A curated weekly roundup of the most interesting events and happenings in the Aurora metro region. Got an occasion worth featuring? Send it to news@sentinelcolorado.com.
Día De Los Muertos 5k
9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Nov. 1, Stanley Marketplace, 2501 Dallas St. Entry is $30. Visit the Cheluna Brewing Co Facebook page for additional information.
Halloween will surely look a bit different in 2020, though the year that will seemingly never end has been a horror show since, oh, about March. But that doesn’t mean you can’t partake in some Halloween festivities on Oct. 31. Just do so in the privacy of your own gosh darn home with own gosh darn mask on. There shall be no parties. Repeat: There shall be no parties. But let us be clear: You can still drink whiskey by yourself in your Chewbacca onesie. And if that is the case, you may want to cleanse the ol’ system come the sunlight hours of the first day of the 11th month of the year. Enter Cheluna Brewing Company’s five kilometer jaunt this Sunday morning. It’ll look a bit different than your standard road race — no water station and runners will start in designated blocks — but your weary liver may thank you for turning on the sweat nozzles the morning after you drunkenly do “The Monster Mash” in the mirror by yourself for six hours. To each their own.
Family Wildlife Workshop at Plains Conservation Center
11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Oct. 31, Plains Conservation Center, 21901 E. Hampden Ave. Entry is $12 per person. Visit the Plains Conservation Center Facebook page for more information.
It’s no secret that local children are being taken in and out of in-person school faster than a reporter’s head will snap at the mention of the phrase, “There are doughnuts in the breakroom.” Keeping tracking of which local district has kids in school, learning from home or some combination in between is a hellish morass that seems to change with the daily tides. Whether the next generation is learning at all in this hurricane of nebulousness is another question entirely. To make up for that vague forecast of education, The Plains Conservation Center is hosting an educational summit on things creepy and crawly at the east Aurora haunt this Saturday. Tailored to children ages 4 to 10, the workshop will focus on snakes, spiders and umpteen other critters that call the prairie home. Halloween-themed crafts will also be available, so come steeled to let those creative juices — and glitter — fly.
Colorado Day of the Dead Festival 2020
4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Oct. 30, Oct. 31 and Nov. 1. La Plaza Colorado, 15200 E. Colfax Ave. Tickets purchased at the door are $15 for adults and $7.50 for children. Tickets may be purchased in advance at discounted rates on eventbrite.com.
When someone says “this will be the largest altar display in the country,” color our interest piqued. Such is the case for the annual Day of the Dead Festival set to be held on Aurora’s stretch of East Colfax Avenue starting this weekend. Organized by Norberto Mojardin, the event will feature a smattering of local vendors and tienditas to peruse while remembering and honoring family members on this annual celebration of ancestors. As is the case with all goings-on in 2020, the event will look a bit different this year, with designated time slots for attendees to enter the parking area near the intersection of Colfax and Chambers Road. Search for the event on Facebook for more information. And if you can’t make it this weekend, the same event is slated to be held in the same spot next Friday, Saturday and Sunday, too.
Candy Crawl at Town Center at Aurora
11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Oct. 31, Town Center at Aurora, 14200 E. Alameda Ave. Entry is free. Pre register for the costume contest by emailing sarah.smith@washingtonprime.com before the event.
Here’s the thing: There’s no such thing as too much candy. Just ask the countless dentists who may say otherwise, but are not-so-coyly rubbing their hands together waiting for those sweet, sweet cavities to manifest in mouths across the metroplex in the early weeks of November. Dentists need to pay their mortgages and send their kids to wildly overpriced colleges, too. And luckily for all the ravenous ghouls and goblins — and dentists — out there, the Town Center at Aurora is serving up a chance to double down on your intake of high fructose corn syrup this weekend. The central Aurora mall is hosting a dual trunk-or-treat and costume contest this Saturday complete with prizes for the best dressed junior denizen. The contest is broken into age groups maxing out at 12 years old, and rewards creative togs with Chik-Fil-A gift cards. Visit the mall’s Facebook page for additional information, and launder those pill cases now.
Carne y Arena (Virtually present, physically invisible)
Daily at Stanley Marketplace Oct. 23 through January. 2501 Dallas St. Tickets are $35 and can be purchased at denvercenter.org.
Ok, we get it: There’s a lot going on at Stanley Marketplace this weekend. There always is. In other news, the sky is freaking blue. But this one seriously caught our attention. Oscar-winning director Alejandro G. Iñárritu — yes, the same dude who brought you “Birdman” — is staging a virtual reality exhibition focusing on refugees right here in north Aurora. For us old-timers, it’s rather mind-bending that an exhibit that debuted at the gosh darn Cannes Film Festival is setting up shop in Bob Stanley’s once derelict airplane hangar. The show is intended to muddy the lines between subjects and bystanders, immersing participants into the narrative centered on the stories of Central and Mexican-American refugees. Color us intrigued. If you can’t make it for the opening this weekend: Fear not. The show will be up through early 2021.
Halloween Drag Party at Peak to Peak
11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Oct. 31, Peak to Peak Tap and Brew, 16701 E. Iliff Ave. Visit the brewpub’s Facebook page for more information.
There’s nary an Auroran who would argue that 2020 has not dragged on and on and on and on and on and on and … you get it. This marathon hellscape of a year has been one for the record books for just about all the wrong reasons. The plagues of Egypt have hit a bit too close in this particular revolution around the sun. But the team at Peak to Peak is providing a welcome respite for the overall draginess of this calendar cycle: more drag. The Aurora brewpub is hosting an all-day drag bonanza this Halloween complete with a costume contest starting at 6 p.m. and the release of a new caramel apple ale. Brush up on your favorite Ru Paul techniques before Saturday and gird those toes for nearly 12 hours in heels: this particular jamboree runs from 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Halloween at the Autism Community Store
10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Oct. 31, The Autism Community Store, 14095 E. Exposition Ave. Participation is free. Visit the Autism Community Store Facebook page for more information.
The team at the Autism Community Store has been serving up a veritable bevy of cultural offerings this fall, and Halloween isn’t any different. The Aurora haunt is offering a full day of Halloween-centric activities this Saturday, from pumpkin painting, a trunk-or-treat and movies. The full schedule is outlined on the outpost’s Facebook page, but we’re most excited for a public showing of “It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown,” starting at 6:30 p.m. Word has it that particular piece of cinema has been hard to find on the standard boob tube this year, so we’re particularly excited that the classic story of Mr. Schulz’s crew will come off the shelf in 2020. We could certainly use a dose of levity in these dour times. A screening of “Hotel Transylvania” follows at 7:15 p.m.
Mask Party at Dry Dock
7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Oct. 31, 15120 E. Hampden Ave. Entry is free. Visit the Dry Dock Facebook page for more information.
They may not have quite realized it, but local residents have been preparing for Halloween 2020 for the past seven months. Now, they can finally swap those bland blue masks for, oh say a classic Michael Myers, Ghostface, or maybe one of those old political lampoonings made famous by the rubber mug of Mr. Dick Nixon. The Dry Dock Brewing Co. crew is hosting a “mask-erade party” this weekend, leaning into the era of covid restrictions while still boogying for the end-of-fall holiday honoring all things spooky. The event enroucagres beer swillers to come wearing their most unique mask. With prizes offered for the most outrageous face coverings. (But let’s please keep things somewhat PG and PC, people. Somewhat.) Bartenders will also be serving candy flights paired with various Dry Dock oat sodas. Cheers, and boo, too.
Fall Season Fest at Fritzler Farm Park
Times vary on weekends through Oct. 31. Fritzler Farm Park 20861 County Road 33, La Salle. Tickets are $17 beforehand and $20 at the door. Visit Fritzlerfarmpark.com for more information.
Well, it’s that time of year, folks. We’ve peeled back the calendar to the season of obligatory photos of tots in costume beside orange gourds. What a strange world we live in. And sure, there are plenty of decent pumpkin patches and pumpkin beer offerings across Aurora’s three counties, but with sunshine in the forecast this Halloween weekend, why not make the drive up to Weld County to catch a slice of northern Colorado life? The Fritzler Farm park is offering up a pumpkin patch, photo ops, corn mazes, grub and a scream park after dark all month long. Sure it’s a bit of a trek up Route 85, but there’s something about driving that stretch of road this time of year that just makes the miles fly by.