4 Best Performing Arts Venues in Boulder and North Central Colorado, Colorado

This annual festival runs from early June to mid-August and presents the Bard's comedies and tragedies on the University of Colorado campus in the stunning Mary Rippon Outdoor Theater.

Fort Collins's largest community festival, this music-centered event is a proud showing of the bustling Colorado music community, which has produced the Fray, Tennis, 3OH!3, OneRepublic, Nathaniel Rateliff, and others. Dozens of bands play on multiple stages during the free event on a Saturday in September. Bohemian Nights also hosts Thursday night concerts downtown during the summer.

Held each Memorial Day weekend since 1987, the Boulder Creek Festival converts a stretch along Boulder Creek into a giant party, complete with carnival rides, live music, hundreds of vendors, food, and multiple beer gardens. The free festival (a beer festival for those over 21 is offered concurrently for a fee) runs between Arapahoe Avenue and Canyon Boulevard between 9th and 14th Streets.

In late August, this festival brings a weekend of bluegrass, rock and roll, and jazz music to the west shore of Barker Reservoir. A few thousand people come to relax in the sun, dance, drink beer, and browse the vendor stands.