Festivals, new music venues and more all over the state

By The Thirst Team

Get Out of Town is our weekly roundup of recommended events across Colorado, focusing outside of Denver, to help everyone enjoy the whole great state. For Denver happenings (and more), check out our events calendar.

Estes Park Wine Festival

The Estes Park Wine Festival returns to Bond Park in downtown Estes on Saturday and Sunday. Tickets start at $45, and include a wine glass, wine tote and unlimited tastings, as well as live music, and retail, artisan and food vendors.

Non-drinker and designated driver tickets are available at the gate for $10. VIP tickets are still available for Sunday, including VIP tent, wine bar and catered food from Claire's Restaurant.

Vail Valley Brew'au

The weather should be perfect (also cooler and less humid than Hawaii) in Avon for the Vail Valley Brew’au, a tropical-themed beer festival and luau on Saturday.

General admission tickets cost $40, and include unlimited samples, music, games, food trucks and a water lantern (to be released on the lake at the end of the festival).

Sculpture in the Park

Loveland isn’t just known for rerouting Valentine cards. It’s also the sculpture capital of the U.S. The 40th annual Sculpture in the Park promises to be the largest juried art show of its kind in the nation. The Benson Sculpture Garden is always worth the visit, but hundreds of additional artists will be on hand selling a wide variety of other art this weekend. The show opens with a Patron Party on Friday night, and tickets cost $75. The show is open for the rest of the weekend for a $10 general-admission ticket.

Ford Amphitheater opens

Colorado Springs is about to provide some competition to Red Rocks and Fiddler’s Green when the beautiful and scenic Ford Amphitheater opens near the Air Force Academy this weekend. Hometown pop hitmakers OneRepublic open the venue with shows on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

The lineup is already stacked and diverse, with The Beach Boys, Walker Hayes, John Fogerty, Primus, Lauren Daigle and more playing before the end of August.

For more about the venue, see Malena Larsen’s preview story from our May-June magazine.

Black Forest Biergarten

Just outside the Springs, two anticipated libations events are coming to Black Forest. First, the Black Forest Community Center will host a fundraising biergarten on Friday night. Several local businesses will pour beer, wine and cider. WireWood Station and Terry Spence will perform. General-admission tickets cost $30, including two pints, four eight-ounce pours and eight two-ounce samples.

Winery opening

Latigo Winery will be at the Biergarten, then officially open just down the street at 3 p.m. Saturday. Melange Jazz will perform at 3:30 after the ribbon cutting ceremony.

Adaptive Rec Day

Staunton State Park is a newer gem in the state parks system, and easily accessible from the Denver metro. It is also accessible for all abilities, with rugged track chairs available for the disabled community.

Park rangers host an adaptive recreation celebration from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in honor of Mark Madsen, who was instrumental in creating the track chair program.

Plains Bull Bash

After 30 years in Colorado, I admit I had to look up Akron (it’s east of Fort Morgan in northeast Colorado). But if you need an excuse to check out the Eastern Plains community (it’s only two hours from Denver), the 6th annual Plains Bull Bash starts at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, with bull riding, mutton busting, a cowboy cookoff, a beer garden and 90s country covers by Double Wide.

Save the date: Longs Peak Scottish festival

Estes Park becomes the “Celtic Capital of North America” on Sept. 6 to 8 for a huge highland festival, with traditional sports, music, whiskey tastings, dog and cattle competitions (pet dogs are not allowed at the event) and more.

As always, please send us your events and announcements. We’re happy to share them. If they don’t fit in the Get Out of Town column, we will add them to our events calendar. And enjoy your Colorado craft libations responsibly.