Revolutionizing · Modernizing · Simplifying
Revolutionizing · Modernizing · Simplifying
Peak elk rut and 193 bands playing on people's front porches. Same weekend. That is Colorado in early October, and if you plan it right you can hit a bugling contest in Estes Park, a beer garden in Baker and Avalanche hockey downtown without ever feeling rushed.
So here is the thing. The first full weekend of October is one of those rare stretches where the calendar just stacks. Music, wildlife, hockey, wine, art walks. Most people pick one thing and call it a weekend. You do not have to. Buckle up, this is a Radically Colorado adventure with a lot of moving parts, and I am going to lay out exactly what is happening and when so you can build your own version.
One heads up first. If you saw REZZ ROCKS VIII on the calendar for Red Rocks on Oct. 3, that show got canceled. It is not happening this weekend. So do not drive out to Morrison expecting it. Plenty else to do instead.
Saturday, Oct. 3, noon to 7 p.m., across the Baker neighborhood, with Dailey Park as the central hub.
This is the one I am most excited about, and it is the city's first. PorchFest. The concept is simple and kind of beautiful. Musicians set up on actual front porches around the neighborhood and you walk from house to house catching sets. This year they have 193 local acts spread across roughly 85 pop-up porch stages. Let that number sink in. One hundred and ninety three bands, all local, all in Baker, all in one afternoon.
It is free, with a suggested
Dailey Park is the hub. That is where you will find the vendor fair, the food trucks and a beer garden, so if you need a home base between wandering the porches, that is it. My move would be to park once, treat Dailey as the anchor, and just drift. You are not going to catch all 85 stages. Nobody is. That is not the point. The point is walking a neighborhood you might be thinking about living in and hearing live music on every block.
Quick real estate side note, because it is relevant here. Baker is one of those Denver neighborhoods where the housing stock does a lot of the talking. Victorians, bungalows, big front porches, which is literally why a festival like this can even exist there. You do not throw a PorchFest in a neighborhood of blank townhome facades. The old bones are the whole show.
Saturday, Oct. 3, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, Oct. 4, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., at Bond Park, 170 MacGregor Ave. in Estes Park. Admission is free.
Every fall the elk take over Estes Park. This is not a metaphor. The rut hits, the bulls start bugling, and the town leans all the way into it with a two-day festival at Bond Park. Elk Fest is the celebration of that whole spectacle.
What is actually happening here. There are bugling contests, where humans try to imitate the sound a bull elk makes, and honestly it is worth the drive just for that. There are live raptors on display. There is Native American music. And yes, there is a beer garden, because it is Colorado and it is a festival.
If you have never made the run up to Estes in early October, this is the weekend the town is at full volume. And the elk themselves do not read the festival schedule. You will very likely see actual elk wandering around, which is the whole reason any of this exists. Sunday closes an hour earlier than Saturday, so plan accordingly if you are making the drive up US 36.
Saturday, Oct. 3 at 7:00 p.m. at Ball Arena, 1000 Chopper Circle.
Hockey is back downtown. The Avs host the St. Louis Blues on Saturday night, and if you have been to a game at Ball Arena you know the building. It holds 17,809 for hockey and it gets loud.
Here is the timing note that matters. This is a 7 p.m. puck drop the same day as PorchFest, which wraps at 7. So you genuinely could do the porches in Baker all afternoon, then head over to Ball Arena for the game. Baker to Chopper Circle is not a far drive, and it is a straight shot up toward downtown. That is the kind of double-header this weekend is built for.
Friday, Oct. 2, at Ball Arena, 1000 Chopper Circle.
Before the Avs take the ice on Saturday, the same building hosts WWE Friday Night SmackDown on Friday. So Ball Arena is working a back-to-back this weekend. If wrestling is your thing, or you have kids who are deep in it, this is your Friday night downtown.
First Fridays run Oct. 2 in RiNo, the Art District on Santa Fe and 40 West Arts. Then the Art RiNo Festival follows Saturday, Oct. 3 from 1 to 8 p.m. at the ArtPark. Free.
First Friday is a Denver institution and this month it lands right on Oct. 2. Three districts at once. RiNo, the Art District on Santa Fe down south, and 40 West out in Lakewood. Galleries open their doors, studios stay lit, and you just walk.
Then Saturday RiNo keeps it going with the Art RiNo Festival at the ArtPark from 1 to 8 p.m. It is free, and there is real stuff to see. Neon glass demos, open studios, mural tours and five music acts. So if PorchFest is not quite your scene but you still want art and music on a Saturday afternoon, RiNo has you covered on the other side of town.
Saturday, Oct. 3 at 7:00 p.m. at Mission Ballroom. Sixteen and over.
If you want your Saturday night indoors and a little more intimate, the Latin guitar duo Hermanos Gutiérrez play Mission Ballroom. These two have a Grammy association and a sound that fills a room without a single word being sung. It is instrumental, it is atmospheric, and Mission is one of the better rooms in the city to hear it in. This one is 16 and over, so keep that in mind.
Oct. 2 to 4 at Writer Square in downtown Denver.
This one runs all three days at Writer Square downtown, which makes it an easy add-on if you are already down in the core for hockey or First Friday. A festival that runs Friday through Sunday gives you flexibility, so slot it in wherever your weekend has a gap.
Sunday, Oct. 4 at Washington Park.
Wake up Sunday and run it off at Wash Park. The Hot Chocolate Run takes over the park, and if you know Wash Park in October you know why people sign up. Cool morning, the trees turning, hot chocolate at the finish. It is a good excuse to earn everything you ate at the PorchFest beer garden the day before.
Sunday, Oct. 4 at Balistreri Vineyards, 1946 E. 66th Ave., Denver.
And to close it out, wine. Balistreri Vineyards up on East 66th holds its annual Harvest Party on Sunday. A lot of people do not realize Denver has a working vineyard operation like this right in town. The Harvest Party is the day they lean into the season, and it is a mellow way to land the plane on a very full weekend.
Look, you cannot do all of this. Here is one way to stack it. Friday, First Friday art walk in RiNo or on Santa Fe, or SmackDown if that is your family. Saturday morning, drive up to Estes for Elk Fest and the bugling. Get back to town by early afternoon, hit PorchFest in Baker, anchor at Dailey Park, then walk over the energy into the Avs game at 7. Sunday, run the Hot Chocolate Run at Wash Park, then reward yourself at the Balistreri Harvest Party.
Or pick two things and take it easy. That works too. The point is the calendar handed us a loaded weekend, and now you have the plan. Go do it.