DISPATCH #7 · TUE, JULY 28, 2026 · NoCo · TUE HIGH 90°
Postcard from NoCo
Hi NoCo families. The fair moved south this week. The Larimer County Fair opens Friday at The Ranch, free admission, free parking, fireworks Friday and Saturday night. Then Saturday morning Colorado turns 150 and Greeley bakes the apple pie. Pace the sugar accordingly. Oh, the places you'll actually go.
JP & Alexis
Where To This Week
THIS WEEK
Birthday week: the Larimer County Fair opens Friday with fireworks both weekend nights, Colorado turns 150 on Saturday with Greeley hosting, and the summer concert series are taking their bows.
The Larimer County Fair opens Friday — FREE
Fri 7/31 to Tue 8/4 · Fri 4pm to 10pm, Sat and Sun 10am to 10pm, Mon and Tue 4pm to 10pm · The Ranch, Loveland
Round two of fair season, and the price didn't move: free admission, free parking. Carnival Americana runs the midway, the 4-H barns are open, and the Main Stage is free every night, with Greeley's own The Burroughs closing it Sunday at 9. The showstoppers: fireworks Friday and Saturday at 9pm, and a free pancake breakfast Sunday 7am to 9am by the equine center. Details →
Rio closes the $3 summer at the Rialto — $3
Tue 7/28 · 10am and 2pm · Rialto Theater, downtown Loveland
Last call on three dollar Tuesdays: Rio wraps the Rialto's family film series today. A 1920s theater, a loud blue macaw, and change back from a five. See you next summer. Details →
Mountain Buddies play Library Park in Wellington — FREE
Tue 7/28 · 10:30am to 11:30am · Wellington Public Library lawn
Storytime moves outside: Mountain Buddies bring a stomp-like-a-dinosaur, sing-along set to the library lawn. Chairs, blankets, sunscreen, water. Kids who make it earn a music brag tag. Details →
Books by lamplight in Greeley — FREE
Tue 7/28 · 8pm · Midnight Oil Bookstore, 827 10th St, downtown Greeley
The bookstore stays open late for a lamplight sale: new and used stacks, hot cocoa in hand, lights down low. A school night treat for the reader kid who thinks staying up past eight is the real event. Details →
Downtown Loveland's Wednesday one-two — FREE
Wed 7/29 · Kids on the Plaza 12pm to 2pm, plaza opens 6pm, music ~6:30pm · The Foundry, downtown Loveland
Noon brings lawn games, crafts, and the splash pad for Kids on the Plaza. Come back in the evening for Johnny & The Mongrels playing swamp funk and bayou soul at the One Sweet Summer concert, kids zone running the whole time. Kids on the Plaza → · Concert →
Dino teeth at the Johnstown library — FREE
Wed 7/29 · 10am to 12pm · Glenn A. Jones Memorial Library, Johnstown
A drop-in dinosaur craft morning for the little paleontologist: this round they're making dino teeth. You get two air conditioned hours; they get fangs. Details →
Dinosaurs in virtual reality at Old Town Library — FREE
Wed 7/29 · 6pm · Old Town Library, Fort Collins
The library straps the kids into immersive dinosaur worlds with its own VR gear, which means the expensive headset is theirs, not yours. Check the event page for ages and registration before you go. Details →
Thursday lawns: one finale, one encore — FREE
Thu 7/30 · Loveland 7pm · Windsor 6:30pm
Loveland's Foote Lagoon series says goodnight for the season with HomeSlice Band, a nine piece with a horn section. Windsor's Boardwalk Thursday rolls on with food trucks and face painting, second to last of the summer; the town hadn't posted this week's band where we could reach it, so tap the link. Foote Lagoon → · Windsor →
THIS WEEKEND
Friday splits three ways (wizards, bounce houses, fireworks), then Saturday belongs to Colorado's birthday, and Sunday the fair makes you breakfast.
A birthday party for The Boy Who Lived — FREE
Fri 7/31 · from 10am · The Dragon and Cone, 3728 Cleveland Ave, Wellington
Wellington's fantasy ice cream shop goes full Hogwarts for Harry's birthday: house sorting, wizard pong, trivia, and a costume contest, with 10% off butterscotch brew and pumpkin juice. Free cockroach candy with every ice cream, which is exactly as Honeydukes intended. Details →
Kids in the Park at Twin Silo — FREE
Fri 7/31 · 4pm to 7pm · Twin Silo Park, 5480 Ziegler Rd, Fort Collins
Fort Collins wraps Parks and Rec Month with the works: bounce houses, giant bubbles, a bike rodeo, touch-a-truck, eight food trucks, and Funky Business on the stage. The apple playground handles whatever energy is left. Details →
Friday Fest: The Burroughs at home — FREE
Fri 7/31 · 6pm to 10pm, music ~6:30pm · 9th St Plaza, downtown Greeley
Greeley's hometown horn-driven soul band plays the plaza, and if you miss them Friday, they close the fair Sunday night. Standing honest note: it's a go-cup district, so take the kids early and hand the late shift to the college crowd. Details →
Music on the Lawn: Max Mackey & Friends — FREE
Fri 7/31 · 6pm to 8pm · East Lawn at Foothills, Fort Collins
Max Mackey & Friends take the East Lawn with the vendor market alongside. Not a finale, for once: Fridays here run through the end of August. Bring dinner or buy it there. Details →
Sounds of Centerra says goodbye: Be Kind Rewind — FREE
Fri 7/31 · 7pm to 9pm · Chapungu Sculpture Park, Loveland
The series finale doubles as the Thompson Education Foundation's Back to School Night: Be Kind Rewind covers the 90s and 2000s while the kids hit the 360 photo booth and giveaway tables. Eighteen summers of this series and it still ends too soon. Details →
Colorado turns 150, and Greeley hosts the party — FREE
Sat 8/1 · ceremony 10am to 11am · Bittersweet Park, 3500 16th St, Greeley
The state's actual sesquicentennial, marked with 400 flags on the Bittersweet Park lawn, youth performers, and free hot dogs and apple pie while they last. Make it a full Greeley Saturday: farmers market on 7th Street 8am to noon first, then Centennial Village runs free admission all weekend, 9am to 3pm, with a 150 Years of Colorado theme. Ceremony → · Centennial Village →
K-Pop on the lawn — FREE
Sat 8/1 · 10am to 11am · East Lawn at Foothills, Fort Collins
Uplift Dance & Fitness teaches a free K-Pop dance class, all ages, zero experience required. Your kid will pick up the choreography in ten minutes. You have one hour to embarrass them; use it well. Details →
Berthoud's library built your weekend — FREE
Fri 7/31 2pm + Sat 8/1 12pm to 2pm · Berthoud Community Library
Friday is a family matinee with free popcorn and juice, and Saturday is the End of Summer Reading party: games, face painting, food, and the last prize drawings of the season. Reading logs due, heroes made. Details →
Seal something in the Colorado Capsule — FREE
Fri 7/31 to Tue 8/4 · Fri from 4pm, Sat and Sun from 10am · The Ranch, Loveland
A statewide time capsule for America's 250th and Colorado's 150th, filling up at the fair: families add stories, photos, and small artifacts, sealed until 2076. Your kids can tell their grandkids they're in there. Details →
Kids Markets at the fair — FREE
Sun 8/2 · from 10am · The Ranch, Loveland
A market day where the vendors are kids: young makers sell their stuff as the fair rolls around them. Come for the pancake breakfast at 7, stay for the eight year old CEOs. Details →
The PRCA Rodeo at Blue Arena — Tickets required
Sun 8/2 · doors 6pm, rodeo 7pm · Blue Arena at The Ranch, Loveland
The fair's one paid ticket: bull riding, barrel racing, and Mutton Bustin', with a sensory room and sensory bags available. Runs Sunday through Tuesday; tickets via AXS. Details →
NoCo Regulars
Markets and story times you can count on: Larimer County Farmers' Market (Sat, Old Town Fort Collins) · Greeley Farmers' Market (Sat, 7th St) · The Berthoud Market (Sat, Town Park) · Windsor Farmers Market (Sat, Boardwalk Park) · Loveland Farmers' Market (Sun) · Fort Collins Farmers' Market (Sun & Wed) · Johnstown-Milliken Farmers' Market (Fri evening) · plus library story times in every town.
Local Business Spotlight: Loveland Coffee Company
Loveland Coffee Company, Loveland
Coffee tour stop 7 stays on the rails. Loveland Coffee Company at 620 E 29th Street roasts its own beans right in the building, so the espresso in your latte never had a commute. Specialty lattes and teas for you, a pastry case for the crew, and a seating area big enough that a stroller doesn't cause an incident. The house policy tells you everything: if a drink isn't right, they remake it, no questions. Open every day, 7am to 5pm, which lines up nicely with a week that starts at the fairgrounds and ends in pancakes.
Community Corner
Saturday, Colorado turns 150 and the state is sealing a time capsule at the fair until 2076. So: if your family could put one NoCo thing in there, what makes the cut? A Rialto ticket stub, a splash pad photo, a pressed penny from the fair? Hit reply and tell us; best answers might make a future dispatch.
We are on stop #7 in our coffee tour. Wellington, you're on deck; hit reply with the shop we shouldn't miss.
Got a family event on your radar? Add it at theplacesno.co/submit-event and it might land in an upcoming dispatch.
That's the week, NoCo. Whether you're waving one of 400 flags in Bittersweet Park, watching fireworks from a Ferris wheel, or getting sorted into Hufflepuff in Wellington, we hope it's a great one. Know a parent whose kids would lose their minds over a wizard birthday party? Forward this their way.
Be the parent who somehow always knows about this stuff.
JP & Alexis
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