Revolutionizing · Modernizing · Simplifying
Revolutionizing · Modernizing · Simplifying
That is the whole pitch for Morrison Ciderfest, and it is a good one.
It is back Saturday, September 26, 2026, running 10 a.m. to dark in historic Morrison. The town calendar lists it as 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., so plan around that if you are the type who needs a hard end time. Either way, you get a full day. And here is the part people miss about this one. There are no gates. No admission line. No wristband. The festival bills itself as old-fashioned fun the way festivals used to be, and for once that is not just marketing copy. You park, you walk in, you are at the party.
The whole thing sets up at Morrison Park, 150 Spring St., Morrison, CO 80465. You take the Morrison Road exit off C-470 and head west, straight through downtown, and you are basically there. If you have driven out to a show at Red Rocks, you know this drive. This is that same little stretch where the foothills start climbing and Morrison sits right at the edge of it. Red Rocks on one side, small-town Main Street on the other. It is a genuinely great spot to spend a fall Saturday.
Bring the dog, too. It is pet-friendly, which around here is not a small thing.
They run free antique cider press demonstrations all day long. Actual old presses, doing the actual work, and you can stand there and watch apples become cider in real time. There is a mascot named Apple Annie wandering around for the kids, or for you, no judgment.
On the pricing, let me lay it out because it is refreshingly simple. Fresh apple cider is
If you want to go deeper, the South Jeffco Rotary runs a cider tasting at the event for $30. That is your one splurge line item, and it goes to a good cause.
So the beer garden is served by New Belgium Brewing, and the lineup covers most moods. Mountain Time Lager if you want easy. Voodoo Ranger if you want to feel something. Pumpkin Ale because it is fall and you are legally required. Plus Angry Orchard and Stem Cider on the harder cider side.
Pricing is 14 oz pours at $7 per ticket, or
This is not a stand-around-and-drink festival. There is live music all day. Bounce houses for the kids. Horse and wagon rides. A blacksmith demonstration, which is one of those things that sounds boring on paper and then you end up watching for twenty minutes. Food trucks. A vintage firetruck. It is a lot packed into one park.
There is also an Artisan Market with just over 20 spaces of handmade fine art and crafts. One thing to know here. That market is invitation-only, so there is no open application and no rows of the same mass-produced stuff you see at every other event. Curated, small, and you are getting actual makers. Twenty-plus spots means you can walk the whole thing without your feet giving out.
Here is the thing. Fall in Colorado gives you about four perfect weekends before it all turns, and everybody wants to spend them the same way, which usually means sitting in $40 parking somewhere getting nickel-and-dimed on funnel cake. Morrison is doing the opposite. Free to get in,
And honestly, Morrison itself is having a moment. Living right at the doorstep of Red Rocks, walkable to a downtown that still feels like a town and not a strip mall, tends to keep this little pocket of Jeffco in demand no matter what the broader market is doing. Days like Saturday are exactly why. You get the Red Rocks proximity without the Red Rocks crowd, at least for one day.
So point the car west on Morrison Road, park it, and go. Buckle up, it is a cheap one, and around here that counts as a Radically Colorado adventure.