Denver PrideFest: June 16-17

Downtown Employee Appreciation Week is here, and The Denver Pavilions wants worker bees to have a ball this Thursday at lunchtime. Two of them, actually. Flaming Lips fans will recognize the eight-foot translucent spheres as frontman Wayne Coyne's crowd-surfing transportation of choice. Beta Entertainment Director Ms. Easy's got one too (she uses it at raves like Skylab). In this case, contestants will manipulate the aforementioned human hamster balls down Glenarm in hot pursuit of bragging rights, YouTube glory and even prizes. Downtown trivia will determine which "baller" gets the advantage. Tyler Perry's Shed G is set to emcee. We're not sure whose harebrained idea this was, but we like it. How does it show people who work downtown they're loved? Maybe participating in a simulated rodent race is more fun than merely being part of the proverbial one.