Denver Food & Wine Festival
Wednesday-Sept. 6. Despite the drumbeat of bad news for Denver’s restaurant scene, there’s still much to celebrate, from new openings to standbys that have managed to surf the waves of change. This year’s Denver Food & Wine Festival, put on by the Colorado Restaurant Foundation, is all about supporting workers and businesses that have lately been challenged — and that is, of course, all of them.
It takes place at the historic Tivoli Quad at the Auraria Campus, 1000 Larimer St. in Denver. Tickets for individual events vary widely, from the $70-$80 Shake & Brake Showdown (cocktails and food trucks, on Thursday, Sept. 4) to the $150-$200 Grand Tastings (Saturday, Sept. 6).
Visit for schedules, a list of attending chefs, a map of the event, and more details.
Colorado State Fair & Rodeo
Through Monday. Pueblo this weekend will wrap up its bevy of rodeo shows, carnival rides, agricultural competitions, big-name concerts, monster trucks, fine art, and food, drink and Western culture, with the winding down of the Colorado State Fair & Rodeo — the venerable institution’s 153rd outing, according to its website.
Whether you’re into livestock, music (including Flo Rida on Friday, Aug. 29, and Cheap Trick on Sunday, Aug. 31, amid others) or bilingual culture and Colorado history, you’d do well to visit the Colorado State Fairgrounds at 1001 Beulah Ave. in Pueblo before it’s over on Labor Day (Monday, Sept. 1).
Tickets range from $7 for kids 5-12 (free for 4 and under) and $15 for adults (13 and over), not including individual events. Those range from $27.50 to $50, including concerts and arena shows. Visit for more details and a full schedule.
Museo de las Americas
Through Sept. 21. Stop by Denver’s stellar, underappreciated Museo de las Americas this week as it presents its Summer Pop-Up exhibition, “Museo es tu Casa / Museo is your Home,” on view through Sept. 21. The group show presents 18 Latinx and Chicanx artists who were selected through Museo’s open-call-to-art exhibition process, the museum said in a statement, and “welcomes Hispanic Heritage Month by inviting Latinx and Chicanx artists to engage and explore the concept of hospitality in Latin American culture.”
Open noon-6 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, and noon-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Closed Mondays. 861 Santa Fe Drive in Denver. General admission is $8. Call 303-571-4401 or visit for more details.
Jon Batiste at Red Rocks, The Amp
Wednesday-Thursday. Former “Late Show with Stephen Colbert” band leader, multi-instrumentalist and composer Jon Batiste has for years taken the Marsalis brothers route — which is to say, performing and touring tirelessly while educating audiences about the best American music through history, with an emphasis on multicultural sounds and wide-armed experimentation.
Batiste, currently on The Big Money Tour, plays Vail’s Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater on Wednesday, Sept. 3, followed by Morrison’s Red Rocks Amphitheatre on Thursday, Sept. 4. Tickets for the all-ages shows, both of which start at 8 p.m., range from $97.55 to $229.05 (or more, for VIP). Visit or for more details and to buy tickets.
