Beer samplings, an art show, pride parade, farmers markets and the lifts are spinning again: Tricia’s Weekend Picks 6/17/22

Vail Craft Beer Festival

Treat your taste buds to the 6th annual Vail Craft Beer Festival this weekend at Ford Park. The festival, which is known as Colorado’s highest altitude beer tasting in the state will feature more than 100 of the best craft beers, seltzers and ciders.

The event happens on Friday and Saturday and you may want to attend both sessions because they won’t be pouring the same samples on both days. Friday’s offerings will include specialty bottles from New Image Brewing and a Barrel Aged Imperial Red from Broken Compass Brewing Company.

Vail’s own Vail Brewing Company will be pouring this weekend as well as neighboring ski town breweries like Aspen Brewing Company and Broken Compass Brewing Company, The Bakers Brewery and 10 Mile Cider from Summit County. There are also a ton of breweries from the Front Range and Grand Junction. Breweries that are traveling the farthest to participate include Silver Moon Brewing out of Bend, Ore. and Baja Brewing Company from Mexico. A full list of pours can be found here.

---

---

Music will be a part of the festival also. Jubilingo, a blues, rock and funk quartet out of Denver will play on Friday. On Saturday, Vail-based Brother’s Keeper will be playing with Bill McKay.

There’s a charitable side of this as well. A portion of the proceeds from the ticket sales will support Vail Valley Mountain Trail Alliance, which supports the maintenance and construction of sustainable mountain biking and hiking trails throughout Eagle County.

---

---

For tickets, search for Vail Craft Beer Classic in Eventbrite and for more information on the event, go to VailCraftBeerClassic.com.

Vail Arts Festival

The 37th annual Vail Arts festival returns to the Lionshead Mall and Arrabelle Square for a three-day outdoor art show featuring over 60 artists from all over the country, representing 22 states. Spend some time exploring the creativity of all sorts of mediums like ceramics, paintings, photography, sculpture, jewelry, digital art, drawing, fiber, glass, graphics and printmaking, metal works, wood, mixed media and even fashion as art.

This show gives attendees a chance to speak to the artists about their works, techniques and inspirations. Some artists may even be currently working on a project, so you may be able to view the actual creative process up close.

---

---

The 60 artists were selected from 185 applications. There will also be emerging artists present, who are artists who won a contest and the prize was to be featured and possibly discovered at this art show. Kids will be awarded, too. There is a youth art contest and a special zone called Kids Creative Kingdom where children can create their own masterpieces.

Stop by after a hike or bike ride on Vail Mountain or before heading to dinner. There will be some live, strolling entertainment at the venue, also.

This event is free and parking in the Lionshead and Vail Village parking structures are free during the day. Stop by on Friday and Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, go to DiscoverVail.com.

Vail Farmers Market and Art Show

The Vail Farmers Market is celebrating 21 years in Vail on Meadow Drive. The event started with a few tents and now has grown to around 150 tents for 16 Sundays of the summer with the last market being held on Oct. 2.

This year there are 20 new vendors and there will be 10 farms taking part.

Newbies include Mountain Mud Ceramics, street corn at Elevated Elite, Charlie’s Texas BBQ, hand-dyed luxury silk scarves, Dang Sweets with amazing treats for all, Flower Hound and Rich Brownies to name a few.

Plan to spend some time going through the market, which lines East Meadow Drive and Willow Bridge Road. Plan to spend some time at the market and with plenty of food vendors, you won’t go hungry. There will be a variety of food fare including Mexican, Italian, Thai food, barbecue, seafood, pastries, nuts and sweet treats.

Need a present for a wedding or a birthday? How about a hostess gift? The Vail Farmers Market and Art Show is a great place to find gifts. From practical to whimsical, there’s something for everyone. Shop local and support the market on Sundays from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. For more information, go to VailFarmersMarket.com.

Pride in the Park

For the third year, Pride in the Park will return to Avon to embrace, strengthen and celebrate the diversity of the LGBTQIA+ community. Mountain Pride aims to do this across the mountains of Colorado through education, connection and advocacy.

12 p.m.: Yoga with JP – bring your own yoga mat and water

Mountain Pride has been hosting events all week long like their game night at Color Coffee in Eagle, a give-back day at Mountain Valley Horse Rescue in McCoy, a drag queen story time at the Bookworm in Edwards and a pre-party at Root and Flower in Vail.

Saturday will be filled with activities at Nottingham Park in Avon for Pride in the Park:

1 p.m.: Pride Day Kickoff

2 p.m.: Drag Show Tease-Her

3 p.m.: Pawshion Show – a fashion show for dogs with prizes

4 p.m.: Out and Proud Drag Show

5 p.m.: Pride Parade

6 p.m.: Dance Party

On Sunday, there will be a Drag Queen Brunch at Vintage in Vail Village. There will be two drag shows at 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. with drag performers from Vail, Denver, Grand Junction and Dallas featuring Byby Jones, Camila, Lexi, Hydra Hacienda, Andres Jones and Manlio Jhovvani. Music provided by Joe G and Dani Dubs. Visit Vintage-Vail.com for more information and reservations for brunch.

For more details, go to MountainPride.org.

Lifts open at Vail and Beaver Creek

The lifts at Vail and Beaver Creek will be spinning again this weekend, giving people access to the beauty and splendor from a higher vantage point than the valley floor. Vail’s Gondola One (No. 1) in Vail Village and the Eagle Bahn Gondola (No. 19) in Lionshead will open for daily operations on Friday and the Centennial Express (No. 6) will open on Saturday.

Go for a scenic ride and hang out at the top, or give your legs a break from hiking or biking up the hill and let the lift do the work. Bike haul tickets are available at the ticket office, allowing you and your bike to travel on the lift together.

Epic Discovery will provide access to select offerings at Eagle’s Nest at the top of the Eagle Bahn gondola. Get your tickets at the base in Lionshead for the Forest Flyer Mountain Coaster, Eagle’s Nest Tubing Hill, Marmot Mini Kid’s Tubing Hill, kids zipline, bungee trampoline, Paramount Peak Climbing Wall and more. Gore Creek Mini Golf will be available at the Lionshead base area.

The Vail and Lionshead gondolas will access mountaintop food and beverage at MidVail and Eagle’s Nest, respectively. You can even hike or bike between the two if you want to check out both areas via the hiking and biking trails. Vail’s lifts will be open from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Beaver Creek Mountain can be enjoyed as well, take the lift up to Spruce Saddle for some barbecue and other great eats. While you are up there, enjoy lawn sports like corn hole and volleyball while taking in the views of the Gore Range. At the base you’ll find gemstone panning, mini golf, bungee trampoline and more.

Trails on both mountains are marked for hikers and bikers and degree of difficulty, with green circles being the easiest, blue squares indicating more advanced trails and black diamond trails marked as expert terrain.

All lifts will run daily through Labor Day and then weekends only until Sept. 25 for Beaver Creek and Vail’s lifts will run Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays until Oct. 2. If you purchased your Epic Pass for the 2022-23 winter season, you can use that to access the lifts this summer. For more information go to Vail.com and BeaverCreek.com.