Elevation Celebration (Conifer)

One weekend each summer, the stretch of Sutton Road in Aspen Park between the post office and the Community Center fills with vendor tents, three music stages, and hay bales set out for sitting. This is the Elevation Celebration, a two-day street faire that locals call El Cel. Admission is free for all ages, and it has been free every year. The 2026 faire, the 13th, ran July 25 and 26, from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Saturday and 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Sunday. The Canyon Courier counted nearly 100 vendors along the road and between 3,000 and 4,000 visitors. Cars stay away. Parking is at the RTD Park & Ride, with a shuttle up, and vehicles left on Holbrook Street or in the shopping plazas along Highway 285 are towed.

Three stages on Sutton Road

Music runs from open to close on the East Stage, the West Stage, and the Laidback Lounge. In 2026 the Courier counted 30 artists. Students from School of Rock Littleton opened the East Stage at 10:00 on Saturday morning. After them came Fleeting Matters, a band formed in 2009 whose guitarist Julie Kuhl and drummer Deon Kuhl have lived in Hilldale Pines for 30 years. Stray Dogs started in Conifer and now play out of Salida. Pretend Friend drove in from Wichita, Kansas, with progressive bluegrass. Saturday night ended with two acts. Young and Dead, a Grateful Dead tribute from Boulder whose members are in their early twenties, a few of them from Conifer and Evergreen, played the East Stage. The Tyron Benoit Band played the West Stage, where Benoit, a former Marine, plays zydeco with accordion over electric guitars.

The Laidback Lounge carries the smaller acts. Keir Royale, a Colorado magician of 20 years, advertised his “SAWING A KID” in 1/2 illusion for Sunday. Ovation West of Evergreen previewed its production of Anastasia. The Colorado Taekwondo Institute, whose campus has stood in the Conifer Marketplace for 17 years, sent a band of black belts that plays songs from the 1950s on while students of all belt levels demonstrate Moo Sul Kwan beside them. Sunday opened with brunch at the Lounge at 9:30 and a church service with music by Conifer Community Church on the West Stage at 10:00. The East Stage closed with Boogie Machine, a 1970s disco tribute in big hair and retro costumes. The 2026 faire took a 1970s theme, and the Courier reported disco bands and a good deal of tie-dye.

Food Row, the speakeasy, and the dunk tank

Between the stages stands a juried artisan market of Front Range makers. The faire’s own pages count more than 100 booths. Food trucks and a Food Row sell foothills favorites. In 2026 one booth, run by the Mountain Women in Business collective, offered sourdough bread, herbal tinctures, and a quick massage, and Sweet Leota Design Co sold laser-engraved tumblers and wide-brim hats.

The beer and spirits garden, 21 and over, pours from local breweries and distilleries. In 2026 the faire added a speakeasy near the Laidback Lounge. Guests got the password for its back door from vendors or from servers in the VIP tents, bought a bourbon tasting, and voted for a favorite. The organizers said they would buy a barrel of the winner to sell at Snowpack Taproom after the event. The VIP pass, $75 a day, bought a private tent, bar, and restrooms.

Children have the Kids Zone, with bouncy castles, face painting, balloon artists, and crafts. Next to it is the XtremeZone, with BMX and skate demonstrations, and a pop-up disc-golf course winds through the grounds. Neighbors decide who sits over the dunk tank. Nominations go up on an online board, and anyone may vote once per name each day. The site suggests “your principal, your fire chief, your favorite bartender.” In 2026 Kelly Beaulieu took the top of the final board with 135 votes, ahead of Mike Thompson with 130, and a Chief Ware placed fourth. The rules note that “being on the board is an invitation, not a sentence,” and that nominees “always get the final say (and a towel).”

The faire goes on in any weather. In the organizers’ words: “Rain, snow, or sunshine.” At midday on Saturday, July 25, 2026, lightning struck within five miles, and the faire shut down for 30 to 45 minutes. People were told to keep clear of metal poles and to shelter in the Aspen Park Community Center, in Aspen Park Wine & Spirits, or in their cars. At 1:05 p.m. the all-clear came and the music started again.

Eight thousand two hundred feet before the gates open

Saturday starts with the Elevation Run/Walk, which in 2026 held its 14th annual race, one more than the faire’s own count. The 10K starts at 7:30 a.m. and runs through the Aspen Park neighborhoods and out through Meyer Ranch Park. The USATF-certified 5K and a two-mile fun run start five minutes later, and the fun run is open to walkers and strollers. The course covers paved paths, dirt roads, and singletrack at an average running elevation of 8,200 feet. Those who stay in bed can enter the Big Snooze, billed as “the no-race race,” by donating. The run is produced by a separate nonprofit, the Conifer Lobos Unified Boosters, and its proceeds support Conifer High School athletics. The sponsorship pages also name the Conifer Area Council Trails as a beneficiary. Runners finish as the faire’s gates open.

From the Chamber to the Collective

The Foothills Community Collective now produces the faire. It is a Conifer nonprofit with no paid staff and no office, and it gives a post office box as its only overhead. It dates itself to 2012. On its own account, the collective “started with one event: a summer street faire on Sutton Road called the Elevation Celebration.” The Canyon Courier tells it differently. Its 2026 report says the collective took over El Cel in 2025 from the Conifer Area Chamber of Commerce and had organized it for two years.

Melissa Baker, the collective’s president, told the Courier that bringing Conifer and the surrounding area together has been the aim since the beginning. By her account, the faire is the only street fair held in Conifer each year. “Conifer doesn’t have a downtown like Evergreen or Pine,” Baker said. “It’s important that we provide ways for Conifer to connect.” She described families, old-timers, and newcomers meeting along Sutton Road over food, drink, and shopping. “Some people see each other once a year here,” Baker said.