Sometimes the best family getaway doesn’t require a plane ticket, a week off work or months of planning.
It might be happening an hour down the road.
Colorado offered a remarkable example of that this September when 9NEWS rounded up 65 things to do across the state during a single weekend, including festivals, fairs, cultural celebrations, sporting events and other seasonal activities.
And the calendar isn’t slowing down just because that particular weekend has passed.
As September turns toward October, communities across Colorado are continuing to fill their calendars with Oktoberfests, harvest celebrations, music festivals, pumpkin patches and other fall traditions.
For families, it’s a good reminder to look locally before assuming the next memorable weekend has to be an expensive vacation.
One weekend had 65 different possibilities
The 9NEWS Colorado weekend guide published for Sept. 18–20 included 65 different ways to spend the weekend.
The list stretched across Colorado and included everything from Oktoberfest celebrations and community festivals to concerts, sporting events and family activities.
That number alone says something about fall.
We often think of seasonal experiences as major destinations.
A trip to see fall foliage.
An expensive theme-park weekend.
A flight somewhere for a festival.
But September and October are also when hundreds of smaller communities put on some of their most distinctive events of the year.
And many of them only happen once.
The next round of fall events is already arriving
Families who missed the previous weekend don’t have to wait until next year.
Colorado’s fall calendar continues Sept. 25–27 with another collection of events around the state.
One of the biggest is the 30th annual Breckenridge Oktoberfest, scheduled for Sept. 25–27 in historic downtown Breckenridge.
The celebration includes German-inspired food, music and traditional Oktoberfest festivities against a Rocky Mountain fall backdrop.
Families considering the trip can find current event information through Colorado.com’s Breckenridge Oktoberfest listing.
Then there’s a Colorado tradition that’s been around much longer.
Fruita has been doing its fall festival for more than a century
The 111th annual Fruita Fall Festival takes place Sept. 25 in downtown Fruita.
Yes, 111th.
That alone makes it the kind of local tradition worth discovering.
This year’s celebration includes artisan and vendor booths, live music, festival food and family activities.
There’s also an event you probably won’t find at the average fall festival:
An outhouse race.
The community’s historic CO-OP Tower is also getting new artwork created with help from residents, with hundreds of community-painted flowers incorporated into the finished design.
Information about the celebration is available through Colorado.com’s Fruita Fall Festival listing.
Another community is turning a park into a three-day gathering
In Salida, Smalltown Gathering is scheduled for Sept. 25–27 at Riverside Park.
The event includes three days of music on two stages, along with workshops, food and craft vendors and activities for children.
Families can see current details and ticket information on Colorado.com’s Smalltown Gathering page.
That’s a very different weekend from Oktoberfest in Breckenridge.
And that’s part of the point.
A good seasonal adventure doesn’t have to look the same for every family.
Fall festivals aren’t just about pumpkins
Pumpkin patches and corn mazes may get much of the attention this time of year, but Colorado’s fall calendar shows how much broader the season can be.
Colorado’s official tourism site highlights fall celebrations built around green chiles, apples, elk, films, music and local agriculture.
Pueblo’s Chile & Frijoles Festival celebrates the area’s famous green chile.
Estes Park’s Elk Fest gives visitors an opportunity to learn about elk during the fall rut.
Cedaredge’s Applefest celebrates the agricultural heritage surrounding Grand Mesa.
La Junta even celebrates one of the season’s more unusual natural events: tarantula mating season.
Families can explore more ideas through Colorado.com’s guide to fall festivals around the state.
It raises a fun question:
What does your own community celebrate that you’ve never actually gone to see?
The best outing may be the event you’ve driven past for years
It’s easy to overlook attractions close to home.
The festival banner goes up every September.
There’s a pumpkin farm on the highway you’ve passed dozens of times.
A neighboring town has an annual celebration you’ve heard about but never attended.
Because it’s nearby, there’s always next year.
Then suddenly the children are older and you’ve still never gone.
Fall is particularly good for breaking that pattern because so many seasonal activities are temporary.
The leaves won’t stay gold forever.
The harvest festival only lasts a weekend.
The pumpkin patch eventually closes.
And the little community tradition that sounds ordinary on a calendar may become the thing your children remember.
Try searching within a 60- or 90-minute circle
Families looking for something to do this fall can make the search surprisingly simple.
Instead of asking, “Where should we take a trip?” start with:
What’s happening within 90 minutes of home this weekend?
Check the tourism websites for nearby towns.
Look at county and community calendars.
Search state parks.
Check local museums, farms and historical sites.
Look at chambers of commerce and downtown associations.
You may find harvest festivals, outdoor concerts, farmers markets, art walks, historical demonstrations, apple orchards, pumpkin patches or community celebrations you didn’t know existed.
Colorado’s official tourism site maintains a broader Colorado events calendar for families who want to see what’s coming up around the state.
A day trip can be much easier on the family budget
There’s another advantage to staying relatively close to home.
You may eliminate the hotel.
There’s no airfare.
You don’t need a rental car.
And you don’t necessarily have to eat every meal at a restaurant.
A family can pack snacks, drive to a nearby town, spend several hours exploring an event and still sleep in their own beds that night.
Some community festivals are even free to attend, although individual activities, food, parking or attractions may cost extra.
That doesn’t mean every local outing is inexpensive.
It means families can choose how much of the experience they want to purchase.
Sometimes walking through the festival, listening to music and letting children experience a new town is enough.
Let the kids choose one
Here’s another way to turn a local event into something children anticipate.
Give everyone in the family a few options and let someone choose.
One child picks the pumpkin patch.
Another chooses the fall festival.
Mom chooses a scenic drive.
Dad finds the small-town restaurant on the way home.
Suddenly you’re not just filling Saturday afternoon.
You’re building a family fall list.
Grandparents can get involved, too.
A community festival is often an easier multigenerational outing than an activity that requires hours of hiking or an expensive admission ticket.
Colorado’s fall scenery makes the drive part of the experience
Colorado has another advantage when it comes to fall day trips.
Sometimes getting there is half the reason to go.
The state’s fall season typically arrives earlier at higher elevations and later at lower elevations, creating opportunities to see changing colors over a surprisingly long period.
Colorado’s tourism office says fall typically runs through September and early October above 8,500 feet, while lower elevations can see fall conditions from late September into early November.
Families can explore scenic drives, festivals and other seasonal ideas through Colorado.com’s fall travel guide.
That means a trip to a festival can double as a fall-foliage drive.
Take the slower road.
Stop at the overlook.
Find a local bakery or diner.
Let the trip become more than the event printed on the calendar.
There’s something different about a hometown tradition
Large attractions are designed to entertain thousands or even millions of visitors.
Local festivals often offer something different.
You may watch a parade organized by people who live there.
Buy something directly from the person who made it.
Eat a recipe associated with the region.
Listen to a local band.
See children participating in a tradition their parents remember doing.
Or attend a festival that’s been taking place for more than a century.
Those experiences aren’t necessarily better because they’re smaller.
They’re memorable because they belong to that particular place.
Before another fall weekend disappears, look around
The 65-event Colorado weekend documented by 9NEWS is impressive.
But the larger lesson isn’t really about Colorado.
Every state has communities with traditions that barely register outside their own region.
A harvest festival.
A county fair.
An apple orchard.
A historic downtown celebration.
A farmers market.
A scenic trail.
A small museum you’ve passed for years.
A festival centered around a food you didn’t know your neighboring town was famous for.
Fall weekends disappear quickly.
Before assuming there’s nothing interesting to do—or spending thousands of dollars planning the next big vacation—try looking at what’s happening within an hour or two of home.
You may discover that one of the best family adventures of the season doesn’t require packing a suitcase at all.
It may just require taking a different road Saturday morning.
Sources: 9NEWS — 65 things to do in Colorado Sept. 18–20 | Colorado.com — Fall Festivals in Colorado | Colorado.com — Breckenridge Oktoberfest | Colorado.com — Fruita Fall Festival | Colorado.com — Fall in Colorado