All photos by Mauricio Rocha

Summer is officially here, and the styles on the streets are heating up. This week, we spotted Denver Museum of Nature and Science guest service concierge Gillian Kumm on Broadway looking refreshing and energetic. Read here to learn who inspires her style, where she shops, and what her favorite accessories are.

See also:
- Womenswear Wednesdays: Technical writer Lauren Jestes on her colorful summer style
- Womenswear Wednesdays: Rebecca Haines as Hawkeye at Denver Comic Con
- Womenswear Wednesdays: Lease analyst Kelsey Peoples on her Southern belle style

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Women's Health

Second in from the right, Tarrah Lee, and the other finalists in Women's Health's Next Fitness Star.

Overweight for most of her life, local trainer Tarrah Lee received a heartbreaking wake-up call when her father passed away from a heart attack. At 25, Lee herself was looking down at a lifetime of unhealthy eating, and the life event moved her to make a serious change. Now a personal trainer and certified nutritionist, Lee works out of a fitness studio in Lone Tree training others, while running Denver Nutritionista, a blog and weekly radio show focused on a "clean eating" diet.

At a client's urging, Lee was among thousands who applied for the title of Women's Health's Next Fitness Star. The professional fitness competitor is now one of five finalists up for the title -- which includes a magazine cover story on her journey. With voting opening today, Lee spoke with Westword about weight loss, eating food as fuel and why she gets up every morning to help others get fit and happy, too.

See also:
- Photos: Colfax Marathon runners take it to the street
- 5280 Fitness Kick-Fits our ass
- Enjoy colorful Colorado: "The Twelve Days of Fitness"

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In the basement of the Park Hill Community Bookstore, the volunteers who work there have written the opening lines of their favorite books on a yellow door. It's a daily reminder of the importance of literature -- and the reason they decided to donate their time and energy in the first place to the Rocky Mountain region's only nonprofit volunteer-operated book store.

On Friday, June 21, the store, which is heading into its 43rd year in the community, will continue providing for its future by holding a fundraiser featuring John Fielder, the wildlife activist and photographer. Fundraisers like these play a big role in the conservation of the bookstore. In addition to member donations, large fundraisers are a key factor in gaining money to help operate the store.

See also:
- Photos: Get a Grip showcases skateboard art at Park Hill Skates
- Denver historian Phil Goodstein takes on Park Hill in his latest book
- Best Bike Racks -- 2011 -- Park Hill Fruit Hoops

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Don't miss the 2013 Westword Music Showcase this Saturday, June 22.

If you haven't picked up your tickets to the Westword Music Showcase yet, now's the time -- and we've got a special hook-up for Show and Tell readers. Today only, you can buy tickets for $20 with our special promo code. Don't sleep on it! Prices are increasing every day from now until the Showcase, so if you want to go and want to save some of your hard-earned loot for more important things -- like, say, I don't know, beer -- here's your chance. Keep reading for the promo code.

See also:
- The 2013 Westword Music Showcase headliners
- The 2013 Westword Music Showcase ballot
- The People of 2012 Westword Music Showcase

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Ian Gerber

Calling all unicorns, jackalopes, mermaids, basilisks, abominable snowmen and New Jersey Devils! Grab a few s'mores, and settle in for a fun-filled night of theatrical mayhem as the Theater Company of Lafayette (TCL) weaves seven campfire-esque shorts all crafted to challenge preconceived notions, shatter misconceptions and keep you guessing long after the smoke's subsided.

See also:
- Photos: The fifty best costumes of the 2013 Colorado Renaissance Festival
- With FEED, the Catamounts combine food and theater -- but this is not dinner theater!
- Repertory Cinema Wishlist: American Graffiti

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Dan Landes, restaurateur and storyteller.

Sam Pike knows how to tell a story. There's a good one behind The Forum, the series he founded that will have its fourth edition, "Of Rabbits and Hares," at 6:30 p.m. tonight. "I was visiting a friend out in the middle of Nowhere, Michigan, with a six-hour layover in Minneapolis," Pike remembers. So he started talking with his fellow travelers. "I love hearing people's stories -- it's kind of my natural thing to do to just sit down and hear where they're coming from."

He didn't stop listening when he got back to Denver, either. "Everywhere I would go in Denver and hear these stories, I would meet people who were doing their own thing -- creating art, a new initiative within the city," he says. "Those were the stories that really grabbed me."

See also:
- Ballet Nouveau Colorado makes the leap to Denver and Wonderbound
- 100 Colorado Creatives: Garrett Ammon of Wonderbound
- Dan Landes on the top five sci-fi films

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Over the last year Denver comedians have shown they're not the selfish bastards they sometimes claim to be, organizing several charity benefits for people like Mara Wiles and Mike Marchant. And tonight Timmi Lasley will keep that communal comedy spirit alive, hosting a benefit for the Denver Voice at El Charrito that features such top-shelf local talent as Jordan Doll, Eliot Woolsey and Ben Roy. A former member of Ladyface, the now-defunct female comedy group, Lasley has been on the scene for a few years, and when we caught up with her to chat about this benefit, she offered some interesting opinions on theater vs. standup, and whether comedy is a "boys' club."

See also:
- Even sobriety can't tame comedian Ben Roy's savage humor
- How Bill Maher and Russell Brand helped me nurse a broken heart
- Arguments and Grievances second-anniversary edition at Vine Street Pub

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All photos by Philip Poston

Governor Hickenlooper accepted the shipment of gold flake this morning on the west steps of the State House.

This morning, boxes of gold leaf were delivered to the west steps of the Colorado State Capitol Building and officially presented to Governor John Hickenlooper. The gold, which was donated by Anglogold Ashanti/Cripple Creek & Victor Mining Company, will be used on the dome, which is currently undergoing renovations (find the whole story in the May 23, 2013 Westword cover story, "Coolfax."

Mined in Cripple Creek, the gold was sent to Florence, Italy, where the leaf was manufactured by Giusto Manetti Battiloro S.p.A. At about 65 ounces, the gold is valued at $116,175.00. Anglogold also presented the Governor with one ten-ounce ingot.

See also:
- Colfax is moving quickly -- and we're going along for the ride
- Photos: Capitol dome closes tomorrow until 2014, so catch the view today
- Best Scale Model, Canned Goods Division -- 2010 -- Colorado State Capitol Building

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Comedy festivals are the perfect antidote to a nasty breakup. Not only because laughing activates several different sections of the brain, strengthening neurons that lead to insight and emotional balance, but because so many comedians love to bitch about heartbreak. Like Morrissey records or the films of Charlie Kaufman, a standup comic unloading his self-loathing is a comforting thing to watch when you're feeling like an unlovable jackass.

I was a few weeks into my own singledom when I flew to Chicago for the Just For Laughs Comedy Festival, so I was long past the Netflix and THC cookie dough binge phase of a breakup, yet still in the oxytocin (love hormone) withdrawal period that leaves you feeling pathetic and unhinged. Though a week of thinking and giggling with Bill Maher, Seth Meyers, Russell Brand and Denver's Ben Roy (who did a staggering eight shows in three days) revived me into feeling like a considerably less desperate member of society.

See also:
- Nerdist's Erotic Fan Fiction leaves Denver filthy with laughter
- John Oliver takes over hosting duties of The Daily Show
- The sins of Bill Maher's previous life

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All photos by Danielle Lirette.

The newest craze in 5Ks is a race that would make even Joseph's technicolor dream coat jealous. Over the weekend, the Color Run came to Denver, leaving a trail of hundreds of neon-splattered runners in its wake. Continue reading for a few highlights from the race, and visit our full Denver Color Run slide show for more photos.

See also:
- Slide show: Denver Color Run 2013
- Slide show: Denver Dirty Dash 2013
- Slide show: The People of Denver PrideFest 2013

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