Story: When Boulder is Bolder

In late May, a few beautiful things happen to Boulder, Colorado. First, most of the students move out, reducing the city’s population by nearly 20,000 and leaving the bars and restaurants less crowded and accessible for the exclusive enjoyment of residents and visitors. Second, regardless of how many late spring snow storms have surprised the city in the last couple months, the weather is invariably leaning toward the sunny and warm. Most importantly, however, the city prepares for its biggest annual celebrations: the Bolder Boulder 10k race and Boulder Creek Festival.

I recently returned from another Memorial Day weekend spent in Boulder, and was pleasantly reminded of what I have pretty much always known: this is the best time to see Boulder. On this trip, you see, I had the unique need of impressing a special certain “someone” that my hometown was indeed a beautiful and pleasant place to live and visit, and that those epic snowstorms that shutdown the airports and trapped us in Boulder two years ago were indeed an exception, and not the rule.

Let me also say that although I am a “Colorado Native” and lived in Boulder for nine years before leaving for college on the East Coast, returning to visit is in many ways an act of re-discovering a city I once thought I knew very well. After all, a city is a very different place for a teenager than for a twenty-something.

While our visit to Boulder was wonderful on numerous levels, I want to focus on the two real attractions that make Memorial Day weekend uniquely well-suited for a visit: the Bolder Boulder and the Boulder Creek Festival.

The Boulder Creek Festival

The Creek Fest is an annual rite of summer. For three days, the public park space along the Boulder Creek, the library parking lot, and the surrounding downtown streets are taken over for carnival games, local food, art displays, and a healthy dose of Boulder Hippie-ness. Most things are organic, will help you purge your body of toxins, boost your energy, and help you come into balance with your inner chi.

It’s also just a lot of fun. Bands play, people sponsor rubber duckies in an annual race (dumped in the Boulder Creek, with prizes for the first 50 finishers a few blocks downstream), and free samples are handed out in abundance.

Oh, and it’s free.

This year we enjoyed free samples of a number of different energy bars, sampled locally produced kombucha tea, sipped on the latest brews from Boulder Beer, and even test drove the hybrid Toyota Highlander, to see if it drove any different than Ellaine’s own Scottish SUV (it did – but it was also five years newer).

The Bolder Boulder

This massive event is one of the largest 10k races in the country, and attracts both truly talented athletes from around the world (who enjoy the challenge of racing at high altitude and the large prize-purse) and local runners/joggers/walkers alike. This year, 53,000 people participated, making it the largest Memorial Day event in the country.

It’s a good race, with a lot of happy spirits all around. Local schools send volunteers in abundance to hand out water, locals along the route camp out with music and cheers aplenty for those passing, and more than a handful of runners make sure to try and outdo each other in the absurdity of their costumes (ourselves included).

We decked ourselves out in full-body pink spandex we had left over from the Bay to Breakers in San Francisco the week before, and ran with Smurfs, Crayola Crayons, Pirates, and even a guy who managed to juggle while jogging for all 6.2 miles.

What Else to Do:

While the festival and race will keep you busy for a good amount of time, there is also plenty to see and do during the rest of the three-day weekend. Below I offer a few personal recommendations, but nothing close to a comprehensive list:

Nature:

* Chautauqua Park
* NCAR
* Eldorado Springs
* Views from Flagstaff Mountain

Local Attractions:

* Pearl Street Mall, including:
* Art Mart
* Into the Wind
* Boulder Arts and Crafts Cooperative

* Coors Brewery Tour
* Celestial Seasoning’s Tour
* CU Boulder Campus

What to Eat:

Breakfast:

* Moe’s Bagels

Lunch:

* Illegal Pete’s

Dinner:

* Southern Sun
* Old Chicago Pizza
* Dushanbe Tea House