Sample the state’s best wings, wine, writing, movies, and more

By Steve Graham

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

Best of the West wing fest

Who slings the best chicken wings? That question may be answered on Saturday in Colorado Springs. The Western Museum of Mining and Industry hosts the third annual Best of the West wing fest, with more than a dozen restaurants from across Colorado (and beyond) competing for the title.

GA tickets include a wing from each competing restaurant. VIP tickets also include early entry, a VIP lounge, complimentary dessert bar and more. Attendees can also pay to enter two wing-eating contests: the most wings and the hottest wings.

Snowmass Balloon Festival

The Snowmass Balloon Festival returns for its 49th year, with more than 30 festive hot air balloons. The event begins Friday with the classic Memorial Rat Race. The park and festival will be closed for the race, but the balloons will be visible from several nearby hiking and biking trails.

From 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, all balloons will be grounded and glowing, allowing attendees to learn more about balloons, meet the pilots and see the balloons before they take off in the morning. On Saturday and Sunday, Town Park will open to watch morning launches from 7 to 9 a.m.

Stone Age Stampede

Cooler fall days are the perfect time to visit one of Colorado’s most underrated landmarks, Dinosaur National Monument. The monument spans the Utah border in northwest Colorado. On the Colorado side, the town of Dinosaur is even more enticing this weekend. It hosts the third annual Stone Age Stampede on Friday and Saturday, with live music, art contests, crafts and family activities, a watermelon seed spitting contest, antique cars, tractors, and more.

Jaipur Literature Festival

Fall Fest takes over the Pearl Street Mall in downtown Boulder this weekend, with music, food and drinks and a large artisan market. But a more niche festival also will take place downtown.

The 10th Colorado edition of the Jaipur Literary Festival comes to the Boulder Library on Saturday and Sunday, with more than 50 speakers. Famed journalist Tina Brown called it "the greatest literary show on Earth."

The event includes authors, poets, artists, filmmakers, humanitarians, politicians, business leaders, sports figures and entertainers, all championing freedom of expression and engaging in thoughtful debate and dialogue.

Palmer Lake Wine Festival

Palmer Lake, just northwest of Colorado Springs, hosts a wine festival on Saturday on the shores of the namesake lake. At least 25 Colorado wineries will pour samples, and the festival also includes food and gift vendors, and live music.

Colorado Wine Week begins

On the other side of the hill from Palmer Lake, Colorado Wine Week officially kicks off Sunday at Aspen Peak Cellars in Bailey. Events continue throughout the week all over Colorado, leading up to the Colorado Mountain Winefest next Saturday in Palisade.

Aspen Film Fest

The Aspen Filmfest opens Tuesday with a new documentary about Christopher Reeve. The festival continues with an award-winning thriller shot secretly in Iran; an Oscar-winning director’s new animated feature; the much anticipated Casa Bonita documentary and many others, including surprise releases.

In all, 17 invited films will be screened over six days at the Isis Theater. Festival passes and individual tickets are available now.

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.