Peach Festival set for Aug. 17 in downtown Fort Collins 

FORT COLLINS — The Fort Collins Peach Festival will return to Civic Center Park in downtown Fort Collins for the second straight year.

Hosted by the Rotary Clubs of Northern Colorado and sponsored by a number of area businesses, the event will be held from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Aug. 17. The festival had been held downtown from 2017 to 2019 but was canceled in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was then staged at the Holiday Twin Drive-In for two years before returning to the downtown venue last year.

A change for this year is that entry to the festival will cost $10 for anyone age 12 and older, and a wristband will be required for anyone interested in purchasing alcohol on-site. Last year, admittance was free but the $10 charge was only for wristbands.

Proceeds from the festival will go back into the community as donations to local nonprofit organizations and to the Rotary Clubs of Northern Colorado.

This year’s festival will feature live music from four different local bands — Funky Business, 2MX2, Rumours and the Last Waltz All-Stars  — as well as beer from a variety of local breweries, and street vendors ranging from food trucks to boutiques and local service providers.

A children’s pie-eating contest will be held at center stage from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m., with pies donated by Ginger & Baker.

Sponsors of this year’s festival include the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District, Ed Carroll Motor Co., Colorado Iron & Metal Inc., Cline Williams Wright Johnson & Oldfather, Robert Sanderson, Brown & Brown Insurance, Breeze Thru Car Wash, UCHealth, Banner Health MD Anderson Cancer Center, Brayden Automation and OTM. Sponsorships are still available, and those interested in participating can find more information online at https://fortcollinspeachfestival.com.

The festival traces its roots to 2010, when the Fort Collins Breakfast Club and the 1918 Fort Collins Club partnered to host Pigs ‘N Pits, which included a peach sale and barbecue as well as a five-kilometer run. After the success of that event,  the four Fort Collins Rotary club presidents decided they could raise more money and promote Rotary’s ideal of “Service Above Self” if they all worked together on one big event.

The peach festival made its debut the next year at the Gardens on Spring Creek, drawing more than 3,000 people and creating the demand for a new and bigger venue.

Rotarians approached Colorado State University about moving the event to Hughes Stadium, and the 2012 event there drew more than 8,000 attendees. Those numbers continued to grow, with 10,000 in 2013, 12,000 in 2014, 15,000 in 2015 and 17,000 in 2016.

With CSU’s decision to build an on-campus football facility and demolish Hughes Stadium, the festival began a three-year run at Civic Center Park until being shut down in 2020 because of the pandemic.

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