DISPATCH #12 · TUE, SEPTEMBER 1, 2026 · NoCo · TUE HIGH 88°
Postcard from NoCo
Hi NoCo families. Labor Day weekend kicks off with three days of Harvest Festival in Windsor: hot air balloons at sunrise, fireworks and a drone show Saturday night, an $8 pancake breakfast Sunday, and NoCo's biggest parade rolling out Monday morning at 9. Bring the wagon. Oh, the places you'll actually go.
JP & Alexis
Where To This Week
THIS WEEK
Hogwarts Day at the soda shop — 10% off with a teacher or student ID
Tue 9/1 · 10am to 11pm · The Dragon & Cone, 3728 Cleveland Ave, Wellington
September 1 is the day the Hogwarts Express leaves platform nine and three quarters, and Wellington's fantasy-themed soda and ice cream shop is celebrating: bring a teacher or student ID and take 10 percent off your order. Flavour-forged sodas and small-batch cones in the old tavern building on the corner. Details →
NoCo Food Truck Rally — FREE entry
Tue 9/1 · 5:30pm to dusk · City Park, Fort Collins
The Food Truck Rally rallies into September: Orobeat brings Afrobeat to the bandshell while the trucks line up along the lake. It's the last night on the rally's posted calendar, so treat it as a maybe-goodbye. Details →
The last Tricky Thursday, period — FREE
Thu 9/3 · 7:30pm to 9:30pm · The Exchange, 200 N College Ave, Fort Collins
Dan Jasperson's courtyard magic show closes its season, and with it the last of the weekly summer series anywhere in NoCo. Close-up sleight of hand, family-friendly, and Little Man scoops next door while you watch. Details →
Squirrels, pirates, and a first library trip — FREE
Tue 9/1 to Fri 9/4 · Johnstown + Milliken libraries
The Johnstown-Milliken calendar has a full week: ABC Animal Storytime Tuesday at 10 in Milliken, squirrel-themed Messy Art Wednesday at 10 in Johnstown, Babytime Thursday at 11 for the stroller set, and an ocean-and-pirates Stay & Play Friday morning, 9 to 12, in Milliken. Details →
THIS WEEKEND
FoCo First Friday — FREE
Fri 9/4 · Linden Street 5pm to 9pm, Art Walk 6pm to 9pm · downtown Fort Collins
Downtown runs both at once: the 200 block of Linden closes to cars for the summer music series finale (Shtonk Brass Band, Fancy Bits, Soul Puppets, DJ Jimeni) with street games and a skateboard expo where kids can try a learn-to-skate session 5 to 7. The monthly Art Walk threads through 40-plus galleries and shops around the corner. Details →
A concert inside the dome — $20
Fri 9/4 · 6pm · OtterBox Digital Dome Theater, Fort Collins Museum of Discovery
More Than Physics plays live inside the museum's 360-degree dome while visuals wrap the whole ceiling. One night, one show, and dome seats are limited, so book if you're in. Details →
Zootopia 2 under the stars in Windsor — FREE
Fri 9/4 · yard games and food trucks from 8pm, movie at dark · Boardwalk Community Park, Windsor
Windsor PD hosts its Night Out in the park: yard games, food trucks, and a meet-the-officers hour, then Zootopia 2 on the big screen. Blankets and layers; September nights cool off fast. Details →
The Windsor Harvest Festival — FREE entry; BBQ $8, pancakes $8
Sat 9/5 to Mon 9/7 · Main Park, Boardwalk Park, and Eastman Park, Windsor
Windsor's marquee weekend. Hot air balloons launch from Eastman and Boardwalk 6:30 to 8 both Saturday and Sunday morning, weather permitting. Saturday evening: the all-town BBQ 4:30 to 6:30 ($8 a plate), Aubrey Dale in concert at 7:30, a drone show at 9:05, fireworks at 9:20. Sunday: pancake breakfast 7 to 10 at the Rec Center ($8), the car show at Windsor High 9 to 12, and a pie eating contest at 10:45. Vendors, kids' rides, a petting zoo, and carriage rides run 9 to 5 all weekend. Park in town for the fireworks, not on Hwy 257. Details →
Berthoud's new all-abilities playground opens — FREE
Sat 9/5 · 10am · Berthoud Adaptive Park
The grand opening of the area's first fully inclusive playground, built by the community after the Bowling family and the nonprofit Can'd Aid raised $1.6 million to make a park every kid can play in. Ribbon cutting, then recess. Details →
Art all day in Berthoud — FREE
Sat 9/5 · Art Walk 11am to 4pm, StreetFest 4pm to 9pm · downtown Berthoud + Wildfire Arts Center
Berthoud makes a full day of it: artists set up outside the downtown shops for the Art Walk (maps at Homestead Fine Art Gallery), then the party moves to the Wildfire Community Arts Center for StreetFest: live music, face painting, kids' crafts, dance performances, and a silent art auction. Bring your own chairs for the evening. Details →
Fiesta in the Plaza: Arte y Tradición — FREE
Sat 9/5 · 3pm to 6pm · Centennial Village Museum, 1475 A St, Greeley
Centennial Village celebrates Latino arts and culture with charro performances, Ballet Folklorico del Oeste, hands-on art and games, and free nachos, elote in a cup, and cake while they last. Details →
LABOR DAY MONDAY
NoCo's biggest parade — FREE
Mon 9/7 · 9am · 1st and Walnut to 7th to Eastman Park Drive, Windsor
The Harvest Festival's grand finale: the largest parade in NoCo steps off at 9 sharp and rolls up Walnut Street to Eastman Park. Claim curb early, then walk to Main Park, where the vendors, petting zoo, and carriage rides run 9 to 5 with live bands all afternoon. Details →
Flapjack Day at City Star — FREE flapjack 🥞 🥞 🥞
Mon 9/7 · 11am to 3pm flapjacks; car show 11 to 1; Flapjack Queen contest 1:30 · City Star Brewing, 321 Mountain Ave, Berthoud
Berthoud's Labor Day tradition: free flapjacks off the griddle, a vintage car show out front, 50s dress encouraged, and the Flapjack Queen crowned at 1:30, all in support of the Berthoud Historical Society. Live music runs 3 to 5:30. It's at a brewery, and it's the most kid-filled brewery lot you'll see all year. Details →
NoCo Regulars
Splash pad last call: every pad in NoCo closes for the season after Labor Day, so Monday is the goodbye cannonball. The markets roll 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, with the fest right there this week) · Loveland Farmers' Market (Sun) · Fort Collins Farmers' Market (Sun & Wed) · and story times in every town resume their school-year rhythm.
Local Business Spotlight: Harbinger Coffee
Harbinger Coffee, 236 S College Ave + 3581 E Harmony Rd
Harbinger started in 2012 as a hand-built coffee cart and grew into two Fort Collins shops that roast their own single-origin coffees. The Old Town spot sits across from the Armstrong Hotel, an easy landing pad before Friday's Art Walk; the Harmony location is where the roaster itself lives, so the whole room smells like the job being done right. Espresso, house chai, and pastries, with a stated mission of quality coffee for everyone. Both locations run 7am to 4pm daily.
Community Corner
This week's question: where's the best curb in Windsor to watch the parade from? Hit reply and tell us; we'll share the local wisdom before next year's route fills up.
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 up at 6:30 for the balloons, holding a curb spot Monday morning, or just there for the flapjacks, we hope the long weekend is a good one. Know a family who'd use this list? Forward it along; that's how most people find us.
Be the parent who somehow always knows.
JP & Alexis
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