formalize the rest period program was decided on following public input and testing the idea as a “pilot program” in 2016 and 2017*.

If you have any concerns or comments please email Park.Permits@denvergov.org.

To learn more about permitting in Denver parks, visit: www.denvergov.org/permits.

* History of the rest period public input: In 2016, a survey was distributed online, and with over 800 participants, it was clear that the Rest Period Pilot Program was desired but needed more time for people to understand its impact. A new survey was distributed online later, in August of 2017 and showed large support for the current rest periods. If any additional outreach is needed, communication will be sent to all Registered Neighborhood Organizations.