10 Ways to Make The Most of Labor Day Weekend in Denver

News provided by

VISIT DENVER, The Convention & Visitors Bureau

Jul 19, 2011, 11:53 ET

Free Festivals, Live Music, The Highest Paved Road in North America And A Little Band Called Phish Make Denver the Place To Be This Year

DENVER, July 19, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Mile High City says sayonara to summer with a long weekend packed with events and activities – many of them free. This is also visitors' last chance to take advantage of the city's summer hotel deals with rates starting as low as $99 a night.

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Here are 10 Labor Day Weekend highlights around Denver:

Treat Yourself At "A Taste Of Colorado"

Sept. 2-5, Civic Center Park

More than 500,000 people make this free, four-day festival the focus of their Labor Day Weekend, enjoying the offerings of more than 50 area restaurants and an elegant fine dining area that highlights gourmet cuisine from renowned chefs and offers daily cooking demonstrations. The food is just the beginning of the fun though. The fest also features:

250 marketplace artisans and vendors selling one-of-a-kind items;
Seven stages of live entertainment featuring progressive rockers ASIA (Sept. 2), Canadian guitar hero Pat Travers (Sept. 3), British Invasion band Herman's Hermits (Sept. 4) and jazz rockers Earth, Wind & Fire (Sept. 5);
The LEGO Experience Tour, where kids can get their hands on thousands of LEGO bricks and use their imaginations to build their very own LEGO creation for display at the festival.

Rock Out At Red Rocks

Sept. 2-4, Red Rocks Park & Amphitheatre

By the end of August, the famed Red Rocks summer concert season is winding down – but there are still can't-miss shows left to see.

Sept. 2: Bluegrass superstar Alison Krauss (Sept. 2) and her longtime backing band Union Station bridge the gap between roots music and country, rock and pop.
Sept. 3-4: Guitar icon Santana and comedian George Lopez are teaming up as co-headliners for the Divine Rascals show, featuring a set of sizzling Latin grooves from Santana and standup from Lopez.

Jam All Weekend Long with PHISH

Sept. 2-4, Dick's Sporting Goods Park

Jam band titans Phish bring their summer tour to a close in Denver with a three-night stand at Dick's Sporting Goods over Labor Day Weekend. Convenient onsite camping will be available in the soccer fields adjacent to the stadium.

Get Marvelously Muddy At The Denver Art Museum – For Free

Sept. 3, Denver Art Museum

Enjoy one of the Mile High City's top attractions for FREE on Saturday. The Denver Art Museum's must-see, museum-wide program Marvelous Mud – a multimedia celebration of clay and creativity throughout the ages – offers plenty of chances for families to get their hands dirty while creating their very own masterpiece.

Dig Some Native Roots At The Denver Botanic Gardens

Through Nov. 13, Denver Botanic Gardens

The Denver Botanic Gardens' open air sculpture exhibit, Native Roots | Modern Form: Plants, Peoples and the Art of Allan Houser, features more than 20 bronze works created by American modernist Allan Houser (Warm Springs Chiricahua Apache, 1914–1994), one of the most important American artists of the 20th Century.

Root, Root, Root For The Rockies At Coors Field

Sept. 5, Coors Field

The Rockies take on the Arizona Diamondbacks at Coors Field during this special matinee game on Labor Day starting at 1:10 p.m. Grab a ticket early – holiday games are known to sell out fast.

See Fireworks Over Elitch Gardens Theme & Water Park

Sept. 4, Elitch Gardens Theme & Water Park

Ride the roller coasters and waterslides at Downtown Denver's Elitch Gardens and end the day with a fireworks show celebrating Labor Day Weekend.

Dream The Dream With Les Miserables At The Denver Center

Aug. 30 – Sept. 10, Denver Center for the Performing Arts

This brand new 25th anniversary production of Boublil & Schonberg's legendary musical, Les Miserables, features new staging and re-imagined scenery inspired by the paintings of Victor Hugo. This new production has already been acclaimed by critics, fans and new audiences and is breaking box office records wherever it goes.

Go To The Top Of The Continent on Mount Evans Highway

Through Labor Day

Adventurous motorists' last chance to get as high as they can possibly go comes on Labor Day. The Mount Evans Scenic Byway, just 60 miles west of Denver, is the highest paved road in North America. A day trip to the top is a journey that climbs to the 14,264-foot summit of Mount Evans – one of 54 peaks in Colorado that soar to 14,000 feet and above – the famous "fourteeners." After Labor Day, Mount Evans generally closes to motorists due to snow.

Get In Touch With Your Chakra At The Denver Metaphysical Fair

Sept. 2-4, Denver Merchandise Mart

Psychic readers, magical healers, and unique vendors make up the oldest Conscious Living Fair in America, serving the holistic community since 1978. These gatherings provide a safe environment to explore the deeper aspects of life, metaphysical philosophies, and holistic lifestyles.

About VISIT DENVER, The Convention & Visitors Bureau

Celebrating more than 100 years of promoting the Mile High City, VISIT DENVER is a nonprofit trade association that contracts with the City of Denver to market Denver as a convention and leisure destination, increasing economic development in the city, creating jobs and generating taxes. A record 12.7 million visitors stayed overnight in Denver in 2010, generating $3 billion in spending, while supporting 50,000 jobs, making Tourism the second largest industry in Denver. Learn more about Denver at VISITDENVER.com and TOURISMPAYSDENVER.com, on Twitter @visitdenver and facebook.com/visitdenver, or by phone at 800 2 DENVER.

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SOURCE VISIT DENVER, The Convention & Visitors Bureau