DISPATCH #13 · TUE, SEPTEMBER 8, 2026 · NoCo · TUE HIGH 87°
Postcard from NoCo
Hi NoCo families. The ’Ber months are upon us and we are excited for pumpkin patches and apple cider, so we checked every patch in NoCo: the first ones open September 19, and two canceled the whole season for drought. That list is this week's Spotlight. Before then, Saturday holds Pastels on 5th, a fire department festival in Rist Canyon with free ice cream, and Johnstown's Fall Fest. Oh, the places you'll actually go.
JP & Alexis
Where To This Week
THIS WEEK
NoCo Food Truck Rally — FREE entry
Tue 9/8 · 5:30pm to dusk · City Park, Fort Collins
The Blue Yonder Boys play the bandshell while the trucks line up along the lake. One more after this: the rally's season finale is next Tuesday, September 15. Details →
Homeschool Day on the Farm — FREE
Thu 9/10 · 10am · Historic Halfway Homestead, Windsor
A day on a working-farm museum site homesteaded in the 1870s and farmed by three families for over a century, run with the Windsor-Severance Historical Society: explore the farmhouse, the Halfway House, the barn and silo, make projects, and meet organizations from across Weld County. Details →
Loteria night at the library — FREE
Thu 9/10 · 5pm to 6pm · Centennial Park Library, 2227 23rd Ave, Greeley
Juguemos Loteria: the bilingual bingo cousin, played for prizes with snacks on the table, all ages in the community room. Details →
THIS WEEKEND
Night on the Town — FREE to walk; museum admission $7 residents, $10 non-residents, kids 12 and under free
Fri 9/11 · from 5pm; museum open until 8 · downtown Loveland
Loveland's second-Friday art walk: galleries open receptions, shops stay open late, restaurants run specials. The Loveland Museum hosts a marquetry demonstration 5:30 to 7:30 with the Rocky Mountain Marquetry Guild. Details →
Trifecta! opening reception — FREE
Fri 9/11 · 5pm to 8pm · Windsor Art & Heritage Center, 116 5th St, Windsor
Windsor's 12th annual community art show opens: paintings, sculpture, poetry, installations, and live performances from local artists, with Orobeat playing the reception. The show hangs through October 3, gallery hours Friday to Sunday noon to 4. Details →
Wild Wonderful Weekend at Centerra — FREE
Fri 9/11 to Sun 9/13 · Saturday 10am to 9pm · Chapungu Sculpture Park, 5995 Sky Pond Dr, Loveland
Three days on nature, education, and music. Saturday is the family day at Chapungu: 20-plus wildlife experts and nature groups, a ropes course, a community scavenger hunt, food trucks, five bands back to back from 10 to 9, and an artisan market with 25-plus makers. Friday opens with a Harvest Jamboree at The Hub at Kinston from 5; Sunday shifts to speaker sessions. Details →
Pastels on 5th + the 4th Street Block Party — FREE
Sat 9/12 · Pastels 10am to 5pm, block party 11am to 4pm · 5th St at Lincoln Ave + 4th St between Lincoln and Cleveland, downtown Loveland
The 16th year of downtown's chalk art festival: about 150 artists turn the 5th Street pavement into a sidewalk gallery, with a kids' art area where they get their own square, live music from 11 (Kae Lynn Morgan, Pizzly Bear, Side Effect, Riley Williams Unit), food vendors, and juried awards at 4. One street over, the block party celebrates the newly rebuilt block of 4th: a community chalk mural, live painting demonstrations, Sugar Britches at 11 and Roka Hueka at 2, sidewalk sales, and kid-sized bites from the restaurants (the Bites on the Block tasting pass is $20 presale, $25 day-of). Details → · Block party →
Farm Day, with skateboarding pigs — $5 per person
Sat 9/12 · 10am to 12:30pm · Bath Garden Center, 2000 E Prospect Rd, Fort Collins
The Top Hogs skateboarding pigs perform at 11. Before and after: Ellie's Little Farm petting zoo (lambs, goats, ducks, chicks, bunnies) 10 to 11:30, a farm animal coloring station, Walrus ice cream and Happy Pine coffee. Face painting is $10 extra. Details →
Family Day at CSU's art museum — FREE
Sat 9/12 · 10am to 2pm · Gregory Allicar Museum of Art, 1400 Remington St, Fort Collins
Drop-in art-making indoors and out for ages 5 to 12, tied to the shows on the walls right now: Ralph Steadman's ink-splattered illustrations and Zsudayka Nzinga's AfroBohemian Home installation. No registration. Details →
Rist Canyon Mountain Festival — FREE
Sat 9/12 · 10am to 4pm · 11835 Rist Canyon Rd, Bellvue
The volunteer fire department's annual fundraiser up the canyon: live music all day (Liz Barnez, Wendy Woo, Also Known As, Gordon Creek Band), firefighter demonstrations and a firefighter dunk tank, a car show, a kids' activity area, a tractor shuttle from the parking lot, and free ice cream. Rain or shine. Details →
Latine & Hispanic Heritage Celebration — FREE
Sat 9/12 · from 1pm · Foote Lagoon Amphitheater at the Civic Center, Loveland
Heart and Sol of Loveland and the Loveland Public Library host the all-ages afternoon: Aztec, Folklorico, and Flamenco dance, a lowrider car show, a community piñata, an artisan mercado, and live music. Details →
Johnstown Fall Fest — FREE
Sat 9/12 · 1pm to 5pm · downtown Johnstown
The town's biggest afternoon of the year, 4,000-plus people last count: live music, food trucks, vendor booths, pumpkin decorating for the kids, a cornhole tournament, a kids' activity zone, and a beer garden for the grown-ups. Details →
Dog swim day, at two pools — $6 per dog in Windsor (registration required); $5 per dog in Milliken (walk up)
Sat 9/12 · Windsor 10am to 2pm, Milliken 10am to noon · Chimney Park Pool, Windsor + Milliken Waterworks Pool, 117 Centennial Dr
Both pools close out the season by letting the dogs in. Windsor's Pooches in the Park is a social swim with a registration cap. Milliken's Dog Days adds an obstacle course with prizes, goodie bags for the first 25 dogs, and a 40-dog limit in the pool area at a time, so go early. Dogs 6 months and up with current vaccinations. Windsor → · Milliken →
Mad Dash 5K on the fairways — $50 day-of (pre-registration closed Monday
Sun 9/13 · 8am start, check-in from 6:30 · Mad Russian Golf Course, 2100 Country Club Pkwy, Milliken
A 5K run across the golf course itself, rolling hills and natural turf, ages 5 and up, shirt included, with a post-race party of breakfast, snacks, and live music. Runners only; families can cheer from the clubhouse. Details →
The Honey Festival — FREE
Sun 9/13 · 9am to 1pm · Fairgrounds Park, 700 S Railroad Ave, Loveland
The farmers market's bee day: the Busy Bee Kid Zone, an observation hive you can watch working, local honey vendors, beeswax and bee-themed products, and mead tasting for the grown-ups. The Honeybee Hustle is a timed one-mile loop, separate registration: adults at 9 ($32.80), the under-10 Mini Hustle at 10 ($22.20). The market itself runs through September 27. Details →
NoCo Regulars
The splash pads are closed for the year, and the markets are in their last stretch. Larimer County Farmers' Market (Sat, Old Town Fort Collins, through October) · Greeley Farmers' Market (Sat, 7th St, through October) · The Berthoud Market (Sat, Town Park) · Severance Farmers' Market (Sat, Blue Spruce Park) · Loveland Farmers' Market (Sun, through 9/27, Honey Festival this week) · Fort Collins Farmers' Market (Sun & Wed) · Johnstown-Milliken Farmers' Market (Fri 4 to 8). Windsor's market wrapped its season last Saturday. Story times are back on the school-year clock in every town; Loveland's library alone runs seven this week.
The NoCo Foliage Forecast
Fall is arriving in NoCo, and the colors may show up a little early this year. Cameron Pass is expected to turn the last weekend of September, with Bear Lake and Red Feather Lakes close behind. Estes Park and the Poudre Canyon should follow the next weekend, with color reaching the trees around NoCo in late October. With this year’s drought, expect a softer, more muted palette than usual.
Forecast data: explorefall.com. Updated every Tuesday through the season.
Community Corner
This week's question: which pumpkin patch is your family's? Hit reply with the farm and why (the hayride, the cider, the one with the goats), and we'll set the Fall Stop order from your answers.
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 chalking a square on 5th Street, holding a leash at the pool, or driving up Rist Canyon for the ice cream, we hope Saturday 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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