Denver County Fair Event Schedule

When the 2nd annual Denver County Fair opens its doors at the National Western Complex this Friday at 10 am, fair-goers should be preapred to pick their jaws up off the floor. A whopping 275 events will occupy 13 stages over the 3-day extravaganza, in addition to the 350+ booths filled with displays, activities, local handicrafts, food and more.

Special activities and highlights include daily Food Truck Roundup events, hourly performances by the blue, tattooed Enigma and ShowDevils on the new Freak Show stage, free balloon twisting and hourly magic shows for the kiddies, unicorn rides, numerous craft stations, and a giant operating model train display.

A plethora of local bands are on the docket – from harps to banjos to a Spinal Tap-like German heavy-metal band called Total Ghost. Other special guests include Charles Phoenix, returning with more Test Kitchen shananigans, and Ruby Ann Boxcar, who will serve up her own trailer park brand of hilarity with demos like “Cut Off Cookin’: Meals You can Make with no Electricity or Gas.”

This year’s food offerings warrant their own map and web page here  for the full line-up of wacky food events and offerings, including the return of Andrew Novick’s X-Treme Pancake Breaksfast on Saturday, and its new companion event, Andrew Novick’s X-Treme Burrito Breakfast on Sunday. A special Food Map will be available at this year’s fair, helping visitors pinpoint the location of the nearest funnel cake, corn dog or deep-fried twinkie. The Food Map also contains instructions on how to win a Blue Ribbon Foodie Award, which organizers describe as a “culinary scavenger hunt.”

The fair also features more than 70 Live Competitions ( notated in blue on the website and program book listings. ) These events allow attendees to spontaneously jump on stage and compete for blue ribbons in categories like “Speed Texting,” “Pie Eating,” “Rubix Cube Challenge,” Spelling Bees, Chess Tournaments and more.