As temperatures cool and foliage turns gold, something triggers in our collective consciousness. It’s more than just a craving for root and squash vegetables and sweet spices in hot beverages. It’s the instinct to gather together and celebrate community, art, music and seasonal cuisine.
This isn’t just rhetoric. Almost every culture, modern and historic, has ritual holidays around when plants start moving toward hibernation. From the Celtic Mabon festival to the Norwegian Haustblot to Central American sweating ceremonies, human beings like marking seasonal turns by gathering, sharing food and making things. Over the next three weeks, events abound in the Roaring Fork Valley and the broader Western Slope.
Vinotok, Sept. 15-21, Crested Butte
For those willing to travel to the south side of the Elks, Crested Butte’s Vinotok festival is in its 40th year. The weeklong event started this past Sunday, but the biggest moments are on Sept. 20-21. Friday afternoon and evening offer a feast and medieval fair, with $10 tickets for general admission and $35 tickets for the feast. Saturday events are fully free. From 5pm onward, there are street theater performances, culminating at 8pm with the Burning of the Grump. Actors represent archetypal figures, and attendees have the opportunity to banish grievances and negativity and amplify gratitude with the bonfire sacrifice of the Grump, a troll-like effigy.
Mountain Harvest Festival, Sept. 27-29, Paonia
Across McClure Pass, the 24th annual Paonia Mountain Harvest Festival highlights arts, music, wine, cider and theater. Friday offers a costume parade starting from the town park. The Paonia Public Library hosts a book sale on Friday and Saturday. Local musicians perform each afternoon. Both Saturday and Sunday afternoon, the town park has a specific kid’s creative zone. This well-loved event celebrates creatives and agricultural artisans from the West Elks in addition to saying goodbye to summer.
Fall Fest, Sept. 28-29, Elk Camp
From noon to 4:45pm, Aspen Snowmass marks its last weekend of summertime operations with family-friendly activities and live music at the top of the Elk Camp gondola. The events are free for children under 6 and the cost of a sightseeing ticket for older children and adults without season ski passes. There will be face-painting stations in addition to seasonal food and drink.
Glenwood Caverns Octoberfest, Saturdays, Sept. 28, Oct. 5, Oct. 12
Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park takes a different approach, with beer and music on three consecutive Saturdays. In addition to normal park operations, the park will have a variety of autumnal contests, German foods and souvenirs. The price of admission is a standard ticket up the gondola. Since the festival runs from 11am to 6pm, this is a great way to amplify a visit to the caverns and park.
Harvest Party, Saturday Oct. 5, Rock Bottom Ranch
The Aspen Center for Environmental Studies’ Rock Bottom Ranch location near Willits has its annual autumn celebration from 11am to 5pm. There will be two harvest sessions during the day for those who want to actually get into the dirt and help collect squash and other produce. The $15 per person tickets cover hayrides, crafts, dancing, apple pressing and pumpkin carving. Additional catered food and beverages will be available for purchase. Parking will not be available on site. ACES instead encourages attendees to bike or take shuttles from Emma or Basalt.
Applefest, Oct. 4-6, Cedaredge
Though a bit of a drive, there’s a sweet reward to making a trip over to Cedaredge. Like the Paonia celebration the weekend before, Applefest centers community, arts, foods, and more. On Friday morning, the festival launches with a golf tournament, with a bike ride in the afternoon ahead of the Five Alarm Chili Cook-Off. Saturday will get off to a literal running start with a five-kilometer race at the front of a day full of arts and crafts, community games and live music from 9:30am to 10pm. Sunday is quieter; vendors and crafts will still be open in town, but live music will be between 11am and 4pm. Folks looking for brisk autumn sightseeing can join the 40-mile road bike ride.
Potato Day, Oct. 3-6, Carbondale
Last but certainly not least, revelry returns to Carbondale in October. Potato Day celebrations are three and a half days long, starting with a showing of “Red Stallion in the Rockies,” filmed locally 75 years ago, at the Carbondale Library on Thursday at 7pm. An extra special First Friday keeps the celebration rolling. For $20 a head, partiers can join the 6-8pm barn dance at the Recreation Center, and stay for additional live music until 11pm. Meanwhile, the first homecoming varsity football game played in years will be that same night at 7pm.
Oct. 5 is Potato Day itself. Folks can start the day with the Tater Trot run and a pancake breakfast ahead of the 10:30am Potato Parade. Games and live music will follow in Sopris park until 3pm with the traditional community lunch served from 11am to 1:30pm. Sunday offers Youth Gymkhana at the Rodeo Grounds or Aspen Valley Land Trust’s Party in the Pasture at Coffman Ranch, both from 10 am to 2 pm. Don’t forget your potatoes.
In the past, the Kirstie Ennis Foundation has hosted Oktoberfest at Sunlight Mountain Resort. As of publication, there is no indication that it will happen this year.