Sheridan Celebrates

Sheridan City Hall stands at 4101 S. Federal Blvd., on the southwest corner of Oxford Avenue and Federal Boulevard, south of Highway 285, in a city its own government describes as “two square miles.” On one Saturday each September its front lawn becomes the grounds of Sheridan Celebrates, a parade and festival held since 1990. The city counts down by its deliveries. Banners went up in late August 2026, and three days before the festival the city posted: “When the big bales are delivered you just know Sheridan Celebrates Parade and Festival is right around the corner!”

Burritos, Aardvarks, and the Children’s Parade

The 2026 festival, the 37th, fell on Saturday, September 26, under the theme “Cultures of Colorado.” The morning opened with breakfast burritos sold on the City Hall lawn. The city listed them from 9:00 to 10:30 a.m. and the day from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Scott Gilbert, writing in the Littleton Independent, put the burritos at 8:30 and the start of the day at 8.

By Gilbert’s account, at 9:45 the Rocky Mountain Aardvarks played family-friendly music in front of Sheridan High School, 3201 W. Oxford Ave., then led the Children’s Parade at 10:45. The city sets that parade for children 8 or younger, with free registration at the high school’s front entrance at 10:30. Sheridan spokeswoman Wendy Brockman described the day’s aims to Gilbert: “Our intention is always family-friendly. We have a children’s parade for kids fourth grade and younger. There’s a pee-wee play park, free tattoos, a bouncy house and a children’s obstacle course, plus Kona ice and hotdogs.”

A mile and a half, partly uphill

The Grand Parade steps off at 11 a.m. from the parking lot of Fort Logan Northgate School, 4000 S. Lowell Blvd. It runs north on Lowell, east on Milan Avenue, south on Federal past City Hall, west on Oxford, and north on Lowell again to where it began. The route is slightly over 1.5 miles, and some stretches are uphill. In 2026 Oxford was closed from 10 a.m. until the parade ended. The judges and the announcer sit near the corner of Oxford and Federal.

The entries in 2026 included floats, decorated bicycles, walking groups, car clubs, vintage vehicles, horses, and political units. The rules show up from the curb:

• Candy and other giveaways go to spectators by hand from people on foot, and nothing is thrown.
• Confetti, streamers, and glitter are banned because they are difficult to clean up.
• Each horse carries one rider, and each rider must own the horse.
• Riders under 18 stay seated on floats.
• Amplified sound must not carry beyond 30 feet of the unit.
• The parade is smoke- and vape-free.

Entering is free, and no cash prizes are paid. Recognition goes to floats, equestrian, walking, and vehicular entries and is posted at the Main Stage and the info booth by 2 p.m. City photographs of the 2025 parade show a walker in whimsical costume and the Sheridan cheerleaders.

Afternoon on the lawn

After the parade the crowd moves to City Hall. From noon to 3 p.m. in 2026, Ronnie Raygun and the Big 80s played on the lawn. On the same ground and at the same hours, “Colorado Territory” offered a hands-on look at local and regional history.

The booths hold local businesses, vendors, community groups, and civic organizations, along with the Westernaires and a display of Corvettes. Children also had inflatables, life-size games, and crafts. The city’s advice is to bring cash for the food vendors and the adult beer garden. Two days afterward the city wrote of “a wonderful afternoon on the city hall lawn September 26 with our Sheridan families.”

Roger Rowland’s festival and the Silver Screen

The festival is run by the Sheridan Celebrates Committee, an ad hoc committee of the City of Sheridan. It meets most second Thursdays at 6 p.m. at the Sheridan Recreation Center, 3325 W. Oxford Ave., and more often as September nears. Its event coordinator in 2026 was Jean Ray. She held the same title in September 2014, when she wrote up the twenty-fifth festival for the city’s newsletter, the Sheridan News.

That issue gives the founding. Roger Rowland served as Sheridan’s mayor for six years and then spearheaded the first Sheridan Celebrates in 1990. On Saturday, September 27, 2014, he returned as grand marshal for the 25th anniversary, themed “Sheridan Celebrates the Silver Screen.” That year the parade began at 10 a.m. The day opened with a pancake breakfast whose proceeds went to the school district’s PAWS organization. The newsletter’s calendar placed the breakfast at Sheridan High School from 7 a.m., and Ray’s front-page story placed it at Sheridan Middle School from 7:30.

Ray’s story also listed the 2014 parade entries:

• the VFW Color Guard
• the Colorado Clowns
• the Lakewood Riding Club and the Buffalo Bill Saddle Club
• Ms. Colorado Senior America
• the ARC Thrift Stores Bluebird ARC-estra
• the Twirlettes
• performers from the Sheridan schools

“Horse riders are always a part of the Sheridan Celebrates parade,” a caption noted.

On the Main Stage from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. were Chris Daniels and the Kings, whom the newsletter called Grammy nominees. It quoted Billboard on the band’s following in the Netherlands, “where they’ve even coaxed the nation’s queen to shake her royal booty.” A digital photo booth called TapSnap stood on City Hall’s front porch. The newsletter counted more than 80 vendor booths, along with a beer booth, food trucks, and the bounce house, already listed among the popular features.

At 12:30 p.m., up to 20 Sheridan students in third through fifth grade took the stage. Over three free evening classes with CYT Denver they had learned a dance to “Happy,” from Despicable Me 2.

After the festival closed at 3, the VFW Auxiliary marked its own 50th anniversary with a dinner and dance at VFW Post 9644, 2680 W. Hampden Ave. Ten dollars bought a Mexican dinner, iced tea, and dancing to the duo Bryce & Cindy, playing music from the ‘50s through Motown and country. The newsletter described the evening this way: “It’s like listening to a live jukebox.”