TODAY
Rock on!
Denver Gem and Mineral Show and Colorado Fossil Expo at the Denver Merchandise Mart Expo Hall, 451 E. 58th Ave.
10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Adults $5; seniors and teens $3; 12 and under, free. Free shuttle bus service to the satellite shows is available at the north and south entrances to the merchandise mart
Denver rock hounds have been doing this show 38 years now, so they’ve got it down pat: gold panning for the kids and 10 cases of minerals that glow in the dark, retail and wholesale booths, and talks keyed to this year’s theme of quartz and cryptocrystalline quartz. Once you’re filled up on agate, amethyst and thunder eggs, head on over to the Colorado Fossil Expo at the Plaza Annex for a dose of meteorites, amber and petrified wood. Tickets are good at both shows, and there’s plenty of free parking.
MORE FOR TODAY
10 a.m – 12:15 p.m. Second Wind Fund fun run/walk for suicide prevention | $25 registration for adults, $10 for students, includes a T-shirt, lunch and entertainment by Opie Gone Bad and Mollie O’Brien and Rich Moore | West Alameda Parkway and West Mississippi Avenue in Lakewood | Info: thesecondwindfund.org.
7 P.M. 2005 Manhattan Short Film Festival finale | $5.50 Denver Film society members, $6.50 seniors; $8.50 nonmembers | Starz FilmCenter at the Tivoli, Ninth and Auraria in Denver | 303-820-FILM
6:45 P.M. Spirit of Adventure large-screen exhibition of photos by Westminster shooter Mike David backed up by live dance and music by artists from Africa, Egypt and China Tickets | $29-$49 at the door | Newman Center for Performing Arts at the University of Denver
MORE FOR THIS WEEK
MONDAY Free day! At the Denver Botanic Gardens | 1005 York St. | Hours: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Information: 720-865-3500.
WEDNESDAY Naturalist-guided bird walk 5:30 p.m. A $5 daily State Parks pass is required for all vehicles entering the park | Roxborough State Park, 4751 N. Roxborough Drive | Info: 303-973-3959 or parks.state.co.us.
WEDNESDAY The International Experimental Cinema Exposition kicks off at 5:30 p.m. with a chance to meet the filmmakers, DJ music and a sneak of some images from Bogus Boxing Trash flashing in the background. Festival runs through Sept. 25 | Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver | Info: experimentalcinema.com.
THURSDAY, FRIDAY Aboriginal elder Bill Yidumduma Harney, Australian educator and storyteller Paul Taylor and CU planetary science professor John Stocke explain a tribe’s knowledge of the stars, its culture, stories and didgeridoo music | 7:30 p.m. both days | Adults $6; children and seniors $3.50 Students with ID free on Thursday, $5 on Friday | Fiske Planetarium at the University of Colorado | Info: 303-492-5002 or colorado.edu/fiske
NEXT WEEKEND
Holy frijole!
Chile & Frijoles Festival Art Show at Union Avenue in downtown Pueblo
Starts Friday at 5 p.m.;
runs all weekend
To everyone who spent the past year developing new techniques for using a pucker to get a pinto to fly, we are very sorry: the festival has dumped the highly adolescent bean spitting contest and replaced it with a more mature jalapeño- eating contest, Sunday at 4 p.m. There are, of course, plenty of other things to do that don’t require an asbestos-lined mouth. The whole thing kicks off Friday at 5 p.m. with bands rocking in four performance tents, and runs all day Saturday and Sunday. There will be cooking competitions, the 5K Hot to Trot Fun Run, car shows, a farmers market featuring locally grown chiles, and living history presentations on cooking, wool dyeing, quilting, trading, blacksmithing, adobe making, weaving and the use of herbs El Pueblo Trading Post Mercado and Frontier Trade Fair. And seriously, who can resist a summer festival tag-lined “It’s a gas”?
MORE FOR NEXT WEEKEND
SATURDAY Colorado Trout Unlimited’s second annual Statewide River Cleanup. Walk the banks of designated stretches of river in Boulder, Delta, Denver, Durango, Estes Park, Evergreen Fort Collins, Golden, Gunnison, Lake George, Longmont, Silverthorne and Salida to remove trash and improve the health of our waterways. Visit cotrout.org for meeting locations and times.
SATURDAY Open Cockpit Day at the Pueblo Weisbrod Aircraft Museum on the grounds of Pueblo Memorial Airport. An F-11F1 “Tiger” Navy fighter will be open from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Admission $6 for visitors 10 and older. No extra charge to sit in the pilot’s seat.
SATURDAY Watercolor workshop with artist Ann Surbeck at the picnic pavilion across from the Kauffman Museum in Grand Lake. All supplies provided. 1-4 p.m. Part of the free Fall Folk Music Festival, Saturday and Sunday, noon-6 p.m. in Grand Lake Town Park.
SATURDAY Stonewall Fall Festival, noon until dark at Monument Lake Park on Highway 12. Features blues musicians and local storytellers, vendors and a community garage sale. Gate pass is $5 for anyone 12 or older. Info: 719-868-2255.
SATURDAY Rock for the Rescue Benefit and Concert by Blues Is Blood and Tempa and the Tantrums, for Denkai Animal Sanctuary | The Starlight, 167 N. College Ave., Fort Collins | $10.
SATURDAY Steamboat Springs Kitchen Tour through six of Steamboat’s most fabulous private kitchens. Supports Strings in the Mountains Music Festival, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. $20 in advance. $25 day of tour. Info: 970-879-5056, ext. 105.
