The Walnut Room, RiNo’s music venue and pizza place at 3131 Walnut St., is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a hearty party from 5 to 11 p.m. Friday with drink specials, complimentary appetizers and pizza and free performances by Adrienne O, Andy Palmer, Roo & The Howl, Matt Hoffman of Strange Americans and DJ Social Lubrication. The event is for guests 21 and over.

For years, musician and entrepreneur John Burr dreamed about creating a place where fellow musicians could relax after rehearsing at his RiNo sound studio. He envisioned a venue that hosted live music and served the thin-crust pizza from his childhood. In January 2005, Burr’s dream became a reality and The Walnut Room was born.

A decade later, The Walnut Room has become one of the premier venues for local bands to play and a popular dining spot for its palate-pleasing pies. In addition to hosting some of the city’s top bands, The Walnut Room has featured such established acts as Chris Isaak, Jewel and The Fray.

“The Walnut Room’s anniversary is really a significant milestone. We are proud to have survived a decade in an emerging neighborhood and grateful to have carved an identity for ourselves that has resonated with the public,” Burr said.

Burr plans to build on The Walnut Room’s reputation for hosting some of the city’s best live performances with an expanded kitchen which will allow the venue’s menu to grow this year.

Since opening the original Walnut Room location at 3131 Walnut St., Burr has expanded his pizzeria business to include a second outpost on South Broadway.

For more information, go to www.thewalnutroom.com/walnut-street/.

(Walnut Room photos)

Swallow Hill Music presents a concert by legendary Peter, Paul & Mary member Peter Yarrow at 8 p.m. April 17 at The Oriental Theater, 4335 W. 44th Ave. Tickets are on sale now at  www.swallowhillmusic.org/denver-concerts/ or by calling 303-777-1003, ext. 2

Yarrow’s talents as a creative artist, with Peter, Paul & Mary and as a solo performer, are frequently directed at using music to convey a message of humanity and caring. His gift for songwriting has produced some of the most moving songs from Peter, Paul & Mary, including “Puff, the Magic Dragon,” “Day is Done,” “Light One Candle” and “The Great Mandala.” Over the years, many issues have moved Yarrow to commit his time and talent including equal rights, peace, the environment, gender equality, homelessness, hospice care and education.

“We’re part of a long train ride,” is the way Yarrow visualizes the many events that have highlighted a career spanning more than four decades. “When I was in high school, I heard The Weavers’ concert at Carnegie Hall where they sang songs such as ‘If I Had a Hammer,’ and ‘Wasn’t That a Time.’ It was inspiring, and it showed me the extraordinary effect that music of conscience can have.”

Colorado, a new glass sculpture by artist Dale Chihuly  is now on view in Denver Botanic Gardens’ Ellipse garden at 1007 York St.

The work has been added to the Gardens’ permanent collection through the generosity of private donors including Robert and Judi Newman, John and Ginny Freyer and the RC Kemper Charitable Trust, UMB Bank, n.a., Trustee. It is comprised of 1,017 hand-blown glass elements and stands more than 14 feet tall. Viewing of Colorado is included in Gardens’ admission.

Chihuly used a red, orange and yellow color palette as it reminded him of the skies and sunsets he enjoyed during Denver visits. Chihuly’s collection set record attendance numbers at the Gardens.

He drew inspiration for the new work from one of his most challenging outdoor installations, Icicle Creek Chandelier, a permanent outdoor installation he did in 1996 at Sleeping Lady Resort in Leavenworth, Wash. Installed on a granite rock, the chandelier is a permanent reminder of how a work of art can be framed in nature and find harmony within it. Like Icicle Creek Chandelier, Colorado is designed to sustain similar outdoor weather conditions.

For more information, go to www.denverbotanicgardens.org.

(Denver Botanic Gardens photo)

Eavesdropping on a woman and a man driving by the lake at Georgetown: “Ice fishing looks like a miserable sport.”

“Those men really hate their wives.”

More than 100,000 spectators braved the cold temperatures to ring in the new year on the 16^th Street Mall during the 13^th Annual New Year’s Eve Fireworks Downtown. Two eight-minute shows with nearly 15,000 blasts exploded across the Denver sky in a myriad breathtaking and dramatic methods. With a 40-second finale, the hits rumbled Denver into the new year.

DJs along the 16^th Street Mall and festivities at the Southwest Rink at Skyline Park ramped up the energy between shows as people celebrated throughout the city center.

“The New Year’s Eve Fireworks provided the perfect atmosphere for the Denver community to come together and celebrate a fruitful 2014,” said Tami Door, CEO and president of the Downtown Denver Partnership. “With hundreds of thousands of individuals enjoying downtown restaurants, retail establishments and hotels, the celebrations continued throughout the night and helped drive our local businesses into the new year.”

The fireworks shows at 9 p.m. and midnight were created and managed by Western Enterprises, Inc. Launched simultaneously from two undisclosed locations downtown, the shows were fired using pyro seeking, the industry’s most advanced in digital firing technology, and SMPTE time code signal for synchronization with the music from the DJs. Nearly 600 cues were fired per show, and approximately 2,400 cues were fired overall.

The New Year’s Eve Fireworks Downtown were presented by the Downtown Denver Partnership and co-sponsored by Visit Denver and the Downtown Denver Business Improvement District.

(Larry Laszlo photo, CoMedia)

Millennials, the darlings of marketers at ages 35 and under, are desirable residents as young professionals, lifestyle fanatics and first-time homeowners.

Analysts at the news site Vocativ set out to determine the best U.S. cities for people 35 and under starting with the 100 most populous cities in the U.S., as reported by The Huffington Post.

“Then, they rated each one on their own personal measures of food, jobs, nightlife and more. A city’s entertainment score, for example, was determined by the price of an average movie ticket, the number of local music festivals, and the number of pro sports teams in the area. Others included:

• Night out: the average cost of beer, wings and (gasp!) weed.
• Housing: monthly rent for a two-bedroom apartment, the cost of Internet and price of cleaning services.
• Getting around: percentage of population using public transit, the average price of gas, cost of a five-mile cab ride.
• Jobs: the median salary, unemployment and job growth rates.
• Food: the cost of groceries and number of coffee shops and take-out restaurants per 100,000 people.
• Appeal: number of sunny days per year, walkability, amount of violent crime.
• Demographics: the median age, ethnic diversity, amount of singles, percentage of LGBT individuals.”

The study resulted in “35 ultra-livable cities” – including Denver at No. 4 – where millennials are bound to find a great home. Here are the top 10:

Here are the top 10:

1. New York, NY.

2. Arlington, Texas.

3. San Francisco, Calif.

4. Denver (ranked high in food and entertainment).

5. Austin, Texas.

6. Minneapolis, Minn.

7. Seattle, Wash.

8. St. Paul, Minn.

9. Madison, Wis.

10. Portland, Ore.

For the rest of the story, go to www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/29/best-cities-for-millennia_n_6374304.html.

Cherry Creek North is a hotbed of revolving restaurant tenants within the chi-chi shopping district. And 2015 promises a new crop of eateries — many of which are under construction in luxury residential buildings.

Here’s what I know so far:

* Cucina Colore, 3041 E. Third Ave., a Cherry Creek veteran,  is currently expanding and will reopen in a few weeks.

* Departure, 245 Columbine, Chef Gregory Gourdet.

* Del Frisco’s Grille, First Avenue and St. Paul Street, opening in the fall.

* Kobe An Shabu Shabu, downstairs at 231 Milwaukee St.

* Hasu Asian Bistro & Sushi, now open at 250 Steele St.

* Aspen Juice, now open upstairs at 231 Milwaukee St.

* Old Ay Carumba Mexican Street Sandwiches space at 2817 E. Third Ave. is reportedly under negotiation for a new restaurant.

* 200 and 250 Columbine projects soon will announce restaurant tenants.

Aspen Juice, above, already has opened in Cherry Creek North and a remodeled Cucina Colore, below, will re-open soon.

While I much prefer to write about restaurant openings in our fair city, inevitably there are those that close. Some are big losses to our Mile High palate, others were more obviously headed for an epic fail.

Thrillist.com, the irreverent food and drink website, has compiled a list of the “12 shuttered Denver bars and restaurants that we’ll miss.” They are: Bonanno Bros. Pizzeria in the Vistas at Park Meadows, Catacombs Bar in Boulder, Corner House Neighborhood Eatery in Jefferson Park, Chef Liu’s Authentic Chinese Cuisine in Aurora, Le Grande Bistro & Oyster Bar downtown, Ondo’s Spanish Tapas Bar in Cherry Creek, Oshima Ramen in Southeast Denver, Row 14 Bistro & Wine Bar downtown, Restaurant Kevin Taylor downtown, twelve restaurant in ballpark, TAG Raw Bar Larimer Square, T-Wa Inn Southwest Denver.

Read more about each closure at www.thrillist.com/eat/denver/denver-bars-and-restaurants-that-closed.

The worker bees at thrillist.com have spanned the nation to come up with “The one can’t miss event in all 50 states this year.”

The edgy website recommends that readers might be more successful in accomplishing the event attendance than in keeping a New Year’s resolution.

“Since the chances of keeping your New Year’s resolution to ‘work out’ are about as good as last year’s effort to ‘stop drinking,’ best make a resolution this go-around that you actually WANT to keep. Like ‘”travel more’, or ‘be more adventurous’, or ‘hit the most awesome event in every state,’ if you want to be weirdly specific,” according to Thrillist.

“And if you do (and, of course, you do), you’ll need to know what the best, coolest, most popular event in each state actually is. Which is why we’ve compiled this list. Good luck.”

Good luck is especially appropriate in the case of Colorado’s can’t-miss event pick: The Great American Beer Festival Sept. 24 to 26 in Denver. Tickets last year sold out in 32 minutes, so this can’t-miss may well be a can-miss if you aren’t a lucky ticket holder.

“This is like those little 250-brewer weekend festivals where you stroll around and sip beer until you can’t taste it anymore, but on really, really good B12 injections. Here, attendees dress in zany costumes and sample pretty much every beer (they’ve) ever heard of (and even more that they haven’t).

Check out the selections for other states at www.thrillist.com/travel/nation/best-event-in-every-state-the-kentucky-derby-iron-bowl-mardis-gras-and-more.

(Great American Beer Festival photo)