August 9, 2022 update: The owners of Awake, Denver's first alcohol-free bar, announced on Facebook that the bar is temporarily closing while the owners look for a new location.
The owners, Billy and Christy Wynne, said the new location will "better serve you and this inexorable movement that normalizes and celebrates alcohol-free living."
The bar's final day of operation at its current location in Jefferson Park will be Sunday, August 21. Until then, everything will be sold at a 40% discount.
You can read our original story from January below.
DENVER — A bright neon sign with the words “Together We Wake Up” is the literal and figurative message behind the brand at Denver’s first full service, non-alcoholic bar, Awake, in the Jefferson Park neighborhood.
“It’s really about moving into a different kind of connectedness with people. It’s waking up and moving into a higher consciousness as opposed to numbing out and then trying to connect when we’re all numbed out,” Awake owner Christy Wynne said.
For many, “Dry January”—a global public health campaign encouraging people to avoid alcohol for the first month of the year—is the perfect time to explore life without drinking. For Debbie Scheer, what started as a 30-day, alcohol-free challenge turned into one lasting more than three years. The Denver local said avoiding alcohol has been life-changing, both mentally and physically.