It’s the first weekend of Pride month, folks, so we’ve rounded up the picnics, parades and pride prom nights to start things off right.
This week you’ll also find an annual Bluegrass festival in Palisade, extreme sports in Vail at the GoPro Mountain Games and a storytelling hour at The Holiday Theater in Denver.
June 4-10
Pride Month. In Fort Collins, the Poudre Library and Center for Creativity will host interactive activities all Saturday long, like printmaking, nature journaling, yoga classes as well as a general crafting zone. Live music and DJ sets will take place outside the library, along with drag shows (of both the human and the dog varieties) all day. Down the road in Longmont, Pride takes over Roosevelt Park with a full day of food, performances and giveaways beginning at 11 a.m.
Mountain Pride, a nonprofit that hosts year-round LGBTQ+ programming around the Rockies, is launching Leadville’s festivities with a day of visibility Friday at 4 p.m. The evening on the Lake County Building lawn will feature a yoga flow, a picnic and a protest sign-making station.
In the Roaring Fork Valley, Carbondale’s pride celebration is scheduled to coincide with the first Friday art walk, featuring a drag show with Roaring Fork Divas, a rainbow friendship bracelet creation station and parade down Main Street at 6:30 p.m. On Saturday morning, head up valley to the Aspen Art Museum for a free pride prop workshop, before making your way to Glenwood Springs for a festival in Two Rivers Park.
Last but not least, Denver Pride morphed into a monthlong celebration from a weekend festival this year, so while there will still be a big end-of-the-month blowout, they’re also sprinkling events all over June, like a Pride Prom at the Denver zoo (tonight), an art crawl, a queer hike, a Pickleball tourney (tomorrow) and — for the second time on this list — the Mutt Strutt, aka “the cutest doggy drag show in town,” according to Denver Pride.
Free; June 1-30; Statewide
Other events to consider
- Palisade Bluegrass and Roots Festival. A weekend of pickin’, sippin’ and camping in the park on the Colorado River. Single day tickets starting at $70, three-day passes $190; June 5-7; Riverbend Park, 451 Pendleton St., Palisade
- GoPro Mountain Games. Extreme everything at the base of Vail Mountain, with running, biking, bouldering, stand-up paddleboarding, fishing and even slacklining competitions, as well as live music, art and gear demonstrations all weekend. Free, with select ticketed events; June 4-7; Vail Village, Blue Jay Way, Vail
- The Moth Story Slam. An open mic storytelling competition where contestants have five minutes to tell a true story about the night’s theme: American Dreams. $20; 7:30-10 p.m., June 5; MCA Denver at The Holiday Theater, 2644 W. 32nd Ave., Denver
Note: This is a curated list by the reporter to give readers a sense of arts and culture events happening across Colorado that they may not have otherwise known about. This is not meant to be an exhaustive account of things to do.