Eighteen renowned street artists have descended on Denver’s River North (RiNo) to paint 17 wall-size murals throughout the neighborhood as part of the inaugural DENVER WALLS festival, which runs through Tuesday.

Denver is the latest city to participate in WORLDWIDE WALLS, a series of international mural festivals that bring towering street art to the likes of Honolulu, Seoul and Washington, D.C.

The impressive artist lineup includes local muralists Detour and Anthony Garcia Sr., who are joined by the likes of Berlin-based James Bullough and South African mother-son duo Faith47 and Keya Tama.

Local artist Ally Grimm, who is also painting a mural on Larimer Street under the pseudonym A.L. Grime, spurred Denver’s inclusion in the series of international mural gatherings. Grimm happened to be in Washington, D.C. for another project during their stop at the festival series and was immediately captivated.

“I just fell in love with the way they treated the artists and the way they just put so much intention into every little bit of all the curation. … I just wanted our street artists to feel what I felt in D.C.,” Grimm said. “It’s just so much intentionality, such a focus on community and that feeling of family and I feel like we deserve to have that as well.”

Grimm, with the help of RiNo Art District Executive Director Charity Von Guinness, helped plan this year’s event over the course of two years — incorporating the deliberate curation and execution that drew Grimm to the festival series in the first place. Grimm even postponed the event, originally slated for 2022, to ensure it met their own lofty standards.

“We put a ton of thought and intention into not just curating different types of folks with different experiences, but actually different art styles,” Grimm said. “Myself, and every member of my team, have such a diverse Rolodex of artists that we ended up just picking from art styles.” 

Finding the walls themselves was easier than anticipated, as well.

After Grimm presented her team’s plans to RiNo’s leadership, “some of those folks wanted to get involved. I think they got really excited when they heard about it,” she said. “As soon as we started posting and getting the word out, people just started pouring in.”

She added: “I think this community loves street art and wants to be engaged with it and has seen what it does for everyone around us.”

Artists will create pieces on walls across a large swath of RiNo, giving “space so that our walls can live for an extended period of time and we’re able to give everyone some breathing room to be seen… [We want] to give every inch of RiNo some love,” Grimm said, adding organizers hope to make the festival an annual affair.

While still too early to tell, Grimm hopes to leave a lasting impression on the already-colorful neighborhood.

“We take a lot of pride in the fact that we give our artists full creative freedom,” she said. “You’re really peering into the soul of that artist. They could’ve painted anything in the world and this is what they chose to give.”

The festival wraps up on Oct. 3, and most artists can be seen working throughout the daytime in the meantime. There are still several events slated including a “paint battle” Thursday night and a street fair on Saturday.

For more information, visit rinoartdistrict.org.