Labor Day weekend marks the end of another beautiful, sunny summer and one of the last three-day weekends for a while. So, it’s only appropriate that you go out with a bang – which you can do by checking out a Taste of Colorado 2015. It’s four days of stuffing your face with incredible food, listening to live music by award-winning musicians and being in the presence of half a million other people looking to close out the season right.

A Taste of Colorado kicks off on Friday, September 4, at 11:30 a.m. at the Civic Center Park in Downtown Denver. We’ll definitely be heading down, mostly because we don’t want to miss:

The food – More than 50 local restaurants will be serving up fresh, flavorful food throughout the festival. We’re talking Wild Game Gourmet Burgers that contain buffalo, wild boar, camel and alligator meat (among others), white chocolate raspberry cupcakes, Chicago-style hot dogs and cinnamon sugar popcorn, just to name a few items on the menu. Another bonus: lots of drinks to choose from – beers, soft drinks, teas, wines and vodka and gin. Check out the menu; you’re bound to see something that strikes your fancy.

The shopping – Great for the singletons, couples and families? That’s a hard thing to balance, but Taste of Colorado does it. Original art and hand-made jewelry booths create an opportunity to grab something that you won’t find in a mall, and the Arts & Crafts Marketplace offers face painting, temporary tattoos, henna, clothing and accessory booths and lots more. 

The music – It’s kind of a big deal. Incredible acts like multi-gold and platinum album-producing Kansas and Grammy-nominee and “Same Love” singer Mary Lambert are scheduled to rock out on the Taste of Colorado stages. Oh, and don’t forget about Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, who just released a new album last year and currently tour the world to continue delivering great music to their fans, decades into their career.

Come on, admit it: at least one of those options sounded like something you’d want to do with your time this Labor Day weekend. So, get a group text going and get your friends and family together to close out the summer.