It feels like Denver has a festival for every taste. You like bacon? There’s a festival for that, inside Mile High Stadium, no less. Horse racing? Derby Days is right up your alley.
But these festival don’t really tell you anything about our state (besides the fact we love eating pork and watching horses go fast on television) or the people who made it great. There are other festivals, typically beyond city limits, that go beyond gathering us together to simply party.
These five cultural festivals offer food for thought as much as fuel, celebrating quirky local stories and ancient ones from different countries, to boot. Grab a beer — but maybe not too many — and you just might learn something.
Mike the Headless Chicken Festival
When: May 31 and June 1
Where: Fruita Civic Center, Fruita
How much: Free
More info: miketheheadlesschicken.org
If it feels morbid to hold a festival in observance of decapitated poultry, consider the backstory of Fruita’s most famous festival. The annual celebration is held in honor of it’s most famous chicken, Mike, who lived 18 months after having his head cut off. So really, this is a festival about perseverance.
According to the event’s website, Mike would have been 74 this year if he hadn’t choked in a motel room while on tour (Mike was basically a rockstar) and, you know, lived much, much longer than your average chicken. To celebrate his unlikely existence, Fruita hosts a festival with a slew of Mike-themed fun, including a Peep and chicken wing eating competitions. Admittedly, the optics of eating chicken to celebrate a chicken’s life aren’t great. If you want to embody Mike rather than eat his cousins, try running around like a chicken with its head cut off in the 5K race. Also, they have disc golf, because why not?
Apogaea
When: June 6-9
Where: Valdez
How much: $150 (prices go up to $225 on May 23); free for children younger than 12
More info: apogaea.com
You’ve probably heard of Burning Man, the annual festival that turns the desert of Black Rock City, Nev., into a full-fledged, 80,000-person city. Apogaea is Colorado’s version of the event — a regional burn in Burning Man parlance — that espouses the same principles, celebrating life and community.
That’s right: Despite what you may have heard, these events aren’t about drug-fueled partying. At their core, the events are a sacred celebration of humanity and art. (Partying just happens to be a by-product.) Aside from self-expression, the big theme at these events is self-reliance. That means festival participants are expected to bring everything they need to survive and thrive through the event. Gifting is encouraged, but traditional commerce is strictly prohibited.
Apogaea is much less casual than the other events listed here, so be sure to read up about what this four-day event is all about on its website before you go blindly lugging a cooler into the woods. Oh, and wear a costume. The theme for Apogaea 2019 is “Analog,” celebrating the richness of full-spectrum living in contrast to the more finite possibilities of our binary 1s and 0s digital world, according to Milkman, an Apogaea spokesperson.
Related: 12 of the best summer food festivals in Colorado you should already be excited about
Water Lantern Fest
When: July 20
Where: Carpenter Park, Thornton
How much: $30-$40
More info: waterlanternfestival.com
For John Travolta, summer nights were all about pomade, kissing and driving a car around town. But if you really distill that summer feeling, it’d probably look something like a water lantern festival. Picture it: a warm night, breeze blowing dozens of rice-paper water lanterns serenely down a stream.
Water lantern festivals hail from Japan — called toro nagashi, they’re meant to aid spirits in their journey to the great beyond — but the Denver area isn’t totally in the dark when it comes to these visually arresting gatherings. Thornton’s Water Lantern Festival — which takes place on July 20 in Carpenter Park — includes a floating lantern, commemorative drawstring bag and a marker for you to write a wish on your lantern in the price of the ticket. Because what goes upstream must come down, admission also pays for the lantern clean up. Yes, there are food trucks and live music, if you get sick of watching your dreams float away from you.
Boom Days
When: Aug. 2-4
Where: Leadville
How much: Free
More info: leadvilleboomdays.org
Unlike Cleveland, Denver built this city on just rock, hold the roll. Rock full of precious metals, to be exact.
Leadville’s silver rush was instrumental to Denver’s formative years — the millionaires made their cash in the small city before spending some of it in Denver — and quite literally founded the scenic town as we know it. So, each summer, Leadville takes to celebrating its digging roots with a folky festival called Boom Days. The three-day celebration is chock-full of mining events, including muck shoveling — literally shoveling crushed rock into a cart and wheeling it to a finish line — drilling competitions and spike-driving challenges.
The festivals other events veer range from vaguely Western-themed — burro races — to general small-town shenanigans (there’s a car show, randomly). But really, who needs an excuse to battle a bunch of strangers in a good old-fashioned sack race?
Scottish Festival and Rocky Mountain Highland Games
When: Aug. 3-4
Where: Edgewater
How much: Single-day admission $10 for adults, $5 for seniors 65 and older and youth 12-17, children younger than 12 are free
Website: scottishgames.org
Colorado’s dry, hot summers feel a million miles away from the misty Scottish Highlands. But there is a way to get a taste of the country right in your own backyard. No, we aren’t talking about the bottle of liquor buried under your porch. (Although, sure, there too.) We’re talking about Edgewater’s Scottish Festival. Yes, what you’re conjuring in your head is probably there in some form. There will be bagpipes and haggis — the actually delicious Scottish delicacy that will be made of beef and lamb — is on lock, too. Wash that down with a one-hour scotch whisky (no “e”!) tasting for $25, provided you didn’t blow it all on haggis.
There are dozens of way to kil-t time at the 56-year-old festival. If you want to put those whiskey-meat sweats to work, enter in one of the many Scottish athletic events. Granted, you’ll have to have rotator cuffs of steel to compete: all involve throwing heavy objects such as stones and logs into the air. If spectating is more your speed, check out sword fighting at the Renaissance village, which interpolates Scotland circa 1745, or kick back and watch a traditional highland dance demonstration.
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