The Montbello Drumline drums up business today for Make Music Denver in June

It's Tuesday, not exactly the day of the week when you expect a downtown parade, especially one that's just for the hell of it, put on seemingly for no reason except to spread some fun. But that's what you'll get this lunch hour, when the award-winning Montbello Drumline marches down the 16th Street Mall, beginning at 11:30 a.m. at the Denver Pavilions.

The Montbello High School percussion ensemble will then carry its message of youthful spirit to the mall's center median between Welton and California streets, Writer Square and Skyline Park before ending up at the median between Champa and Stout streets around 12:45 p.m. for the last big boom. That should shake up your Tuesday!

Despite appearances, though, this performance won't be a simple act of serendipity. The drumline will be calling attention to Make Music Denver, a new participatory event sponsored by the Downtown Denver Partnership on June 21, in conjunction with World Music Day. Never heard of it? First initiated as Fête de la Musique in France in 1982, the idea has spread to more than 100 countries around the globe. And now to Denver, too.

Our own version is hoping to drum up interest from professional musicians and amateurs alike, who are invited to take part in the free fest in a variety of ways: by signing up to play along the mall at a designated time, by bringing instruments to work and playing for co-workers, or even by joining one of several mass instrument gatherings in Skyline Park throughout the day, ranging from a Bevy of Baritones to a Union of Ukuleles.

Step lively: To find out how you can participate, go to the Make Music Denver website. Now get outside and march along to some beautiful noise.

Find information on hundreds of other arts and entertainment events in our online Calendar.

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