DISPATCH #9 · TUE, AUGUST 11, 2026 · NoCo · TUE HIGH 92°
Postcard from NoCo
Hi NoCo families. Greeley kids went back Monday and Windsor's first bells ring midweek, but FoCo and Loveland get one more week of summer. Spend it well: the Peach Festival lands Saturday with a kids pie-eating contest at 4, and there are free s'mores at a campfire Friday night. We're on our own last hurrah in Montana. Oh, the places you'll actually go.
JP & Alexis
Where To This Week
THIS WEEK
One last full week of summer for the FoCo and Loveland crowd: food trucks and jousting Tuesday, a symphony and s'mores Friday, peaches by day and telescopes by night Saturday, and a watermelon showdown to close it out Sunday.
The Peach Festival at Civic Center Park — $10 admission, kids under 12 FREE
Sat 8/15 · 11am to 7pm · Civic Center Park, 225 Laporte Ave, Fort Collins
Sixteen years in, and still the best-smelling Saturday in Fort Collins: Palisade peaches by the box, peach pie and peach ice cream while they last, food trucks, and three bands running all day (A Brother's Fountain at 11:30, the eight-piece funk of Titonic at 1:45, Rootbeer Richie's New Orleans R&B at 5). The kids' pie-eating contest goes at 4 on the main stage, under 12 only, first come. It's run entirely by volunteers from the NoCo Rotary clubs, and the proceeds go back to local nonprofits. Get your hand stamped and you can come and go all day. Details →
FoCo Food trucks are still rolling on — FREE
Tue 8/11 · 5:30pm to dusk · City Park, Fort Collins
The Food Truck Rally rolls on Tuesdays through September 15, and with the summer series season behind us it's the reigning weeknight anchor: a lineup of trucks by Sheldon Lake, free live music (this week: Flock of Hummingbirds), and lawn space to burn off dinner. It's a 96 degree day, so stake out shade early and bring the water bottles. Details →
Jousting night at The Exchange — FREE
Tue 8/11 · 3pm to 9pm · The Exchange, 200 N College Ave, Fort Collins
Family Fun Tuesdays is down to its second-to-last night, and this week's rotating inflatable is a jousting arena. Let them settle sibling disputes the medieval way while dinner comes from the Exchange's food windows. Final one is next Tuesday. Details →
Read to a therapy dog — FREE
Tue 8/11 · 4pm · Loveland Public Library, 300 N Adams Ave, Loveland
Waggin' Tales pairs beginning readers with registered therapy dogs who have never once corrected anyone's pronunciation. Low pressure, high tail wags, built for kids still finding their reading legs. Details →
Claire Wright at One Sweet Summer — FREE
Wed 8/12 · plaza opens 6pm, music 6:30 to 8:30pm · The Foundry Plaza, downtown Loveland
Two Wednesdays left in the season, and this one belongs to Claire Wright. The FNBO kids zone runs its crafts and games in its corner of the plaza the whole time, food vendors line the edges, and the splash pad does the babysitting. Details →
Magic night at The Exchange — FREE
Thu 8/13 · 7:30pm to 9:30pm · The Exchange, 200 N College Ave, Fort Collins
Tricky Thursdays week two: Dan Jasperson works the courtyard with sleight of hand close enough to argue with. Your kids will spend the drive home explaining how the trick definitely worked. Thursdays through September 3. Details →
THIS WEEKEND
Friday is books, symphonies, and s'mores; Saturday is peaches by day and eagles and telescopes by night; Sunday is a watermelon showdown at the farmers market.
The Rocky Mountain Book Fair — $7 adults · kids, students, and teachers FREE
Fri 8/14 · 1pm to 7pm + Sat 8/15 · 10am to 4pm · Pedersen Toyota Center, The Ranch, Loveland
The Rocky Mountain Book and Paper Fair is the largest rare and collectible book event in the Mountain West: 50+ dealers with old maps, vintage postcards, original prints, and books older than the state, plus hands-on printing activities. One $7 ticket covers both days; kids, students, and teachers walk in free, and parking is free too (validate your plate inside). Details →
Little Crafters at the Farr library — FREE
Fri 8/14 · 11am to 11:30am · Farr Meeting Room, Farr Regional Library, Greeley
A half-hour hands-on craft for little kids and their grown-ups, sized exactly right for preschool attention spans. Second and fourth Fridays every month, so it's back on 8/28 if you miss it. Details →
Downtown Loveland does Friday night big — FREE
Fri 8/14 · symphony 6pm to 8:30pm at The Foundry Plaza
Two-for-one: it's Night on the Town, the second-Friday art walk where the galleries hold opening receptions and street corners get chalk artists and musicians, and this month The Loveland Orchestra plays Symphony on the Plaza at the Foundry, free, 6 to 8:30. Stroller down the gallery block, land at the plaza for the second half. Symphony → · Art walk →
Last Men on Earth on the lawn — FREE
Fri 8/14 · 6pm to 8pm · East Lawn at Foothills, Fort Collins
Music on the Lawn keeps its Friday streak: Last Men on Earth on the stage, the vendor market alongside, and the kids zone hosted by the Toy, Game and Puzzle Library again. Two Fridays left in the season. Details →
S'mores with a side of wolverines — FREE, registration required
Fri 8/14 · 6:30pm to 8pm · Coyote Ridge Natural Area, south of Fort Collins
A naturalist talks wolverines at the cabin (yes, Colorado has a wolverine story now), then everyone makes campfire s'mores. The cabin is a flat mile from the lot, so build in walking time and pack flashlights for the way back. Register through the city's calendar. Details →
Timnath's market morning at Pedro's — FREE
Sat 8/15 · 9am to 2pm · Pedro's Coffee Shop, Timnath
The Timnath Connect Market fills Pedro's with local makers, small businesses, and neighbors. Longtime readers will recognize the host: Pedro's was stop 4 on our coffee tour, so order accordingly. Details →
A bike tune-up before the first bell — FREE
Sat 8/15 · 10am to 3pm · Harmony Library, 4616 S Shields St, Fort Collins
The city's FC Moves crew runs a drop-in Bike Fix-It Bonanza: flat repairs, brake and gear adjustments, and safety checks, no appointment needed. School starts next week; the bike should be ready before the backpack is. Details →
Time travel stays free in Greeley — FREE
Sat 8/15 + Sun 8/16 · 9am to 3pm · Centennial Village Museum, Greeley
Another free 50th-anniversary weekend at the living history museum, this one themed "Eating Up the Past: Native Delicacies," with hands-on activities and demonstrations about how Weld County has eaten across the centuries. Fitting for the week the whole calendar went food-first. Details →
Eagles at dinner, telescopes after dark — FREE, register for skygazing
Sat 8/15 · eagle program 6pm to 7:30pm, Running Deer Natural Area, Fort Collins · skygazing 8pm to 10pm, Bobcat Ridge Natural Area, west of Loveland
Pick your Saturday nature night, or sprint both. At Running Deer a naturalist teaches the trick to telling bald eagles from goldens and hawks; at Bobcat Ridge the Northern Colorado Astronomical Society sets up telescopes in the paved lot, which means strollers and wheelchairs roll right up to the eyepiece. Eagles → · Skygazing →
A watermelon showdown at the farmers market — FREE
Sun 8/16 · market 9am to 1pm · Fairgrounds Park, 700 S Railroad Ave, Loveland
The Loveland Farmers Market goes full Watermelon Daze: an eating contest split by age group (5 and under, 6 to 9, 10 to 13), ten spots per group, register at the market that morning. Heats run mid-morning, and it is exactly as messy as your kid is hoping. (Exact heat times are on the market's Facebook event; see flag list.) Details →
NoCo Regulars
Markets and story times you can count on: Larimer County Farmers' Market (Sat, Old Town Fort Collins, 50th season) · 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) · plus library story times in every town.
Local Business Spotlight: 406 Latte
406 Latte, Choteau, Montana
The coffee pillar clocked out and got in the car this week. We're writing this dispatch from Choteau, Montana, a ranch town on the Rocky Mountain Front where the prairie runs straight into the mountains and where paleontologists dug up some of the world's first known dinosaur nests. The coffee here comes from 406 Latte, a drive-up window on Main Ave covered top to bottom in old license plates. We ordered what we order everywhere: vanilla lattes. Our go-to at home, our go-to 700 miles from home. Apparently some habits don't take vacations. The NoCo tour resumes at stop 9 when we're back. Wellington, you're still on deck.
Community Corner
School's already back in Greeley, Windsor's first bells ring midweek, and PSD and Thompson kids get one more week of freedom. We're spending ours on the road: one last family trip before the routine wins, which is how this dispatch ended up postmarked from Montana. So tell us: what's your family's last-hurrah move before the backpacks take over? One more pool day, a specific ice cream run, a tent in the backyard? Hit reply; best answers might make a future dispatch.
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 jousting at The Exchange Tuesday, holding a marshmallow stick over a Coyote Ridge campfire Friday, or wiping peach juice off someone's chin Saturday, we hope it's a great one. Know a parent whose kid would absolutely enter a watermelon eating contest? Forward this; that's how they find out it exists.
Be the parent who somehow always knows about this stuff.
JP & Alexis
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