Several hundred teens descended upon Cherry Creek State Park on Thursday afternoon, prompting the unscheduled closure of the park.
The high schoolers were celebrating “senior ditch day,” Colorado Parks and Wildlife spokeswoman Kara Van Hoose said. The state parks agency closed the park’s gates for two hours while staff and sheriff’s deputies worked to convince the students to move along.
The 4,200-acre park — in the southeastern corner of the Denver metro — reopened around 2:30 p.m., Van Hoose said.
“There were no injuries, no arrests, no citations and no vandalism reported,” Van Hoose said.
Large gatherings and special events are allowed at the park with a permit — which the teens did not acquire before playing hooky on the unseasonably warm March afternoon.
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