Leadville Boom Days is a three-day festival that celebrates mining heritage in Leadville, Colorado. Join us from the first full weekend in August each year for our mining heritage celebration!
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. Contests, dances, live music, gunfighter shows, kid-friendly activities, and other fun celebrations abound at this festive festival in North America’s highest-elevation city. Check out these 10 reasons you can’t miss it!
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 to 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 on bands, floats, antique cars, people dressed in Victorian costumes, burros, and more as they wind down historic Harrison Avenue!
3. MINING EVENTS
How would you like to hold a small sliver of 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 team mechanical jackleg drilling into a giant rock.
These events happen on Saturday and Sunday behind the Elks Lodge at 123 W. 5th St. throughout the day. Sunday sign the kids up for the children’s mining events!
4. VICTORIAN COSTUME CONTEST, PIE EATING CONTEST, EGG TOSS AND MORE
Following the start of the burro race sign up for the supporting contests on the courthouse lawn. Contests include: Pie eating, water balloon toss, egg toss and the favorite costume contest and mosey. All are welcome to participate!
Supporting contests take place on Harrison Ave. Sunday morning starting at 11 a.m.
5. MOTORCYCLE GAMES
Applaud acts of great skill at the motorcycle games. Plank rides, slow rides and team accuracy competitions with the ball drop and weenie bite.
The opening ceremony takes place on Friday at 5 p.m. on Harrison Ave, and the motorcycle games follow.
6. CAR SHOW
T.H.E. Boomin’ Auto Show boasts a little bit of everything – old, new, cars, trucks, motorcycles, tractors
The vehicles file onto Harrison Avenue following the parade on Saturday.
7. KIDS’ ACTIVITIES
Kids can pretend to be miners and play fun games!
Panning for gold and other children’s events take place on Saturday from 1-3 p.m.
Kids can hand muck (shovel gravel) and enjoy other mining activities to win prizes, starting on Sunday morning. 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.).
8. MUSIC & DANCE
Jam to live music with local bands on Saturday and Sunday at Zaitz Park, 612 Harrison Ave.
Boogie down at the Boom Days Dance in the Elks Lodge, 123 W. 5th St., on Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m.!
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.
And of course, please sample the delicious offerings from Leadville’s many restaurants!
10. GUN FIGHTER REENACTMENTS
Back by popular demand for 2025 are the Boom Days gunfighters! Putting on shows a block from the avenue at east 5th Street and Poplar on Saturday and Sunday!
While you’re celebrating Leadville’s mining heritage, take a history tour!
MUSEUMS & TOURS:
Visit Leadville’s many museums: The Heritage Museum, the National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum, the Tabor Home, and Temple Israel.
Take guided tours at the Healy House and Dexter Cabin and the Tabor Opera House
Pick up a Leadville Museum Passport from the Leadville/Lake County Visitor Center at 460 Harrison Avenue, visit at least four of the museums, and get a free Leadville-themed gift!
TRAIN RIDE:
Take in the views while learning about the history on the Leadville Railroad, trips depart daily at 10am and 2p
SEE A SHOW:
- Friday, August 1st – Presentation: Soiled Doves: The Working Women of Colorado’s Boom Days – 4pm at the Healy House and Dexter Cabin
- Saturday, August 2nd – Boom Days Talent Show – 1pm to 3pm at the Tabor Opera House
- Friday and Saturday, August 1st & 2nd – Live music at the Pastime Saloon starting at 9pm
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!
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