This Weekend in Denver · September 17, 2026
Things To Do in Denver This Weekend: September 18-20, 2026
New Terrain gives away a three-day tenth birthday in Golden, the Nature and Science museum drops you inside Venice and Mesa Verde, and Four Mile lights up after dark, September 18-20, 2026.
1. WanderFest 2026 (10-Year Anniversary)
Golden's New Terrain Brewing turns ten and charges nothing at the gate for three days of it. Friday has a commemorative pin at the door while they last; Saturday has Supermagick from 2 to 3:30 PM with four bars pouring. Free entry, all three days, which is not how most tenth anniversaries go.
2. Changing Landscapes: Inside Venice, Mesa Verde and Rapa Nui at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science
The Denver Museum of Nature and Science built a room that puts you inside Venice, Mesa Verde and Rapa Nui as climate change reshapes all three, using photogrammetry projections and hands-on stations rather than placards. Open 9 AM to 5 PM in City Park, included with museum admission, parking on site off Colorado Boulevard. It runs through January 3, 2027, so this is your move on the weekend the weather finally turns.
3. Civic Center EATS
More than 50 food trucks, free to enter, pay per item, staged on Bannock Street and the Civic Center meadow while the park is under construction. The catch is the calendar: EATS runs Wednesdays and Thursdays, 11 AM to 2 PM, so it is a lunch play rather than a weekend one. Through October 15.
4. People + Produce Farmers Market: Thornton
Thursday evening at Carpenter Park in Thornton, 5 to 8 PM, free: Colorado farms, local makers, prepared food and live music. Gum Pop Presents runs this market and also runs this site, so take the recommendation with that in plain view. The season closes September 24.
5. SHEEP Pop-Up by Chef Kelly Whitaker
Kelly Whitaker, the only two-Michelin-star chef in Colorado, is cooking over fire and embers on the Clayton Hotel rooftop at 233 Clayton Street in Cherry Creek. Four courses, around $95, seatings from 5 PM, running through October 4. Rooftop season in this town has maybe three weekends left in it, and this is the best use of one of them.
6. Downtown Lakewood Farmers Market
Saturday, 9 AM to 1 PM at Belmar in Lakewood, free to walk in, with more than 40 food and craft makers and live music. Structured parking is a block away. The posted season ends September 24.
7. Arvada Farmers' Market
Sunday, 9 AM to 1:30 PM in Olde Town Square on Olde Wadsworth Boulevard. Free, Colorado growers and local makers, through September 27. The G Line drops you a block from the square, so the hardest part is deciding how much you can carry.
8. People + Produce Farmers Market: Belleview Station
Sunday morning in the DTC: farms, local makers and free entry at Belleview Station, listed through September 27. Another Gum Pop Presents market, same disclosure as Thornton. For the south metro this is the market that does not require a highway.
9. Orchard Farmers' Market
Sunday, 9 AM to 2 PM at Orchard Town Center, 14535 Delaware Street in Westminster, free, with parking on site. More than 50 local growers and food and craft makers. The extra hour on the back end makes it the forgiving one of the Sunday markets.
10. Havana Street Night Market
Not this weekend, but close enough to plan around. Aurora runs its night market on the last Saturday of the month, so the next and final 2026 date is September 26, 6 to 10 PM at 2710 South Havana Street. Free.
11. Bright Nights at Four Mile Historic Park
Four Mile Historic Park goes dark and then goes very bright: a walk-through lantern festival scaled this year to insect-sized flora and fauna, which is Honey I Shrunk the Kids with a real lighting designer. Wednesdays through Sundays, 7 to 11 PM, through November 8, near Cherry Creek in Washington Virginia Vale. Adults are $28 in advance and $30 at the gate, youth $21 and $23, members $20, and weekend time slots sell first, so the two dollars you save buying ahead is the least of what advance tickets get you.
Quick answers
- What is happening in Denver this weekend, September 18-20, 2026?
- WanderFest runs free in Golden Thursday through Saturday, and Bright Nights lights up Four Mile Historic Park from 7 to 11 PM Wednesday through Sunday. Saturday adds the Belmar farmers market at 9 AM in Lakewood. Sunday is markets, at Arvada's Olde Town Square, Orchard Town Center in Westminster and Belleview Station in the DTC, with Changing Landscapes open at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science all three days.
- What free things are there to do in Denver this weekend?
- Plenty. WanderFest in Golden is free all three days, and the Downtown Lakewood Farmers Market at Belmar is free Saturday from 9 AM to 1 PM. Sunday's markets at Arvada's Olde Town Square, Orchard Town Center and People + Produce at Belleview Station all cost nothing to enter. People + Produce in Thornton is free but falls Thursday from 5 to 8 PM, Civic Center EATS is free to walk into on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and the Havana Street Night Market's next free date is September 26.
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