Mom’s Day at gorge
Royal Gorge Bridge and Park in Cañon City is offering free admission for mothers today. Moms will be honored with a free carnation while supplies last. There will be face painting from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. and balloon art by Gary Jones. Visit royalgorgebridge.com or call 719-275-7507.
Other Royal Gorge Bridge and Park specials include half-price admission and season passports for Fremont County residents through May 31. Legal identification listing address, such as a driver’s license, is required. Half-price admission and season passports for active and retired military and their families is available through May 31. Military identification is required.
All aboard for RR days
Clear Creek County Railroad Days Festival will be May 27-28 in Georgetown, Silver Plume and Empire. Activities include a performance of the Central City Opera at the Historic Hamill House Museum, a murder mystery at the Hotel de Paris Museum, a professional pack burro race, railyard tours in Silver Plume of historic Argentine Central Railroad equipment; “commemorative tickets” on the Georgetown Loop Railroad, tours of the Lebanon Silver Mine, merchants in period costume, burro rides, an obstacle course, and games and crafts for children. Visit clearcreekcounty.org.
Mesa Verde culture fest
“Celebrating Our Song” is the theme of the sixth annual Mesa Verde Country Indian Art and Culture Festival May 26-June 4. Angie Owen is the featured artist for the juried Indian Art Market. Grammy Award nominee R. Carlos Nakai will give a solo concert May 27 in the Morefield Amphitheater in Mesa Verde National Park. Also on May 27, there will be a Navajo Rug Auction at Far View Terrace. Tours in Ute Tribal Park will be offered, and Porcupine House will be open to the public May 27. Native American dances and cultural programs are also on the agenda. For information, call 800-530-2998 or visit mesaverdecountry.com.
Food fest in Beaver Creek
The Beaver Creek and Bon Appetit Outdoor Culinary Festival will be June 24 and 25. The event centers around Bon Appetit’s culinary demonstrations and new seminars featuring wines of New Zealand, Partida tequila and Scotland’s single malt scotches. Top local and national chefs selected by Bon Appetit Magazine and Beaver Creek Resort will prepare foods, and free children’s activities are planned. There will be free outdoor concerts by The Spins and by Mark Wood and the Parrot Head Band. Admission to the festival is free. Wine and spirit seminars range from $35-50; culinary demonstrations are $20. Call 970-845-9090 or 800-404-3535, or visit beavercreek.com.
Paonia salutes cherries
Paonia is hosting the Cherry Days celebration July 1-4. Journey through cherry orchards and enjoy a parade, barbecue feasts, fireworks and, of course, cherries. Visit paoniabedandbreakfast.com.
Nature Place for families
The Nature Place is offering its first Family Camp event July 2-9. The Nature Place is in the midst of the 6,000-acre Colorado Outdoor Education Center, 35 miles west of Colorado Springs next to the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. During the week, families will take photography and natural-history hikes, go on a birdwatching walk and climb a fourteener. Other activities include exploring the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, rock climbing, mountain biking, fly- fishing and playing tennis, and a Fourth of July celebration. The Sportsplex has an indoor pool, exercise room, volleyball court, sauna and Jacuzzi. Meals are served at the Lodge. Unique to The Nature Place is the Observatory, with Colorado’s fourth-largest telescope. Contact Rob Jolly at RobJolly@aol.com or call 719-748-3475.
Big ideas in Aspen
The 2nd annual Aspen Ideas Festival will be July 3-9 and features programs, tutorials, seminars and discussion events. Speakers include Alan Greenspan, Madeline Albright, author Kurt Anderson, Bruce Babbitt, David Brooks, Nora Ephron, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Sydney Pollack and more. Visit aspeninstitute.org or call 970-544-7960.
Creede goes underground
“Days of 92 Mining Events,” Colorado State Mining Championships, is set July 3 in Bashama Park on Main Street throughout the day in Creede; creede.com.
Fete set for the Fourth
Buckskin Joe’s Frontier Town, 8 miles west of Cañon City, is having an Old Fashioned Fourth of July celebration, complete with a watermelon seed-spitting contest. Visit buckskinjoe.com.
An old-fashioned holiday
Aspen will host an Old Fashioned Fourth of July celebration with a parade down main street, a community picnic, a U.S. Air Force jet fly-by, an outdoor concert series, a kids’ bicycle rodeo, and a fireworks display over Aspen Mountain; see aspenchamber.org.
Creede marks the Fourth
Independence Day Festivities in Creede include a parade at 10 a.m., vendor booths and fireworks at dark; creede.com.
– Compiled by Andrea Labak and Dane Strom
