HeidiTown.com on the radio – Mother’s Day Weekend in Colorado & Tips on Gifts for Mom

This post includes some exciting news! The new HeidiTown.com banners are at the printers, so look for one at a festival near you this summer.

HeidiTown_Banner

And now on to our regular scheduled programming… the following is the transcript from my weekly segment on KRFC 88. 9 FM.

If you’d rather listen to the audio, click here.

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Hi, my name is Heidi and I’m the Mayor of HeidiTown.com, a blog about events, festivals and travel around Colorado.

This weekend it’s all about our moms. Yes, Sunday is Mother’s Day and if that caught you off guard, I suggest you get those flowers ordered today!  But if you want to get her something unexpected, something she’ll never forget, I wrote a blog post last year with some suggestions.

Sometimes we get stuck in a rut when it comes to Mother’s Day, flowers and brunch, but how about getting her tickets to dinner theater? There are at least seven dinner theaters in Colorado, and there are some wonderful shows on stage currently, including “Oklahoma!” at the Candlelight Dinner Playhouse, “The Drowsy Chaperone” at Boulders Dinner Theater, and “The Sounds of Music” right here in Fort Collins at the Midtown Arts Center.

If your mom has a green thumb like my mother, you might consider buying her a pass to the Denver Botanic Garden, or better yet, get her a membership.  Or, get her tickets to the Butterfly Pavilion – this place is NOT just for kids.

Admiral butterfly on orange flower

Another outside the box gift might be classes“¦ has your mom expressed a desire to learn photography or pottery, or tango? My mother-in-law has always wanted to learn how to fly fish. Check with your local community college, rec center or chamber, to find a class your mom might enjoy.

Lastly, consider a gift certificate for afternoon tea at a fancy establishment like the Brown Palace in Denver or the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. Another tearoom to consider is The Boulder Dunshanbe Teahouse.

So there you have some Mother’s Day ideas that go way beyond flowers.

In last week’s segment I gave you a sneak peek ahead at some events happening this weekend including the Montrose Food & Wine Festival and the Downtown Art and Jazz Festival in Grand Junction.

This Friday, May 11, is Loveland’s Night on the Town. This 2nd Friday Art Walk has become a tradition in the artsy community and if you haven’t been lately, it’s a good time to go. New stores and restaurants are now open in downtown Loveland, including the Rialto Center. To keep tabs on everything happening in the art-friendly town, go to EngagingLoveland.org.

This is opening weekend for one of HeidiTown’s citizens’ favorite music venues in Colorado. The Mishawaka’s 2012 Summer Season opens in Bellvue, Colorado this Saturday with Head for the Hills kicking off the celebration. Doors open at 6 p.m. Go to TheMishawaka.com for the entire summer concert lineup.

Here’s something different, the Second Annual Aerial Acrobatics Arts Festival is this weekend at the Oriental Theater in Denver – a great venue by the way. The festival is the first of its kind anywhere and showcases aerialists from North American to be judged in two competitions. Even the audience gets to pick their favorite. To learn more about this highflying festival of skill and artistry go to AerialArtsFestDenver.com.

And from acrobats to beer… May 12 through the 19th is Colorado Beer Week. You may believe that every week is beer week in Colorado, and that’s true, but this is the official week where restaurants, bars, hotels and other venues around the state will be celebrating the drink that we Coloradoan’s like to think we invented… beer. Go to CoBeerWeek.com for details.

City Star Brewing Berthoud CO
City Star Brewing is now open in Berthoud, Colorado. (Photo by H.M. Kerr-Schlaefer, all rights reserved)

May 14th through the 20th is American Craft Beer Week, and in Northern Colorado you can participate in Beer Bingo. Pick up your bingo card at a participating brewery, and as far as I can tell, nearly all NoCo breweries from Berthoud’s City Star to all the big boys in Fort Collins are participating. Keep an eye on FermentedlyChallenged.com and CraftBeer.com for more information on American Craft Beer Week.

As the summer festival season goes into full gear, there’s no way to cover all the fun fests here on the radio show, so be sure to hook up with me at HeidiTown.com, join the town’s block party at Facebook.com/HeidiTown.comOnFB, follow me on Twitter @HeidiTown or circle the town on Google Plus.

Through those channels I can share with you even more things happening across Colorado.

I really do encourage you to try a new festival this summer. Whether it’s a celebration in your own community that you’ve never attended, or an event across the state, get out there and enjoy one of the greatest festival states in the union.

I’ve said it before and I will say it many times again – there are no excuses to be bored when you live in Colorado, and that’s why I love this place so much.

So until next week, I will see you online or at a festival near you!

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