16. Summerfest At Boulder History Museum
City: Boulder, CO
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: (303) 449-3464
Address: 1206 Euclid Avenue
Description: This free, family-oriented event allows visitors to experience the history of yesterday and today with a different theme every year. All sorts of activities make this a fun day for all ages. Located in the historic Harbeck-Bergheim House, the museum highlights Boulder’s unique history. Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
17. Taste Of Louisville
City: Boulder, CO
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: (303) 666-5747
Description: Less-than-a-dollar samples from many Louisville eateries are part of this mid-June celebration, which includes 80 participating businesses. The weekend often includes country-dance lessons, face-painting and shuttle buses, which take revelers between this growing city’s shopping areas.
18. The Colorado Music Festival
City: Boulder, CO
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: (303) 449-1397
Address: 1525 Spruce Street
Description: The festival features a first-rate, full orchestra that plays great classical music at the Chautauqua Auditorium throughout the summer. The CMF season starts with a special children’s performance and includes a free Fourth of July outdoor concert. You can get a subscription or single tickets to festival concerts. Insiders often bring a picnic and blanket for a pre-concert dinner on the grassy lawn, and many cluster behind the auditorium and listen to the sounds of brass and strings that waft through the wooden walls. Single tickets range from $12 to $47.
19. Walk And Bike Week
City: Boulder, CO
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: (303) 441-3266
Address: 2018 11th Street to 1739 Broadway
Description: Bike Week was a decade old when the city’s alternate modes division added the “Walk” to the title in order to encourage participation by those who don’t have a gift for cycling. The annual event is scheduled for the third week in June; Walk or Bike to Work Day is held on the Wednesday of that week. Prizes are offered to those who commute the farthest and to businesses with the most employees who bike or walk to work. More than 35 breakfast stations offer participants a quick bite to eat before they reach the office.
20. Boulder Concert Band
City: Boulder, CO
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: (303) 442-3597
Description: When the weather turns warm, Boulderites head to the parks on Monday night to support the Boulder Concert Band. This premier adult community band, comprised of 70-plus volunteer musicians, performs marches, show tunes, Big Band standards, and sing-alongs sure to delight the whole family. Concerts are held at 7 p.m. every Monday night from late June through mid-August at such places as the North Boulder Park, Eben G. Fine Park, Salberg Park, the public library lawn, and the courthouse plaza.
21. Fourth Of July
City: Boulder, CO
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Description: An overture of real thunder often ends just before the planned fireworks begin. The public gatherings are grand, but so is a quiet, foothills nook. From a high roost, you can see those giant, bright-colored dandelion puffs all the way from Denver. Once the sun sets, it can get cold. Bring a heavy sweater or blanket. Many other Boulder County communities, such as Longmont, Louisville, and Broomfield, have their own fireworks, often with community picnics and concerts.
22. Boulder Concert In The Park—Fourth Of July
City: Boulder, CO
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: (303) 442-3282
Description: This Fourth of July outdoor concert by the Colorado Music Festival’s nationally recognized summer orchestra features pop and sing-along music. Insiders bring picnic baskets and blankets, then linger here to watch distant fireworks. The concert starts at 5 p.m., and admission is free.
23. Ralphie’S Independence Day Blast
City: Boulder, CO
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: (303) 442-1044
Description: Even without great fireworks, which are launched at dark, this evening extravaganza would be a kick, for the live entertainment is good, and the sing-alongs include popular rock and hokey camp songs. The Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra plays while families wait for darkness to descend. Admission is free, with a donation requested. It’s best to get there early, because the place begins to fill up long before the sun sets.
24. Boulder Peak Triathlon
City: Boulder, CO
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Description: Grab your bike, running shoes, and swimsuit! This annual event is held at the Boulder Reservoir and was established to raise awareness for the ALS Association. The race includes a 1.5K swim, a 42K bike ride, and a 10K run.
25. Louisville Fourth Of July Picnic And Fireworks
City: Boulder, CO
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: (303) 666-6565
Description: Enjoy a community picnic, art festival, children’s games, and a band concert in Memory Square Park, then “Fireworks on the Links,” with the couples swinging on the temporary dance floor.
26. Etown
City: Boulder, CO
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: (303) 786-7030
Description: What is etown? It’s a nationally syndicated radio show heard 52 weeks a year on more than 150 stations across the county, and it’s produced in Boulder at the historic Boulder Theater. Most shows feature founder and host Nick Forster, a member of the bluegrass band Hot Rize, and his wife, Helen Forster. Weekly shows are taped before a live audience and feature many of today’s top musical artists performing live, as well as thought-provoking interviews.
27. Downtown Boulder Artfair
City: Boulder, CO
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: (303) 449-3774
Description: From fine art to fun art, this mid-July event on the Pearl Street Mall features works in all media and styles by 150 artists from across the nation. The fair is held on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
28. Colorado Light Opera
City: Boulder, CO
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: 303-492-8008
Description: This university program features outstanding student vocalists. The 2008 season featured two favorite musicals: A Little Night Music and How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying. Productions are performed in the Music Theatre of the Imig Music building on the CU-Boulder campus.
29. Chautauqua Summer Silent Film Series
City: Boulder, CO
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: (303) 440-7666
Description: Each year, five or six summer evenings are devoted to silent film classics accompanied by live music. To add to the historic atmosphere, the films are shown inside the cavernous Chautauqua Auditorium in Chautauqua Park. Screenings are Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. Among the films shown in the past are The Black Pirate, starring Douglas Fairbanks, and The Kiss, starring Greta Garbo.
30. Rockygrass Bluegrass Festival
City: Boulder, CO
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: (303) 823-5215
Description: In a pretty creekside field, internationally known bluegrass fiddlers and banjo pickers entertain campers and picnickers. Bluegrass workshops, late-night campfires, and dips in the St. Vrain River add to the old-time ambience. In recent years, a three-day pass was $90. Tickets are also available by the day for this weekend event. The producer also presents the famous Telluride Bluegrass Festival in southwestern Colorado.