A Taste of Colorado
- Dates
- Dates not yet announced
- Status
- Confirmed
- Venue
- Civic Center Park
- Price
- Free
- Camping
- None on site
- Last checked
- Aug 13, 2026
A Taste of Colorado in Denver, CO hasn't announced its next dates yet. Froligo tracks free-entry details, attendee feedback and travel details so you'll know the moment plans firm up.
The experience
What's special
A Taste of Colorado is a free, three-day food, music, and arts festival that has run in downtown Denver since 1983, traditionally filling Civic Center Park over Labor Day weekend with dozens of local restaurant booths, several live-music stages, and an arts-and-crafts marketplace. There is no admission charge, and in its peak years the event was described as drawing crowds in the hundreds of thousands, making it one of the city's largest end-of-summer gatherings. The festival has been through a turbulent stretch since 2020, including a pandemic-year cancellation and a 2023 folding into the city's ¡Viva! Streets Denver programming, before organizers announced a return to the original Civic Center Park format
What people love
Attendees most consistently point to the lack of an admission charge as the festival's biggest draw, paired with the breadth of free live music spread across several stages running most of the weekend. For many longtime Denver residents the event carries decades of nostalgic pull, and people describe returning year after year out of habit and affection for a long-running local tradition rather than for any single vendor or headliner
Last time around (2022)
The most recent edition held in the festival's traditional Civic Center Park format ran September 3-5, 2022, with local press reporting five music stages, more than fifty arts-and-crafts booths, and over thirty food trucks and restaurant vendors drawing thousands of visitors. Attendee reaction that weekend was mixed to negative: many regulars said the event felt noticeably smaller and more commercialized than in past years, criticized on-site food and drink as overpriced for small portions, and reported that no outside water was permitted while bottled water was sold at festival prices. The festival did not return in this format in 2023, 2024, or 2025 after being absorbed into the city's now also-cancelled ¡Viva! Streets Denver programming; a return to Civic Center Park for Labor Day weekend 2026 has been announced but had not yet taken place as of this review
Listen
No official playlist linked yet. Find A Taste of Colorado on Spotify.
Lineup
Lineup not yet announced. Email me the day it lands.
Getting there
Nearest airport DEN.
How do I get to A Taste of Colorado?
By car
Most people drive to A Taste of Colorado. The nearest major airport is DEN, and from there it is a straightforward drive to the venue. Check current road and traffic conditions before you set off, and see parking below.
By train
Commuter rail runs direct from Denver International Airport (DEN) to Union Station in downtown Denver, roughly every 15 minutes. From Union Station, Civic Center Park is a further one-block-radius walk or a free 16th Street FreeRide shuttle hop (see public-transit entry below) this is the standard airport-to-festival route for fly-in attendees
Book / info →By bus & public transit
Free, fully electric shuttle bus running the length of the 16th Street transitway between Denver Union Station and Wade Blank Civic Center Station, one block from Civic Center Park the connector leg for anyone arriving via the A Line
Book / info →Taxi & rideshare
Rideshare pickups at DEN are routed to a designated zone (Island 5, Level 5, doors 504-513) reached via signed walkways from baggage claim, not curbside outside the terminal doors. Regulated taxis operate on a flat-rate zone system for airport-to-downtown trips rather than a metered fare
Book / info →Taxis and rideshare such as Uber and Lyft can be limited near the venue, especially late at night or in rural areas. Agree a pickup point and time in advance and keep a backup plan.
🅿 Parking
Cost Roughly $4-$50 depending on the specific lot/garage and time booked; several sub-$10 options exist within 0.1-0.2 miles of the park (e.g. Bannock Street Garage Lot ~$20, 1268 Cherokee St. Lot ~$4).
🚙 Car hire
Compare car hire at DEN
Downtown, walkable, free festival with strong transit (A Line + free 16th St FreeRide) car hire isn't needed for the festival commute itself, but is a reasonable add-on for fly-in attendees combining the trip with wider Colorado travel (mountains, other regional festivals/road trips)
Search car hire →Live price search coming soon.
Where
Venue
Civic Center Park
Camping & Accommodation
Where can I stay near A Taste of Colorado?
No on site camping. Here is where to stay nearby.
Hotels nearby 5
Airbnb & private camping
Denver's downtown/Capitol Hill short-term rental supply is large (thousands of active citywide listings) with a market-average nightly rate around $180-$190. Expect surge pricing on top of that baseline over the festival's traditional Labor Day weekend slot, given the holiday plus a 500,000+ attendee downtown festival
Search Airbnb →Hipcamp lists a large number (1,900+) of private-land camping/glamping/RV listings within driving range of Denver, but these cluster 30-90 minutes out toward the foothills and mountains (e.g. Idaho Springs) rather than in the city itself better suited to attendees basing themselves in the mountains and driving in than as a true downtown-adjacent alternative to a hotel
Search Hipcamp →Pricing
Got fresher info? Tell us, a real person checks every tip, and we love fresh info.