Fall Festivals in Southern Colorado Worth Adding to Your Calendar

Kick off National Hispanic Heritage Month with Fiestas Patrias, the Mexican national holiday commemorating the country’s independence from Spain. Celebrate Hispanic culture with music, food, heritage and community.

Taste the flavors of Pueblo with this hot festival. Celebrating the Pueblo chile, a hot pepper that grows only in the plains east of Pueblo, this festival features cooking competitions, hot air balloons, chihuahuas, a Wild West magic show, a jalapeño-eating contest and 5K and 10K runs.

The Annual Garden of the Gods Rock Ledge Ranch Powwow honors Native American cultures through song, dance and traditions. Participants can browse handmade crafts and sample delicious food while admiring talented dancers, drummers and singers.

Take a walk on the wild side with this 21-and-over event, featuring music, drinks, cornhole and lawn games, small plates from the zoo’s chef-crafted menu and a centennial drone show.

Experience the bounty of North Fork Valley, known for its peppers, lavender and wine grapes. Go on farm tours, enjoy local artists and musicians, savor local foods and enjoy everything this rural community has to offer.

Each year, thousands of young male tarantulas scuttle across the plains of Southeastern Colorado in search of a mate. La Junta’s annual Tarantula Fest celebrates these creepy-crawlies with a parade, food and craft vendors, educational talks and even tours to see tarantulas in their natural habitat.

Kick off your shoes for this end-of-summer celebration in the you-pick flower fields. Welcome the start of fall while enjoying flowers, food and community on the farm.

Combining farm-fresh provisions and local art, this market features organic produce, baked goods and specialty food items. Auric Gallery owners Abigail Kreuser and Gundega Stevens curated a stunning collection of local and regional artwork available for purchase.

Get a taste of Colorado’s Western Slope. This festival celebrates the fruit growers of the Surface Creek Valley, known for its temperate climate that produces delicious apples, peaches and other fruits. Stay for the live music, car and motorcycle show, golf tournament and pinup competition.

Community arts nonprofit Concrete Couch welcomes everyone to its eight-acre park for live music, art, activities, games, contests, food, drinks, silent auctions and meet-and-greets.

The region’s best brewers showcase their fresh hop beers, produced from hops that are harvested and brewed within 24 hours rather than dried and pelletized. Bring the whole family for music, food and farm-fresh fun.

Experience the brilliance of fall color in this historic mining town. Sip on fall beverages, enjoy live music, participate in competitions like pumpkin-carving and pie-eating and even feed specially approved “donkey biscuits” to the town’s herd of free-roaming donkeys.

Dive into fall with hayrides, pumpkin picking, apple cider, food trucks and much more. Stop by the Miners Pumpkin Patch historical area, featuring machinery demonstrations, gold panning and blacksmith demonstrations.

Now North America’s longest-running women’s film festival, this annual event fosters connection and empathy by showcasing the stories of women and others who are often unheard and unseen. The weekend features documentary, narrative, short and animated films that honor women’s drive, spirit and diversity.