DISPATCH #11 · TUE, AUGUST 25, 2026 · NoCo · TUE HIGH 88°
Postcard from NoCo
Hi NoCo families. Every district is back in school, and this is the last week for three summer staples: the final Foundry concert Wednesday, the final Foothills lawn show Friday, and the final free weekend at Centennial Village. New this week: live raptors after a short hike at Bobcat Ridge, and a mobile bookstore full of kids' classics in Windsor Saturday morning. Oh, the places you'll actually go.
JP & Alexis
Where To This Week
THIS WEEK
Food trucks Tuesday, the last Foundry concert Wednesday, a triple-header Thursday, and then a weekend of raptors, books on wheels, and one final free trip to 1900s Greeley.
NoCo Food Truck Rally — FREE entry
Tue 8/25 · 5:30pm to dusk · City Park, Fort Collins
The Food Truck Rally stay in line by Sheldon Lake with free live music from Bailey Mae and lawn to burn off dinner. Heads up: tonight is the last date on the rally's posted schedule, so if September dates don't materialize, this was the season. Go on the assumption it counts. Details →
Clay Street Unit closes One Sweet Summer — FREE
Wed 8/26 · plaza opens 6pm, music 6:30 to 8:30pm · The Foundry Plaza, downtown Loveland
The Wednesday night concerts end their season with Clay Street Unit, Denver's front-porch country-folk outfit. The FNBO kids zone runs its crafts and games one more time, the food vendors line the plaza, and the splash pad soundtrack retires until next summer. Homework at the concert is legal. Details →
A morning at the play lab for the mom crew — BOOK AHEAD
Thu 8/27 · 9am to 12pm · Bloom Play Lab, 6055 Sky Pond Dr, Loveland
Bloom's Monthly Mom Friends Meetup takes over the play lab the last Thursday of each month: 90 minute sessions in Tinytown and the STEM, sensory, and art stations while the grown-ups actually finish a sentence. Regular open play rates apply (first kid $16, siblings and under-nines discounted, adults free with a child ticket); book online and bring socks for everyone. Details →
Chess club, first move at 4:15 — FREE
Thu 8/27 · 4:15pm to 5:15pm · Storytime Room, Loveland Public Library, 300 N Adams Ave
Elementary kids take over the storytime room for the library's Thursday chess club. Total beginners welcome: the volunteers will teach the moves, the regulars will teach humility. Details →
Wellington's market evening — FREE
Thu 8/27 · 4:30pm to 7:30pm · Centennial Park, 3815 Harrison Ave, Wellington
The Main Street Market fills Centennial Park with seasonal produce, handmade artisan goods, cottage bakers, food trucks, and live music. Late August is peak everything: peaches, sweet corn, and tomatoes that actually taste like tomatoes. Details →
Magic night at The Exchange, one more after this — FREE
Thu 8/27 · 7:30pm to 9:30pm · The Exchange, 200 N College Ave, Fort Collins
Dan Jasperson works the courtyard with close-up sleight of hand, family-friendly and free. The season wraps September 3, so this is the second-to-last chance to have a card pulled out of your kid's ear. Details →
Sunflower art, fair play, and trading cards at the libraries — FREE
Wed 8/26 to Sat 8/29 · Johnstown + Milliken libraries
The Johnstown-Milliken crew keeps the first-full-week-of-school energy up: Messy Art paints sunflowers Wednesday at 10 in Johnstown, Stay & Play runs a fair-themed morning Friday 9 to 12 in Milliken, and Saturday belongs to artist trading cards for tweens (11am) and teens (11:45am) in Johnstown. Details →
THIS WEEKEND
Dreamboat Annie closes Music on the Lawn — FREE
Fri 8/28 · 6pm to 8pm · East Lawn at Foothills, Fort Collins
The Heart tribute takes the season's final Friday, with the vendor market, the beer garden for the grown-ups, and the play zone hosted by the Toy, Game and Puzzle Library. The Makers Hive market runs indoors the same evening and again Saturday afternoon if the sky acts up. Barracuda at sunset is a strong way to end a summer. Details →
Paint rocks in a Johnstown park — FREE
Fri 8/28 · starts 6pm · Sunrise Park, Johnstown
Neighbor Nights wraps its summer with Art in the Park: rock painting to hide around town, watercolors, sidewalk chalk, and friendship bracelets to make and trade, all outside in the evening air. Bring the whole crew; it's run by the Thompson Rivers Parks and Rec folks, and it's free. Details →
Meet the raptors at Bobcat Ridge — FREE w/ registration
Sat 8/29 · 9am to 11am · Bobcat Ridge Natural Area, 10184 County Rd 32C
A naturalist leads a short hike through the foothills, then the Rocky Mountain Raptor Program brings out live hawks and owls for an up-close look at Colorado's fiercest locals. Free, but you must register through the city's Engage calendar, and these fill. Details →
A bookstore on wheels parks in Windsor — Browse for Free
Sat 8/29 · from 9am · Blue Spruce Park, Windsor
The Lovely Lit mobile bookstore pops up with children's literature, classics, and wholesome reads sold straight from the truck. The Windsor Farmers Market runs the same morning at Boardwalk Park, so a books-then-peaches loop makes itself. Details →
The village's last free weekend — FREE
Sat 8/29 + Sun 8/30 · 9am to 3pm · Centennial Village Museum, 1475 A St, Greeley
The 50th-anniversary free weekends end here, themed Peek Behind the Curtain: Saturday shows off the behind-the-scenes work that keeps a living history museum alive, and Sunday lets kids weave real fabric and poke around the village's inner workings. After Sunday, the free run is over. Details →
Artist market day in Loveland — FREE entry
Sun 8/30 · 9am to 1pm · Fairgrounds Park, 700 S Railroad Ave, Loveland
The farmers market's last-Sunday Artist Market brings local artists and makers in alongside the produce: home goods, jewelry, art, and small-batch everything. Kid allowance math gets real at the $5 tables. 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) · story times in every town, including Berthoud's Terrific Toddler Friday mornings · and the splash pads stay on through Labor Day.
Local Business Spotlight: Black Sheep Coffee & Crepes
Black Sheep Coffee & Crepes, 19 S Parish Ave, Johnstown
Black Sheep is a family-friendly coffee house in historic downtown Johnstown. The menu is specialty espresso drinks and made-to-order crepes, sweet and savory, along with breakfast sandwiches, and mimosas for the grown-ups. Their motto is "come in as a guest and leave as family." Hours are 7am to 2pm on weekdays and 8am to 2pm on weekends, so plan it as a breakfast or lunch stop. Friday evening's free Art in the Park at Sunrise Park is a five minute drive away.
Community Corner
This week's question: the summer series are all ending, so what's the one summer thing your family hasn't gotten to yet? Hit reply and tell us; we'll share the best answers in 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 singing along to a Heart tribute on a blanket, staring down a great horned owl at Bobcat Ridge, or buying a paperback out of the side of a truck in Windsor, we hope it's a great one. Know a family who'd want one last lawn concert before the chairs go in the garage? Forward this; the finale deserves a full lawn.
Be the parent who somehow always knows.
JP & Alexis
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