BBQ Day

The day starts at 5 a.m. at the Johnstown fire station, with pancakes. BBQ Day is the Town of Johnstown’s annual celebration. It runs from that breakfast through a parade, an afternoon in Parish Park and the blocks around Charlotte Street and Parish Avenue, and a night of music and fireworks, and it costs nothing to attend. The 2026 edition was held Saturday, June 6, under the theme “America 250 - Colorado 150.” The theme marked the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and Colorado’s 150th year of statehood. The Johnstown Historical Society lists the next edition for Saturday, June 5, 2027.

Pancakes at five, parade at ten

The town calls the meal the Front Range Pancake Breakfast. In 2017 the Greeley Tribune described firemen serving pancakes, eggs, hashbrowns, bacon, sausage and coffee at the firehouse until parade lineup at 9 a.m. A 5K follows. For 2026 the Berthoud Weekly Surveyor gave its start as 7:30 a.m., and the town’s own page listed a 7 a.m. jog at Roosevelt High School. Registration for the YMCA Punt, Pass and Kick competition, for ages 6 to 15, opens at 7:30.

The parade steps off at 10 a.m. In 2026 it ran from N. Park Ave to N. Greeley Ave, and its entries competed on the anniversary theme. The town’s entry form lists the kinds of entries that come down the street: floats on single vehicles and on trailers, dance troupes and gymnastics teams, walking groups, and horses with buggies or wagons. Every horse-drawn entry has outriders, mounted or on foot. Riders on the floats do not throw candy. Walkers alongside hand it out and toss it to the sides of the road, away from the middle of the street, where children would run for it. The Historical Society’s 2026 float had an America 250 side and a Colorado 150 side and carried actors costumed as Martha and George Washington. “The parade itself is fantastic,” said Samantha Knowlton, the town’s communications manager. In 2017 the parade began at the corner of North 3rd Street and Telep Avenue, had more than 80 entries, and honored military veterans.

The Parish house at 701 Charlotte Street

While the parade forms, the Historical Society opens the Historic Parish House and Museum, the former home of the Harvey and Mary Parish family. The society’s listing for the 2027 edition offers free tours from 9 a.m. to noon of the house and its exhibits, among them “the famous meteorite crash of 1924.” The house is reached only by a flight of stairs. Visitors who cannot climb them can watch a short film of the interior and collections at the Visitor’s Center. From 11 a.m. the society keeps a booth in Parish Park with free handouts and commemorative keepsakes for sale. In 2025 it gave wagon ride tours.

Charlotte and Parish until four

The car show also opens at 10 a.m. and runs until 2 p.m. In 2026 it was in its third year, and registration to show a car had filled before the day. The registered cars compete for People’s Choice, Best in Show and Judge’s Choice, each with a cash prize, and the winners are announced at the close.

Local vendors and food trucks fill the Charlotte and Parish area through the afternoon. “We have tried to do our best to get a nice, diverse group of food trucks,” Knowlton said in 2026, and the trucks ranged from local businesses to larger operators such as Wing Shack. A DJ plays on the corner of Parish Avenue and Charlotte Street, and local dance acts take the stage. For children there are a sand pit, rock climbing and bungee trampolines. In 2017 the human-sized hamster balls of earlier years made what the Tribune called “a much-requested return.” The Backyard Experience was added in 2026: a cornhole tournament in the senior center parking lot, sponsored by The Backyard in Loveland. The local Lions club runs the annual Duck Race. The town’s entry page states its rules in full: “There is only one rule, ducks cost $50.00.”

Parish Park itself, at the corner of Charlotte Street and Raymond Avenue, has picnic shelters, a playground and a volleyball court. Downtown events end at 4 p.m.

The lawn at Roosevelt Middle School

At 7 p.m. the crowd moves to Roosevelt Middle School on N. Second Street to hear Colorado’s 6 Million Dollar Band. The Surveyor described it as a cover band playing hits from the 70s, 80s and 90s; the town promised “the best of 80’s covers.” The fireworks follow the band at the same school, after sunset. People are advised to arrive before dark to get a seat on the lawn. The town billed the show as “the best fireworks show on the Front Range.” “The fireworks are a big, big hit,” Knowlton said, and of the evening as a whole: “The highlight is probably the concert and the fireworks. It’s a big deal.”

The 2017 evening ran differently. Cafe Mexicali of Greeley served barbecue in Parish Park from 5 to 8 p.m. while the HomeSlice Band played. Roosevelt High School put on the play “Is There a Doctor in the House?” from 7 p.m. until the fireworks began at 9. “The fireworks this year is a little longer than last,” said Devin Davis, then in his sixth year as chairman of the Johnstown BBQ Day Committee.

Circus tents for the dairy herds

The celebration began in 1912 as Dairy Day, which the Tribune, citing the town’s website, called “something concocted by local farmers to promote dairy in the region.” Circus tents went up for cattle judging competitions. Farmers came to Johnstown from across the state with their families and livestock for entertainment, food, and talks by leaders of the dairy industry. The event has taken many names since. “Over the decades, it transitioned from Dairy Day into a community BBQ Day, serving as a signature event to welcome summer,” Knowlton said. A 2021 report on K99 radio called it “a community tradition in Northern Colorado since 1902.” The same report said organizers trace its origins to the 1912 Dairy Day, and it gives 1902 as the year Johnstown was formed, five years before the town incorporated.

By 2017, the 105th year, the vendor list had reached its limit of 80 and the crowd was estimated at 10,000. “The event is getting so big that we’ve had to turn vendors away,” Davis said. The 2020 celebration was canceled because of COVID-19, and BBQ Day returned on June 5, 2021. The town counted between 13,000 and 17,000 people in 2025 and expected 18,000 to 21,000 in 2026, by which time Johnstown had been ranked the 10th fastest-growing U.S. town with a population over 20,000. “For such a small town, it is such a big event,” Knowlton said.