Montrose debuts the 3-day Common Ground festival, Ty Myers rocks Grand Junction, and Tombstone hits the big screen. Your ultimate weekend guide!
Montrose gets the big one this weekend — the first-ever Common Ground Music & Arts Festival takes over the Rotary Amphitheater for three free days. Over in Grand Junction, Ty Myers plays the Amp, and the Avalon puts Tombstone back on the big screen with a mustache contest. Here's the full rundown.
FRIDAY, AUG. 28
Ty Myers: The Legal Tour — Amphitheater at Las Colonias Park, gates 6 p.m., music 7:30 p.m. Brent Cobb and Benny G open. Tickets $49.50–$99.50.
Topaz Stories: Remembering the Japanese American Incarceration — Whitman Building, Museums of Western Colorado, 248 S. 4th St., Grand Junction, 10 a.m.–3 p.m. A traveling exhibit of first-person accounts from the Topaz, Utah camp, presented with Rocky Mountain PBS. Open again Saturday.
📚 At the library — The Friends of the Mesa County Libraries Weekend Book Sale runs 9 a.m.–2 p.m. Friday and Saturday at First Congregational Church, 1425 N. 5th St. (across from GJHS). Cash, check or Venmo. Branch hours this weekend: Friday most branches 9 a.m.–6 p.m.; Saturday Central and Clifton 9 a.m.–5 p.m., Fruita and Orchard Mesa until 4 p.m.; Sunday only Central is open, 1–5 p.m.
🍷 Wine country — Comedy Night at Sauvage Spectrum in Palisade, $15–$20. And The Pen & The Glass, the free spoken-word open mic at Carboy Winery at Mt. Garfield Estate — bring a poem or just come listen.
SATURDAY, AUG. 29
Farmer's Market at Cross Orchards Historic Site — 3073 F Road, 8 a.m.–noon. Produce, baked goods, crafts and the historic site itself. Free to wander.
Saturday Morning Music Sessions — Triple Play Records, 530 Main St., Grand Junction, 10 a.m.–noon. Local and regional acts, free, downtown.
Topaz Stories — Whitman Building, 248 S. 4th St., 10 a.m.–3 p.m. (second and final day of the run this week).
Back to the Big Screen: Tombstone — Avalon Theatre, 645 Main St., 7 p.m. Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer, a "Tombstone Edition" whiskey flight and a Best Western-Style Mustache Contest. I'm your huckleberry.
Monument Jazz Trio — Moody's Underground, 7 p.m. Free, and they sold out last time.
Latin Night at Good Judy's — beginner bachata lesson at 9 p.m., live DJ 10 p.m.–2 a.m. $10 cover.
🍷 Wine country — Backyard Beats free live music at Carboy Winery at Mt. Garfield Estate, 4 p.m., every Saturday. Vin.Yasa gentle yoga at Carboy, 11 a.m.–noon, $15 and up. And Live in the Grapevines: The Lost Junction Band at Grande River Vineyards, 7 p.m. — $25 presale, $30 at the door, benefiting the Center for Children.
SUNDAY, AUG. 30
Palisade Sunday Farmers Market — 3rd and Main, downtown Palisade, 9 a.m.–1 p.m. High Lonesome Ranch is among the vendors.
Country Swing Dance Class at Carboy Winery with Mesa County Dance Club — $15, laid-back, no partner required.
Looking ahead: Junction Truck Fest at the Mesa County Fairgrounds Sept. 5 · Colorado Mountain Winefest turns 35 in Palisade Sept. 19 · Downtown Car Show and the Grand Junction Air Show (with the Blue Angels) Oct. 3–4.
FRIDAY, AUG. 28
Common Ground Music & Arts Festival — Montrose Rotary Amphitheater at Cerise Park, gates 4 p.m. The inaugural run of a free three-day festival built around music, live art, food and vendors, with proceeds supporting youth programs across Western Colorado. The lineup includes The Motet, The Black Canyon Boys and Dogtags, plus after-parties around town. Runs all weekend.
Fridays on the Farm — 67181 Trout Road. Live music at the hop yard every Friday, with beer made from hops grown right there, wine from the vineyard next door, and a rotating food truck. Dog-friendly, bring a chair.
SATURDAY, AUG. 29
Montrose Farmers' Market — Centennial Plaza, 9 a.m.–1 p.m. Year-round market, but late August is when it's really loaded.
Longer Tables: A Montrose Community Breakfast — Montrose Farmers' Market, 10–11:30 a.m. One hundred neighbors, one long table. Part of Colorado 150's Tables Across Colorado, organized by Unify Montrose with the Common Ground festival, La Familia Music Academy and the farmers market.
Common Ground Music & Arts Festival, day two — Rotary Amphitheater, free.
Glow Golf + Silent Disco — The Bridges Golf and Country Club, 6 p.m.
📚 At the library — Heads up: the main Montrose branch is closed Saturdays. The Naturita Community Library is open 9 a.m.–6 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m.–3 p.m. Sunday. Montrose reopens Sunday 1–5 p.m.
SUNDAY, AUG. 30
Common Ground: Fueling the Future Auto Show — Cerise Park, 10 a.m.–3 p.m. Free and family-friendly: unusual vehicles, local businesses, live entertainment and food.
Common Ground Music & Arts Festival wraps up — Rotary Amphitheater, through 6 p.m.
Looking ahead: KVNF's first-ever Punk on the Unc at the Montrose Skatepark, Sept. 19 · the library's U.S. Citizenship Preparation Series starts Sept. 2, Wednesdays at 6 p.m.
FRIDAY, AUG. 28
Anthony Garcia & Los Diablos Tejanos — Grand Mesa Arts & Events Center, 195 W. Main St., Cedaredge, 6–8:30 p.m. Free outdoor summer concert. The Austin trio calls what they play "Cinematic Americana" — violin, guitar and piano, somewhere between Townes Van Zandt and Bach. Tacos La Gran Señora is on food.
Looking ahead: Tour de Cedars, Sept. 6 · Grand Mesa Writers' Symposium, Sept. 11.
FRIDAY, AUG. 28
Art Kids Friday Night — Glenwood Springs Community Art Center, 5:30–8:30 p.m. Drop the kids off; they make (and bake) edible art and take it home.
Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park — open 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m.–7 p.m. Saturday. No concert this weekend, but the gondola's running.
SATURDAY, AUG. 29
Beaver dam building on Middle Thompson Creek — 8:30 a.m.–3:30 p.m., south of Glenwood. Roaring Fork Outdoor Volunteers, Wilderness Workshop and the Forest Service are installing beaver dam analogues. Register at rfov.org.
Saturday Yoga at Veltus Park — Glenwood Springs, 9:30–10:30 a.m.
Summer Garden Par-TEA — Sopris Lodge, Carbondale, 2–4 p.m. Tea sandwiches, spritzers, lawn games, live music and a silent auction benefiting Colorado Animal Rescue's Seniors for Seniors pet program. Free; first 75 guests get a potted plant. RSVP at soprislodge.com/summer-garden-party.
Blazing Saddles — Crystal Theatre, Carbondale, 3 p.m. Hosted by Age Friendly Carbondale with support from AARP.
📚 At the library — Citizenship Basics at the Carbondale Library, 10:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m., for adults preparing for the U.S. naturalization exam.
SUNDAY, AUG. 30
📚 At the library — The Lost Art of Random Conversations: Special Edition with the Author — Carbondale Library, 3–5 p.m. Founder Tom Karrel leads guided conversations with strangers. Exactly as advertised.
Looking ahead: Labor Day weekend music at Glenwood Caverns, Sept. 5–6, 3–6 p.m. · Kiwanis 71st Annual Pancake Breakfast, Sept. 12, 8–11 a.m. on 7th Street under the Grand Avenue Bridge · Octoberfest at the Caverns on Saturdays starting Sept. 19 · Third Thursday on Third in downtown Rifle, Sept. 17, 5–8 p.m. (Oktoberfest theme, Alpine Echo playing).
