This weekend is filled with some fall favorites. Oktoberfest season is happening, featuring Vail this weekend. Fall color is starting to reach its peak in the high country — you can track it here and check out 12 Creative Ways to Experience Fall Color. If you’re staying in town, enjoy these Best Things to Do in Colorado Springs this weekend.
5 Best Things to Do in Colorado Springs Through Sept. 21
Pikes Peak Regional Airshow
Sept. 19-20
Colorado Springs Airport
Turn your eyes to the skies. The popular Pikes Peak Airshow is happening this weekend. It’s two days of flight demonstrations, modern jets, aerial performers, historic warbirds from the National Museum of World War II Aviation and much more featuring more than 40 aircraft. Walk around and climb in planes, helicopters and military vehicles. If you’ve never been fascinated by flight before, you will be now. Meet the Planes in our feature here and let your spirits soar from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
LA Phil Trio by EPIC
Sept. 18
Ent Center for the Arts
EPIC opens its 2026–27 season with an intimate performance by three standout musicians from the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The ensemble features Boris Allakhverdyan on clarinet, Whitney Crockett on bassoon and Alin Melik Adamyan on piano. “Whitney Crockett is one of the leading bassoonists of his generation, and chamber performances of this repertoire are rare,” says Sergei Vassiliev, EPIC’s executive director. “In Chapman Hall, audiences will hear the detail and musical conversation that can be lost in a larger venue.”
The program moves from lyrical melodies and operatic drama to virtuosic works by Massenet, Saint-Saëns, Mendelssohn, Bellini, Weber and Glinka. A Q&A session with the performers will follow the music.
tickets.entcenterforthearts.org
Pueblo Chile and Frijoles Festival
Sept. 18-20
Union Avenue, Historic Downtown Pueblo
Roll down your windows and you’ll smell the roasting Pueblo chiles before you reach this 32nd annual festival. The Chile and Frijoles Festival was created to promote Pueblo’s rich agriculture and encourage the community and region to buy local fresh products. The weekend includes a Kickoff Party, Balloon Festival, Chihuahua Parade, jalapeño eating contest, the hot to Trot 5K and 10K and more. Read all about it in our Insider’s Guide to the Pueblo Chile and Frijoles Festival.
Annual Powwow
Sept. 19
Rock Ledge Ranch
Celebrate and honor Native American cultures and history in this yearly gathering at Rock Ledge Ranch, an area that is part of the ancestral homeland of the Ute people. Members of local tribes will perform songs, dance, storytelling and other traditions. Enjoy Indian tacos and other delicious foods and explore the vendors selling crafts and other items. The powwow happens from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Monument Pours in the Park
Sept. 19
Limbach Park, Monument
Sample beer, cider, spirits, moonshine and nonalcoholic beverages in scenic Monument. Enjoy live jazz. Food and gift vendors will be on hand too. The libation fest will sell out, so don’t wait to get your tickets. The 21+ festivities happen 12-4 p.m. rain or shine.
Bonus Pick
Parade of Homes
Sept. 11-27
All over Colorado Springs
Looking for some design inspiration? Or just like to check out brand-new homes? The Parade of Homes lets you tour 30 gorgeous new homes around the Springs, from community models to fully custom creations. You’ll get to see the latest in design and décor trends, meet builders and vote for your favorite homes. Read more about it in Discover What’s Possible at the 2026 Colorado Springs Parade of Homes.
Theater Bonus Picks
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Sept. 10 – Oct. 4
Theatreworks, Ent Center for the Arts
Theatreworks Colorado Springs returns to the heights of musical storytelling with Stephen Sondheim’s macabre masterpiece, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. The production reunites the spirit of bold, immersive theatre with a “stripped down to the bleeding edge” reimagining that explores the razor-thin line between tragic hero and haunting villain.
Set against the squalid, soot-stained backdrop of Victorian London — where corruption is a currency and injustice rots in the streets — Sweeney Todd follows a barber’s return from 15 years of wrongful exile. Driven by a singular thirst for vengeance against the man who shattered his life, Todd finds an unlikely, depraved ally in the pie-shop owner Mrs. Lovett. Together, they serve up a chilling new reality for London, one that leaves the city forever changed. It is a story that is as evocative as it is provocative.
Read more in The Demon Barber Is Open for Business — and Theatreworks Is Ready to Draw Blood.
Come From Away
Sept. 10 – Oct. 4
Fine Arts Center Theatre
This is a story of humanity at its best. It was 25 years ago that the Sept. 11 attacks took place. While the nation reeled and tried to sort out what was happening in New York City, Washington D.C. and elsewhere, thousands of planes were en route to and from the United States. The FAA took the unprecedented step of closing U.S. airspace, and 38 of those planes were diverted to the tiny town of Gander, Newfoundland.
The Tony Award-winning musical Come From Away tells the story of what happened in the days that followed 9/11 when an isolated community opened its homes, schools, churches and hearts to 7,000 stranded passengers from around the world. Cultures and languages collided. Supplies ran short. Fear and uncertainty were everywhere. Yet the people of Gander responded with extraordinary generosity, welcoming strangers with food, shelter, music, friendship and compassion.
The Fine Arts Center Theatre Company is commemorating 9/11 with its production of Come From Away. I attended the dress rehearsal, and it is moving, funny and artfully done by a stellar cast. The show runs over four weekends, and in honor of the 25th anniversary of 9/11, the Fine Arts Center Theatre Company is offering complimentary tickets to 200 Colorado Springs first responders, as a gesture of gratitude for those who serve the community. Police officers, firefighters, paramedics, EMTs and emergency medical personnel are eligible and can claim one complimentary ticket by calling the FAC Box Office at (719) 634-5583.
