Leadville Boom Days is a three-day festival that celebrates mining heritage in Leadville, Colorado. Join us from Friday, Aug. 2 through Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024.

CHECK THE 2024 SCHEDULE

In addition to the best-known events—the burro races, a big parade, and the mining competitions—are plenty of other ways to celebrate Leadville’s history. Games, dances, live music and entertainment, kid-friendly activities, and other fun celebrations abound at this festive festival in North America’s highest-elevation city. Check out these 12 reasons you can’t miss it!

Photo: Diana Lange

1. BURRO RACES

What are burro races, anyway? Each team is made up of one runner leading a burro on a rope. Each burro carries a regulation pack with mining equipment. Leadville’s races leave from downtown Harrison Avenue on Sunday at 10 a.m. and 10:15 a.m. (15-mile course and 21-mile course). After a jaunt through the mountains east of town, teams begin returning around 1:15 p.m. (short course) and 3:30 p.m. (long course). Buy a ticket at the hospitality tent all weekend long and guess the winning burro!

2. PARADE

Leadville may be a genuine small mountain town, but its Boom Days parade is anything but small. Starting Saturday at 10 a.m., cheer bands, floats, antique cars, people dressed in Victorian costumes, dancing dinosaurs, burros, and more as they wind down historic Harrison Avenue!

3. MINING EVENTS

How would you like to hold a small sliver on steel vertically on a rock while your partner pounds it with a sledgehammer? Such is the breathless suspense of the doublejack mining competition, where teams do just that. Other competitions involve shoveling crushed rock into an ore cart and pushing it along a track and drilling into a giant rock. These events happen on Saturday and Sunday behind the Elks Lodge at 123 W. 5th St. throughout the day. See the 2024 schedule!

4. VICTORIAN COSTUMES

See people in 1880s finery in a costume contest on Harrison Ave. on Sunday morning starting at 11 a.m.

5. MOTORCYCLE GAMES

Applaud acts of great skill at the motorcycle games. The opening ceremony takes place on Friday at 5 p.m., and the motorcycle games start at 5:30 p.m.

6. SHOWS

The Annual Rod & Gun Club Show offers gun paraphernalia, ammunition, collectibles, firearms dealers, and arts and crafts Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. at the Sixth Street Gym. T.H.E. Boomin’ Auto Show boasts shiny cars on Harrison Avenue after the parade on Saturday.

7. KIDS’ ACTIVITIES

Kids can pretend to be miners and play fun games!

Panning for gold and other children’s activities take place on Saturday from 1-4 p.m. at the Leadville-Lake County Visitor Center at 809 Harrison St.

Kids can hand muck (shovel gravel) and enjoy other mining activities to win prizes, starting on Sunday at 10 a.m. Sign up begins at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday.

The littles can also enjoy good, clean fun with old-fashioned games–a pie-eating contest, egg toss, balloon toss, and more–starting on Sunday at 11 a.m. (register from 10-11 a.m.). 

See the 2024 schedule!

8. MUSIC & DANCE

Boogie down at the Boom Days Dance at the Elks Lodge, 123 W. 5th St., on Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m.! Jam to live music on Saturday and Sunday at Zaitz Park, 612 Harrison Ave.

: Diana Lange

9. CRAFT FAIR AND GREAT FOOD

A large food and craft fair all weekend offers everything from cowboy hats and handmade jewelry to hot, tasty turkey legs, old-fashioned sodas, and much, much more. Check out the many offerings!

Fun food options include Leadville Boom Days meals like a breakfast on the courthouse lawn and a Lion’s Club Beer Garden at E. 6th & Harrison streets. See the 2024 schedule.

And of course, please sample the delicious offerings from Leadville’s many restaurants!

10. MINING & HISTORY TOURS

While you’re celebrating Leadville’s mining heritage, take a history tour!

TABOR OPERA HOUSE SHOWS & TOURS:

Be sure to visit Leadville’s historic Tabor Opera House, which is being revitalized as a community hub for arts and culture! It’s part of the Colorado Historic Opera Houses Circuit!

For history of Colorado’s pioneering women, catch The Madams of Central Colorado on Friday at 7 p.m. Be sure to also attend a free talent show  on Saturday at 1 p.m.!

Take a guided tour of this elegant building on Friday at 11 a.m. or 1 p.m. or on Sunday at 11 a.m., 1 p.m., or 3 p.m.

TRAIN RIDE:

Book a Wildflower Special Train Ride (Saturday at 10 a.m.) or a regular daily ride on the Leadville Railroad.

MUSEUMS & TOURS:

Tour Leadville’s museums: The Heritage Museum, the House with the Eye, the National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum, the Tabor Home, and Temple Israel. Tour Healy House and Dexter Cabin at 10 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1 p.m., and 2:30 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. 

Pick up a Leadville Museum Passport from the Leadville/Lake County Visitor Center at 809 Harrison Avenue, visit at least four of the eight museums, and get a free Leadville-themed gift!

HISTORIC TWIN LAKES:

For a fun side trip, drive to Twin Lakes, just half an hour from downtown Leadville. Take the Twin Lakes Interlaken Boat Tour (reservations required) to an 1880s ghost resort. Visit the Red Rooster Visitor Center in the heart of the village, across from the Twin Lakes General Store. Take a walking tour of historic Twin Lakes village, and take time to relax at these sparkling glacial lakes.

VISITOR TIPS

See the 2024 schedule and event locations.

Here’s where to find a great place to stay the weekend for three full days of fun.

No dogs and no drones allowed at Leadville Boom Days, for everyone’s safety.

Happy Boom Days!