Free This Weekend in Denver · September 17, 2026
Free Things To Do in Denver This Weekend: September 18-20, 2026
New Terrain Brewing hands out its tenth birthday for free in Golden, more than 50 food trucks take Bannock Street, and the Saturday markets at Belmar and Town Center Aurora cost nothing to walk into, September 18-20, 2026.
1. WanderFest 2026 (10-Year Anniversary)
New Terrain Brewing turns ten and is giving away the party: three days in Golden, free entry every one of them. Friday there is a commemorative pin at the door while they last, and Saturday afternoon Supermagick plays 2 to 3:30 PM with four bars pouring. The beer is not free, which is how a brewery lives long enough to turn ten.
2. Civic Center EATS
Straight talk before you drive down: EATS runs Wednesdays and Thursdays, 11 AM to 2 PM, so it sits on the front edge of this weekend rather than inside it. More than 50 food trucks park on Bannock Street and the Civic Center meadow while the park is under construction, free to enter, pay per item. Fifty trucks in a two-hour lunch window is a choose-your-own-adventure where every ending involves a napkin shortage. It runs through October 15.
3. Downtown Lakewood Farmers Market
Saturday, 9 AM to 1 PM at Belmar, with more than 40 food and craft makers and live music. Free to walk in, and the structured parking a block away means you are not circling the block with a tote bag. The posted season ends September 24, so the Saturdays left are almost gone.
4. People + Produce Farmers Market: Thornton
Carpenter Park on Thursday evening, 5 to 8 PM, free: Colorado farms, local makers, prepared food and live music. Gum Pop Presents runs this market and Gum Pop Presents runs this site, so weigh the recommendation with that on the table. The season closes September 24.
5. Arvada Farmers' Market
Sunday, 9 AM to 1:30 PM in Olde Town Square on Olde Wadsworth Boulevard, free to enter. Colorado growers plus local food and handmade makers, running through September 27. The G Line station sits a block off the square, which makes this the rare market you can get to without a parking plan.
6. Orchard Farmers' Market
Sunday, 9 AM to 2 PM at Orchard Town Center, 14535 Delaware Street in Westminster. More than 50 local growers and food and craft makers, free entry, parking on site. It runs an hour later than the other Sunday markets, which matters if you are not a 9 AM person.
7. Havana Street Night Market
Not this weekend. Aurora runs its night market on the last Saturday of the month, so the next one is September 26, 6 to 10 PM at 2710 South Havana Street. Free, and worth putting in the phone now, because it closes out 2026.
8. People + Produce Farmers Market: Belleview Station
Sunday morning at Belleview Station in the DTC: Colorado farms, local makers, free to walk in, listed through September 27. Same disclosure as Thornton, this is a Gum Pop Presents market. If you live south, it is the one that does not cost you a highway.
9. Mershop's Market Days at Town Center Aurora
Saturday, 10 AM to 2 PM at Town Center at Aurora, free admission and free mall parking. Local makers plus a live band on every date, and September 19 belongs to Revenant Band. A mall lot promises two things no field-based market can: shade and a real bathroom.
10. G-Scale Garden Railroad at Hudson Gardens
Saturday morning the trains run 9 AM to noon in the Railroad Garden at Hudson Gardens, 6115 South Santa Fe Drive in Littleton. Free, no ticket, no reservation, free parking on site. The 2026 season ends October 1, and nobody at the fence is checking whether you brought a child.
11. pARTy and Rigsby Revisited: The Arvada Center Turns 50
Two free gallery shows at the Arvada Center, 6901 Wadsworth Boulevard, up through November 8. pARTy fills the Main Gallery with 18 artists for the Center's 50th; Rigsby Revisited fills the Upper Gallery with work from the Center's first solo exhibition in 1977, which has held up better than most things from 1977. Free, though check gallery hours before you drive out, and there is a free Walk and Talk with curator Collin Parson and the Rigsby family on October 10.
Quick answers
- What is happening in Denver this weekend, September 18-20, 2026?
- WanderFest runs Thursday through Saturday at New Terrain Brewing in Golden, free all three days. Saturday stacks up: the Belmar market at 9 AM, Mershop's Market Days in Aurora at 10 AM, and the G-Scale trains at Hudson Gardens from 9 to noon. Sunday is market day at Arvada's Olde Town Square, Orchard Town Center in Westminster and Belleview Station in the DTC.
- What free things are there to do in Denver this weekend?
- Friday: WanderFest in Golden. Saturday: WanderFest again with Supermagick at 2 PM, the Downtown Lakewood Farmers Market at Belmar, Mershop's Market Days at Town Center Aurora, and the G-Scale Garden Railroad in Littleton. Sunday: the Arvada Farmers' Market, the Orchard Farmers' Market and People + Produce at Belleview Station. The Arvada Center's two 50th-anniversary shows are free any day they are open, People + Produce in Thornton is free Thursday from 5 to 8 PM, and Civic Center EATS comes back Wednesday.
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