Goodbye, summer. Hello, fall fun!
A variety of creative projects and community events (including free and low cost) await you in Fort Collins and the surrounding region.
Curiosity Pass: Poudre Libraries offers passes to museums, galleries and cultural attractions. Free.
Poetry
Two Fort Collins poets recently hosted book launch parties at Wolverine Farm Letterpress & Publick House:
Advance, discounted sales of the debut chapbook Portrait Lands by Fort Collins Poet Laureate Melissa Mitchell ends on Sept. 12.
Kit Song’s debut chapbook where rain sleeps is on sale now.
Wolverine hosts regular poetry and storytelling events: read the events calendar.
Community Events
Aug. 29 The 53:14 Music Video Experiment, 6 p.m. to 10:10 p.m. at The Lyric Cinema Cafe. Free. Donations welcome.
From The Lyric: The filming of the 53:14 Music Videos is complete! All ten original videos were produced last weekend and now the audience participation is about to start. We’d love for you to be there to see them all for the first time! Brand new videos from ALL MY SENSES, ASH REDHORSE AND THE MIDNIGHT SUNS, AUTUMNAL, DUCKI, DVNEHPPY, EVE COFFMAN, FOREIGN SUNS, GRAVEYARD CHOIR, NEON THE BISHOP, and SLOW CAVES premiere this Friday, August 29 at The Lyric!
Get there at 6 PM for live music by EVA ROSE KING and DOGTAGS
This event is free, all ages, and open to the public. RSVP
Sept. 4 The final Thursday Night Live concert in Old Town Square: Ryan Chrys & The Rough Cuts, 7 p.m. Free.
Sept. 7 “Tell It Like It Was”: A personal storytelling class for the brave, not-so-brave, and everyone in between. 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Old Town Library. Registration now open. Free.
Sept. 10 Mayoral Forum. 6 p.m. at The Lyric. Free. Donations welcome.
Sept. 11 Public invited to join first responders in 9/11 Memorial and Stair Climb at Canvas Stadium. Free.
Sept. 11 A Free Professional Development Workshop Series for Artists and Arts Organizations. Creative Foundation Workshops is a new, ongoing workshop series designed to support Northern Colorado artists and arts organizations in building strong, sustainable creative practices. Workshops will take place bimonthly beginning in September and will focus on essential skill development topics such as marketing, budgeting, grant writing, portfolio development, and more.
Each session is free to attend, features experienced facilitators, and is structured to provide both practical tools and opportunities for connection within the local arts community. Workshops are open to all and geared toward both individual artists and representatives of arts-focused nonprofits, with content that applies to a variety of disciplines and experience levels.
Join the first workshop in the series:
Shout it Out! Workshop for Making Effective Marketing Plans
Date: Thursday, Sept. 11
Time: 4 – 6 p.m.
Location: The Lincoln Center, Columbine Room
This free hands-on session will walk participants through the process of building a simple and effective marketing plan, with guidance on designing promotional materials, using social media and email tools, and identifying core marketing goals. Light refreshments. Provided by the City of Fort Collins in collaboration with the Downtown Fort Collins Creative District.
Sept. 12 For The Love of Strangers is an experiential variety show emceed by Dr. Cori Wong on 2nd Fridays through December. 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Visit Fort Collins. $10 suggested donation.
Celebrate The Farm’s 40th Anniversary
Saturday, Sept. 13, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Speaking remarks at 11:00 a.m.
Where: The Farm at Lee Martinez Park (600 N Sherwood St.)
Note – Parking may be limited during the event.
For 40 years, The Farm at Lee Martinez Park has been a beloved part of Fort Collins, offering hands-on connection to our agricultural heritage. Purchased by the City in 1985, this special place honors the land’s legacy – from its early days as a dairy farm to its transformation into a community treasure. Tucked along the banks of the Cache la Poudre River, The Farm is a celebration of resilience, education and the deep roots that shaped Fort Collins.
You’re invited to celebrate The Farm’s 40th anniversary milestone with the City of Fort Collins this fall! Enjoy a special day of free admission featuring food trucks, farm games, live music, animal visits and line dancing. Explore the history of agriculture in Fort Collins through Art’s Toolshed, The Farm Museum and The Ross Proving-up House. Come help honor four decades of memories, learning and community at The Farm.
Sept. 13 HeroFest at Front Range Village, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Free.
JLF Colorado, Boulder Library, Sept. 13-14. Free. Donations welcome. Review the schedule.
Sept. 14 Fort Stories: True Stories. Brave Voices. Strong Communities emceed by Mary Roberts. Theme: “River.” At Visit Fort Collins. $10.
One unforgettable night in Fort Collins. Welcome to Fort Stories—a live storytelling event where community, courage, and connection come together for an unexpected evening. This isn’t a performance. It’s a gathering. A night to share and hear true, personal stories told live by everyday people—maybe even you.
Spanish Conversation
Fort Collins Spanish, Mondays at Bean Cycle Roasters
Let’s Talk In Spanish, 3rd Wednesdays at Old Town Library. Next meeting: Sept. 17
Sept. 27 La Familia / The Family Center Fiesta at The Lyric Cinema Cafe
The Family Center/La Familia has had the honor to serve our community for over 25 years. We celebrate our impact with supporters and guests at our annual Fiesta Party fundraising event!
This is a lively event filled with delicious Mexican food, margaritas, dancing, auctioned prizes, and more dancing! Our venue host, The Lyric, is the perfect setting, offering ideal open event space. Come dance with us!
This event is a way for our families, donors, board, and supporters to celebrate the impact we make in our community and the good work we do for our future: our youth.
Workshop
3rd Annual Creative Colorado Writers Retreat, Sept. 20-21 in Lakewood. Fort Collins Poet Laureate Melissa Mitchell will facilitate a workshop at the Twenty Bellows writers retreat. Two full days of creativity, craft and connection. This year’s retreat features: dedicated poetry, fiction and hybrid workshop tracks; plenty of open writing time in a welcoming, creative space; keynote address from poet Brice Maiurro; a vibrant book fair with regional indie presses; open mic opportunities and community networking. Register before Sept. 1 to receive complimentary lunches on the days for which you sign up.
Art Exhibit
Sept. 6 through Nov. 15
Opening reception: Sept. 6, from 6 to 9 p.m.
Exhibition dates: Sept. 6 through Nov. 15
Cornerstone Gallery at The Masonic Events Center
“We Were Never Meant to Disappear” is a 21-year retrospective and deeply personal solo exhibition by Liz Ortiz, founder of Mad Hare Press.
Spanning two decades of previously unseen artwork, across graphite, ink, paint, photography, and printmaking. This exhibition becomes both archive and altar. It offers viewers an intimate journey through memory, resilience, and reclamation.
With quiet strength and fierce clarity, Ortiz’s work confronts cultural invisibility, generational disconnection, and the lived complexity of navigating a predominantly white community as an Indigenous Latina woman. Each piece, whether old or newly created, honors her heritage, affirms the worth of her existence, and disrupts the comfort of erasure with presence.
This exhibition becomes a living dialogue between time, identity, and place, drawing lines from survival to self-recognition, and from lineage to legacy. Through it, Ortiz invites viewers to witness what has long gone unseen: the joy, pain, and power of holding onto oneself in a world that too often turns away.
Artist bio: Liz Ortiz is a multidisciplinary artist, printmaker, and cultural strategist based in Fort Collins, Colorado. She is the founder of Mad Hare Press, a mobile micro-studio and community arts initiative centered on accessibility, education, and ancestral connection through printmaking.
Drawing from over two decades of creative work, Ortiz’s practice weaves together personal narrative, archival memory, and traditional techniques across media, including lino block and intaglio printmaking, drawing, painting, and analog photography. Her work is grounded in the exploration of identity, cultural survival, and reclaiming space as an Indigenous Latina woman raised on the front range of Colorado.
Ortiz holds a BFA in Printmaking and Photography and an MBA in Marketing Data Analytics, which she uses to inform her art practice, consulting work, and community engagement. Her exhibitions and workshops create spaces where tradition and experimentation meet, spaces rooted in story, reflection, and collective healing.
Follow Liz and the Cornerstone Gallery for more announcements:
@madharepress
@cornerstone.foco
Katherine Valdez/Diverse Fort Collins
Business Spotlight
Bookstore On The Square, 113 Linden St., Old Town Square. 🏳️🌈LGBTQ & woman-owned indie bookstore hosting book groups, buy-back-used-book days, and more.
Persimmon, 251 Jefferson St., is a place for your morning coffee, lunch dates, evening dining, and all-day cocktails enjoyed with real food made by great people. Persimmon is the playful culmination of decades of hospitality hustling. Inspired to bring together his favorite things, founder Raffi Jergerian led the creation of the café and lounge. Open Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The Comedy Fort
Ali Sultan: Special Taping, Nov. 1, 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., $20
Ali Sultan returns to film his special in Fort Collins! He saw his first stand up comedian when he moved to America from Yemen at the age of 15. He grew the desire to go on stage, but first he needed to learn English.
Ali is the first professional Yemeni American comedian to be featured on television when Kevin Hart hand picked him to perform on Comedy Central’s Hart of The City. He filmed his half-hour comedy special in Dubai for Comedy Central Arabia. He was named both Best Local Comic and artist of the year by City Pages. He represented Minnesota and won the Best in The Midwest competition at Gilda’s LaughFest. His album happy to be here debuted at #2 on iTunes and can be heard on iTunes, Spotify, Sirius Xm and has over 700k streams on Pandora.
DiverseFortCollins.com is a website connecting people with resources and each other.
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