Music of the Mountains: Gilpin County Fair 2026 (with Marilyn Ashmore)

The 2026 Gilpin County Fair is coming to Black Hawk from July 17th to 19th, and to prepare for the event, we talked with volunteer organizer Marilyn Ashmore to talk about the fair and what to expect!

Our theme song is courtesy of singer-songwriter Brittney Wagner. Stream her record Better off Dead here.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:29

Hello there, everybody. My name is Jamie Lammers and welcome to Music of the Mountains, Where to Be and What to See, a weekly series brought to you by the Mountaineer Podcast. This weekend, Gilpin County will be hosting the Gilpin County Fair from July 17th to July 19th. And this event will feature plenty of live music. A few days ago, I talked with Marilyn Ashmore about the upcoming acts performing at the Gilpin County Fair. Before we cut to my interview with her, here is an announcement brought to you by our sponsor. Since 1932, Central City Opera has been one of Colorado's favorite arts traditions, bringing world-class talent to a 19th-century opera house in historic Central City. This summer, the CTO is celebrating the 70th anniversary of our world premiere of The Ballad of Baby Doe. The show tells the scandalous historical love story of silver baron Horace Tabor, who left his wife Augusta for Baby Doe, a performance which rocked Denver society and today remains a staple of Colorado history. You can also catch the Marriage of Figaro, Masterclass, and CCO in concert this season, with a cast featuring talent from the Met, San Francisco Opera, and beyond. Tickets start at $32, and seats are going fast, so don't miss out. The festival runs June 27th through August 2nd. Visit centralcityopera.org to learn more. And now let's cut to me and Marilyn. All right. Do you mind just introducing yourself real quick?

SPEAKER_00 2:07

Yes, and this is Marilyn Ashmore. I'm a volunteer with uh Friends of the Community Center. And this year, I'm coordinating for my fifth year the activities under the Big Top at this year's Gilpin County Fair.

SPEAKER_02 2:19

Fantastic. This is actually clarification partially for for me as well. The the Big Top is, I'm assuming, the stage in the area.

SPEAKER_00 2:27

Yes, it's an outdoor stage. It's a very large um tent, and we have a stage set up with a dance floor, plenty of tables, a lot of shade, which we also need at the fair. A lot of the food vendors are directly in front of the big top, and the mining competition is next door to it. So it's a busy place.

SPEAKER_02 2:44

Fantastic. And yeah, the Gilpin County Fair is coming up. As you said, you've been organizing a lot of the stuff at Big Top. And so there's going to be a lot of great music. And what's been being organized on your end in terms of the shows coming up?

SPEAKER_00 2:57

Well, we've started last October, right after the fair, and throughout the year, we started contacting the band members who came last year. And we we've actually doubled in size in the number of performances we'll have this year. So I've been working on it since January. We're fine-tuning everything with equipment and all of the needs for parking and various ways to set up. But we're so excited for the live music that we're gonna have. It's three whole days. This is the first time we ever had it on Friday for live music. So that's one of the biggest improvements, I think, is that it's gonna be a full afternoon of really great bands. Actually, Derek Hall and the possibilities, Derek is from Golden. His group is coming out starting at 1230, and he's followed by KC36. Bruce Lish and I have been talking for months, and both of those bands are a full steam ahead and great performers, and we want people to come out and listen and dance. So uh come on out on Friday and come back on Saturday and Sunday.

SPEAKER_02 3:51

Amazing. You mentioned that you've been planning this since October and that this is your fifth year doing the being involved in the Gilpin County Fair. What's what's it been like over the last five years kind of helping with a lot of the organization process here?

SPEAKER_00 4:02

Well, in the organization, the fair committee is developed um with people who want to volunteer that extra amount of time to start meeting once a month leading up to all the activities. So I join a big group of uh fair committee people. But my first year was actually to attend and to walk around and see what was going on in the arena, the barn, the the front activities with children, and just get a feel for it. And the next year I realized the most important thing in any event plan and to facilitate it for the public is your core of volunteers. And we're still looking for volunteers to help us produce this. A three-day event is a huge, huge opportunity for people to feel um welcome and to feel appreciated and to know they're doing something for their community. We're in our 33rd year and 34th actually, I think this year. So Gilpin County's been putting on the fair for a long time. But I think the volunteer core was what grasped my attention and I moved on from that to the music arena and you know those things that were an exciting part, but maintained my relationship with volunteers. I think that's the most important part of the whole thing is it's all volunteer driven with the great staff at the Parks and Recreation Department.

SPEAKER_02 5:07

For sure. What in general are you excited about for this year's Kilpin County Fair?

SPEAKER_01 5:12

What's coming up that that you're really excited for people to check out?

SPEAKER_00 5:15

Well, on Saturday we have a full day with Joe Wren and the Roadies performing live group on the Curtis Brothers band out of Denver. Windy Pines, they're a local group that a lot of people have enjoyed over the years. Justin Devine is coming from Franktown, Colorado. He is our beat performer featured for the evening of Saturday. The Peak to Peak Corral will join us Sunday morning along with Derek Hall again. A Cowboy Gathering Western Performances, that's a big addition this year. This is a group that meets statewide. They've been in operation for many, many years. And some of their Western performers do poetry, storytelling, music. They play some of the old instruments. The Jimmy Lewis tribute band with Robbie Wicks will be with us on Sunday. And Melissa and the Mountain Players. Melissa's coming all the way from Tennessee. She's going to rejoin with some of her former board members like John Bridwell and his son. And I think that what we've got pulled together is a wide variety of blues, songwriting, storytelling, poetry, jazz, bluegrass, just about everything you want, and a dance floor to enjoy it.

SPEAKER_01 6:14

Amazing. Was there any particular theme, I suppose, or or general idea with who you scheduled this year or who you reached out to?

SPEAKER_00 6:22

Well, we're actually celebrating history. So we're celebrating history. We're we're going back in time and talking about all of the things that have made Gilpin County what it is since its establishment in 1992. The fair has actually been going on. So we're going to continue uh celebrating and it will be broadened by the fact that we're joining the whole nation in celebration 250 years.

SPEAKER_01 6:48

Amazing. What do you hope people kind of take away from the fair? What are you most excited for for people to see in particularly this year's event?

SPEAKER_00 6:56

Well, there's so many facets to it, of course. My my end of it is talking about the music and it's going to be nonstop practically. But we've got tournaments going on for fiber and fabric arts. So we have a cornhole tournament. Mining competitions were added last year, and those competitions are for men, women, and children. They go on throughout the entire day for the two days, um, Saturday, Sunday primarily. A redneck relay, uh, we have a guilt and gourmet. We even have dog agility. We do allow pets to come. But more fun for the children, I think, and some young adults is the bungee bouncer and the mechanical bull. We have face painting for the kids, photo competitions, scavenger hunts, a lot of interactive games and activities. Our first responders will be there. And we couldn't do any of this without the support of our sponsors. We have quite a number of sponsors. We have them listed on on our website, and we would also enjoy announcing their names and come out and meet some of them because they've been with us for a number of years and we have some new ones to share. So, sponsors, thank you very much. We're grateful for you and you're allowing us to do so much more this year.

SPEAKER_01 7:55

Fantastic. Is there anything else that you kind of want people to know about the fair?

SPEAKER_02 7:59

Anybody else involved that you want to make sure gets uh shouted out, or just anything else you want people to know?

SPEAKER_00 8:04

Well, I really think that the event is planned starting with the parade in in downtown. Um that's gonna be on Friday morning. The 4-H Livestock show is a big thing because livestock in the 4-H is very important in Gilpin County. We're gonna have Stellar Trick Riders, draft horse teams, Roughstock Rodeo, Mutton Bustin, and if you haven't seen that, it's a thrill to watch for the young youngsters who want to get on top and and take a ride, and ranch rodeo. So um, if anybody has not been to the fair, I think this is the year to come for your first one and then keep coming back because we have a fabulous time. Parking is available not only on the grounds, but over at the baseball field. There's a church nearby. We'll have rides back and forth from the Justice Center. So don't worry about parking. If it looks a little crowded, just look around, check the maps out online, uh our website, and just come on out and have a great time. We're looking for good weather and and just a great time.

SPEAKER_01 8:55

Fantastic. Yeah, I don't know. I think I think those are the big questions that I have on my end.

SPEAKER_00 9:00

Well, that's great. And for those of you who want to participate in the competition for log splitting, I think we've had enough um trees falling down in the neighborhood, and maybe you could get out there and start how hacking at those logs because Axe and Snacks will be doing a competition, and you can come out and and see how strong you are to split some of those logs. So there's something for everybody, and we just hope everyone will come out and uh enjoy their community center, the parks and recreation in the county of Gilton. Fantastic.

SPEAKER_02 9:28

Sweet. Well, I really I really appreciate you taking the time to talk about the fair. This was really great.

SPEAKER_00 9:33

Well, thank you for um sponsorship also. We really appreciate Mountaineer through the years. We've uh gotten support to Austin and and we really appreciate you getting the word out and thank you for having me today just to chit-chat about it. There's so much more to learn. Come and visit me under the big top. I'll be there all weekend.

SPEAKER_01 9:49

Sweet.

SPEAKER_00 9:50

Don't forget the HCA pancake breakfast on Sunday morning, right after the Cowboy Church in the sur in the arena. The list goes on.

SPEAKER_02 9:58

Thank you so much, Marilyn, for coming on board and talking about the Gilpin County Fair 2026. The fair will be hosted on Friday, July 17th from 12 to 6 p.m., on Saturday, July 18th from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. And on Sunday, July 19th from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. It will be hosted at 250 Norton Drive in Blackhawk. To learn more about the fair, be sure to head to Gilpin dash fair-ascent dot base44. app the link to the website will be in the podcast description. Thank you so much, everybody, for tuning in to this week's episode of Music of the Mountains, Where to Be and What to See, brought to you by the Mountain Ear Podcast. I'll be back next week with another episode, and we'll be back again soon with more episodes of the Mountain Ear Podcast. Be sure to subscribe to the Mountain Ear today if you're interested in supporting local journalism. Head to our website at the MTNEAR.com and click on the subscribe button at the top of our home page to subscribe to our physical or digital editions of the Mountain Ear. You can also subscribe directly to the Mountain Ear Podcast wherever you get your podcasts Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music, Podchaser, and more. You can also find a full archive of our podcast episodes on our homepage at the mtnear.com by scrolling down to Mountain Ear Media, where you can also find our Facebook page, our Instagram at mtn.ear, and our YouTube channel. Finally, if you have any questions or inquiries about the paper or the podcast, be sure to reach out to myself at mediatheMountaineer.com, my co-host, Tyler Hickman at T Y L E R at the Mountaineer.com, our editor in chief Barbara Hart at infotemountaineer.com, and general inquiries at frontdesk at the mountaineer.com. We'll see you guys next time. Have a great rest of your day.