More By This Author

Butler’s choice: All the fest - peach, jazz, art and Woodstock: Festivals abound at summer's end in August
Butler’s choice: Vail Dance Fest, yoga in the park and Blues Traveler: See Savion Glover dance, get your warrior on and music from Haydn to John Popper
Butler’s choice: Meet an antiques guru, sample wines & Diana Krall: What's going on this weekend
Cirque du Soleil brings Kooza to Denver: 'Circus in a box' combines acrobatics and clowning, with a splash of Indian culture
Vine Arts & Entertainment: Butler’s choice: Top picks for A&E statewide

Current Issue

Posted 08.13.2009

Butler’s choice: All the fest - peach, jazz, art and Woodstock

Festivals abound at summer's end in August

By Mary Butler

Thursday
Feeling peachy? Don't miss the Palisade Peach Festival, which runs through Sunday, Aug. 16 at Riverbend Park. Enjoy live music, a kids carnival, sampling all kinds of food made with peaches -- or enter the peach-eating contest -- and then partake in the Peach Fest 5K to run off the calories.

Friday
Head to Breckenridge for the 25th Annual Genuine Jazz & Wine Festival. Performers include: Nick Colionne, Shilts, Jackiem Joyner, Gregg Karukas, Michael Manson, Joyce Cooling and the As One Gospel Choir. Tickets are $88-$118 for a three-day pass.

Saturday
Experience the Telluride Festival of the Arts, which continues through Sunday, Aug. 16. A celebration of the visual and culinary arts, this year's festival features a free Friday night concert by Joan Osborne and demonstrations by Boulder chef Hosea Rosenberg, winner of the Bravo cable TV show, "Top Chef." Ticket prices vary.

Monday
See the "Woodstock: 40th Anniversary Director's Cut" as part of the Film on the Rocks summer series at Red Rocks Amphitheatre. The band Something Underground opens the show. Tickets are $10. Doors open at 6:45 p.m.

Check out:

Norman Provizer’s weekly Jazz Notes column for the latest news on upcoming shows, compliments of KUVO 89 Jazz.

Ongoing and upcoming:
Cirque du Soleil: Kooza
Cirque du Soleil brings its show to Denver, Aug. 20-Oct. 4, under a special “Grand Chapiteau” big top to be erected next to the Pepsi Center. Kooza tells the story of The Innocent, “a melancholy loner in search of his place in the world,” and combines acrobatic performance and clowning. Tickets, $38.50-$215.

Plan your fall trip to Chaffee County to leaf peep and take in the 2nd Annual Colorado Mountain Plein Air Festival, which runs Sept. 17 - 27. The autumn painting festival, set in historic downtown Salida, offers daily paint outs, “quick draws”, workshops and exhibits where you can purchase your favorite paintings and meet the artists. Registration before Aug. 2 is $25.

Mary Butler is ColoradoBiz's online editor.

Enjoy this article? Sign up to get ColoradoBiz Exclusives. The opinions expressed in this article are solely that of the author and do not represent ColoradoBiz magazine. Comments on articles will be removed if they include personal attacks.