23 Things You Have to Do in Denver This Year
These are the must-hit festivals, concerts, events, and most fun things to do this year in Denver.
Denver may be best-known for its outdoorsiness, but the Mile High City is so much more than just a gateway to the Rockies. (Although the Rockies are pretty darn great.) We have tons of cool festivals happening throughout the year, from the nation’s largest beer fest and dragon boat race to a mega rodeo and quirky celebration of a frozen dead guy. These are the 23 best Denver events, where you’ll really, truly experience the best of Colorado.
January
January 11–26, 2025
National Western Complex
January in Colorado means mutton busting, bull riding, alpaca gazing, baby goat petting, and rodeo watching. It’s the National Western Stock Show, the sixteen winter days when everyone’s a cowboy or cowgirl. And in a rapidly developing Denver, we need this reminder of our western past. (Plus it’s fun to put on boots and big belt buckles.) Some of the best shows to get tickets for are the Colorado vs. The World Rodeo, alpaca show, Xtreme Dogs, and the Wild West Show.
Ready to go? Book here.
February
February 2025 Dates TBD
Loveland
Valentine’s Day weekend is little Loveland’s time to shine, and each year its Sweetheart Festival draws thousands to celebrate everything love. And by love, we mean a palace of sweets, live ice sculpting, fire performances, beer hall, food trucks, and Little Miss Valentine and Little Mr. Cupid contests. It’s like if the Hallmark Channel specialized in Valentine’s Day, this is where the big city career woman would get snowed in and fall in love with the handsome widow responsible for the heart lights that adorn the park.
Ready to go? This event is free.
March
March 2025 Dates TBD
Multiple locations
Denver Restaurant Week started more than 20 years ago as a way to turn around Denver’s Cowtown restaurant reputation. Fast forward to now, when our restaurant scene routinely gets recognized for its awesome chef-driven eateries. “The whole impetus was to get the city to think about food and restaurants for a week,” says John Imbergano, one of Denver Restaurant Week’s founders. “It allows people to try things they’ve never tried at a price they know is set ahead of time.” Now more than 200 spots offer special three-course menus at four different price points ($25, $35, $45, or $55 per person). It’s a notoriously busy week for restaurants, so be sure to book your favorite spot ahead.
Ready to go? Book here.
March 2025 Dates TBD
Location TBD
There are a lot of beer festivals in Denver, so when we say this is the quasi-under-the-radar brew fest you can’t miss, that’s saying something. “My favorite major one is definitely the Collab Fest,” says Paul Myhill, better known on social media as Colorado Beer Guy. “It’s an industry of collaboration, so I enjoy seeing breweries coming together to have fun and creating unique, sometimes completely whacky, beers.” Last year more than 180 breweries joined hands and hearts in hops to craft 100+ exclusive, collaborative beers. While you probably can’t try them all, you can definitely do your best. (And have Uber at the ready.)
Ready to go? Book here.
March 15, 2025
Estes Park
Coffin races, frozen turkey bowling, costumed polar plunge, and tons of concerts are just some of the quirky events you’ll find at Frozen Dead Guy Days, an annual festival to celebrate Grandpa Bredo, who’s cryogenically frozen in a Tuff Shed stored at the Stanley Hotel. (No, we’re not making any of this up.) A recent makeover turned this event more into a music fest, but they still hung onto all the weird events, which is the best part.
Ready to go? Book here.
April
April 20, 2025
Civic Center Park
Of course Denver is one of the top cities in which to celebrate 4/20. While you can partake pretty much anywhere you like, the Mile High 4/20 Fest at Civic Center Park is probably the best place to be. The annual event features special guests like Gucci Mane, Zuri Marley, and Ohgeesy in addition to food trucks to curb those munchies and cannabis booths to teach you about the products. Denver’s reigning cannabis king Kip Wilson, founder of Stoned Appetit, says to definitely splurge for the VIP pass. “It’s worth it to have a semi-private experience. Shorter lines for a beverage, more breathing room for the concert and dancing, private bathrooms—it’s easier than navigating the large crowds, plus it’s nice to have a home base.”
Ready to go? Book here.
April 4, 2025
Ballpark
So the Rockies suck. Whatever. Their home opener is about so much more than baseball—it’s like the unofficial start to spring in the Mile High City, when we find a patio, grab a margarita, and pretend like we care about ERAs and RBIs. Some of us might even go to the game! More of us, though, will head to McGregor Square in the morning for the live DJ and drinks, or to Union Station for stilt walkers and Rockies brats. Tons of restaurants and breweries will be getting in on the festivities too, because this is a city-wide holiday and everyone is ready for their purple patio cocktails.
Ready to go? Book here.
May
May 3–4, 2025
Civic Center Park
So many cool things happen at the Denver Cinco de Mayo celebration—Chihuahua races! A taco eating contest! Lowrider car show!—that you may not know where to start. Whenever you hit the weekend-long party, you’re bound to find great music, dancing, food, and, hopefully, some tiny dogs running as fast as their little legs will take them.
Ready to go? This event is free.
June
June 5–8, 2025
RiNo/Five Points
Dedicated to giving a platform to performing arts and artists on the fringe of mainstream, you know you’re going to see something unique at the Denver Fringe Festival. The quirky annual event includes experimental shows spanning comedy to circus to dance to immersive theater. Whenever I’m looking for something different to do in June, their website is my first stop.
Ready to go? Book here.
June 2025 Exact Dates TBD
Golden Triangle
The Denver Chalk Art Festival brings stunning (and oh-so-temporary) chalk artworks to the Golden Triangle Creative District. More than 150 chalk artists showcase their work at the arts festival all weekend-long, and, presumably, do the opposite of a rain dance. Tracing their drawings around the neighborhood is like a super-cool visual tour of Denver, taking you right past the Denver Art Museum and Civic Center Park.
Ready to go? This event is free.
June 2025 Dates TBD
Five Points
Denver’s Juneteenth Music Festival attracts 50,000 people each year, who are there for the city’s longest running parade, food stalls, block parties, vendors, and all-around weekend-long celebration. Beyond all that, you definitely don’t want to miss the killer concerts. (Bow Wow headlined in 2024 and hosted an afterparty.) While general admission is free, you may want to upgrade to front of stage/VIP.
Ready to go? Book here.
June 28–29, 2025
Civic Center Park and additional locations
One of the biggest events of the summer is definitely Denver Pride, which includes a 5K, parade, and mega PrideFest full of food, drink, entertainment, and more fun than you can shake a rainbow at. Longtime Pride enthusiast Greg McBoat says to come prepared for the parade—which sashayed for nearly four hours last year—by bringing water and staking out a comfortable spot.
Ready to go? This event is free.
July
July 2025 Dates TBD
South Broadway
Denver’s longest running music festival began more than 20 years ago as a one-day concert, but clearly we were thirsty for more live music, and the Underground Music Showcase has grown to one of the city’s top summer events, spanning three days and multiple South Broadway venues and outdoor stages. This isn’t the spot to see bands you hear on commercial radio, but you’ll almost certainly discover new favorites. Haven’t heard of some of the performers but want to sing along? Log in to your Spotify account and they’ll find you UMS lineup acts you’ll love based on your listening habits.
Ready to go? Book here.
July 2025 Dates TBD
Sloan’s Lake
Colorado Dragon Boat Festival is the largest in the US, which means there’s no better place to watch cut-throat boat racing, pig out at two Taste of Asian food courts, watch more than 100 performances, and shop the huge Asian marketplace for gifts and crafts. “The event has expanded so much over the past couple years, a testament to the vibrancy of Colorado’s Asian American community,” says Dragon Boat fan and 5280 magazine food editor Patty Kaowthumrong. “Don’t miss the Taste of Asia area, where you can feast on everything from Hawaiian spam musubi to Korean cheese dogs.”
Ready to go? This event is free.
July 4–6, 2025
Cherry Creek North
One of the largest and most important art festivals of the year, the Cherry Creek Arts Festival hosts 250 national and international artists, showing everything from photography to jewelry to painting to sculpture. Besides the visual art, there’s art to please your other senses too, in the form of concerts and food trucks, so even non-diehard art lovers will have fun at this one.
Ready to go? This event is free.
August
August 2025 Dates TBD
Auraria Campus
There are so many food festivals these days, but this one is the most fun. Put on your best stretchy pants and head to the Tivoli Quad to taste unlimited burger samples. (Last year there were more than 20 local restaurants cooking up burgers, so you see why we said the stretchy pants.) Taste for yourself if The Cherry Cricket and Ultreia will defend their titles as People’s Choice and Judges’ Choice.
Ready to go? Book here.
August 22–September 1, 2025
Pueblo
Celebrate our fair state in the best possible way: with monster trucks, farm animals, fried candy bars, a carnival, and duck races. The Colorado State Fair brings all that farm animal and fried candy action to the Colorado State Fairgrounds in Pueblo. There are some cool concerts, too, with past acts including Ludacris, the Goo Goo Dolls, The Commodores, and country titans Lonestar and Trace Adkins.
Ready to go? Book here.
September
September 2025 Dates TBD
Baker
Local and national comics take over Denver stages for the funniest, most LOL-filled weekend of the year. The High Plains Comedy Festival brings 100+ hilarious performers to town for three days of laughing that totally counts as an ab workout. The headliner for last year’s 11th annual fest was Bob the Drag Queen, but all the performers were worth a chuckle.
Ready to go? Book here.
September 19–21 and 26–28, 2025
Ball Park
When Denver is filled with a stein hoisting stage and keg bowling, it can only mean one thing: Oktoberfest is back. Our two weekend-long fest is one of the best in the country, chock-full of schnitzel, beer, and dirndls, as any self-respecting Oktoberfest should be. It’s like a backyard party vibe in the middle of downtown, assuming your backyard parties are packed to the gills with guys wearing lederhosen. Prost!
Ready to go? Book here.
October
October 9–11, 2025
Colorado Convention Center
Over 500 breweries will set up at the Colorado Convention Center offering a wide variety of… you guessed it: beers.Whether you want to dance and sing along to live polka bands at their German Biergarten, sample liquid innovations from international breweries at the United Nations Beer & Beyond taproom, kick back with a cold one and cheer on your favorite team at their sports-themed area, or nerd out with the brilliant minds behind your favorite brews at their Meet the Brewers experience, there’s truly something for every beer (or miscellaneous beverage) lover. —Abby Maddigan
Ready to go? Book here.
November
November 1–10, 2024
2025 Dates TBD
Around Denver
The Denver Film Festival is the largest film fest in the Rocky Mountain region, hosting loads of screening events around town at the Sie FilmCenter, Denver Botanic Gardens, Ellie Caulkins Opera House, and more. There’s Hollywood-style glamor, too, with red carpet premieres and conversations with filmmakers. In the past Bill Murray, Steve Martin, Robert Altman, Steven Soderbergh, and Joel and Ethan Coen have made appearances.
Ready to go? Book here.
December
December 7, 2024
2025 Dates TBD
Downtown
If there’s a Denver Holiday Bucket List—and there should be—the 9News Parade of Lights is definitely on it. The float, band, balloon, and light-filled parade starts at the Denver City & County Building and winds its way down 17th and 15th Streets downtown. You can stake out a spot anywhere along the route for free, but the best viewing is in the bleachers in front of the City and County Building. Wear your best glow bracelets and light-up attire and say hi to Santa for us.
Ready to go? This event is free.
November 22–December 31, 2024
2025 Dates TBD
Downtown
New for 2024, the Mile High Drone Show will light up the skies with 400 drones creating giant displays of holiday magic. Each of the 40 nights will bring a unique 15-minute visual experience, from holiday icons like Santa and Rudolph, to Denver icons like Union Station and the Blue Bear. While it remains to be seen whether or not this will become a must-watch tradition, it’s worth a gander in its inaugural year. Head over to Sculpture Park at the Denver Performing Arts Complex or Peaks Lounge for prime viewing
Ready to go? This event is free.
Allyson Reedy is a Thrillist contributor.