Happy Wednesday, Scouts. Welcome to Edition IV of Scout & Tell. 

We're on the precipice of event season. Summer has wrapped, school is in session and that can only mean one thing: football and pumpkin spice lay ahead. 

The weirdest and wildest event to kick off the season is this weekend and it's none other than Tour De Fat. 

I dug into how the whole thing became such a Fort Collins institution, why there’s still no costume theme nearly 30 years later and what it takes to pull off controlled chaos on this scale.

Also in this week’s Scout & Tell: elk are getting loud, there’s a $4.45 million house to snoop through, adult kickball is calling and your weekend calendar is packed.

See you out there,

This Saturday, Halloween is coming early to Fort Collins. There will be costumes, bikes and tutus, but you better keep the candy at home until the ghosts and goblins are ready to frighten. 

One of the most celebrated days in the city's history is back. 

It’s Tour de Fat weekend in Fort Collins. If you’re new to town, buckle up, because this is not your average parade. Expect weird, expect quirky and most of all, expect the unexpected. 

The nut graf for those skimming while pretending to work: Tour de Fat kicks off Saturday morning with a costumed bike parade launching at 9:30 am from City Park, looping down Mountain Ave., and through Old Town until about 11:30 am. 

New Belgium's brewery opens at 11 a.m., with entertainment starting at high noon. This year's headliner is the art-pop project Tune-Yards. There will be plenty of games, music and contests. It's free, it's unticketed, and it is, by any reasonable definition, controlled chaos.

Why so weird? Because why not

New Belgium doesn't impose a costume theme on purpose, says Brian Bogan, New Belgium’s Event & Experiential Marketing Lead. The event is for everyone to dress up and let their freak flag fly. 

Bogan recalls one recent memory of a family dressed as dinosaurs. 

“There was a trailer with like a whole dinosaur kind of scene with an egg, and there was somebody's baby, dressed up in a dinosaur costume, just in the trailer, getting towed around."

He says bees are quite popular, but without a doubt, tutus seem to be at the top of the list for costumes. 

Maybe it’s because it allows the bikers to pedal with ease? 

Organizers just let participants do whatever it wants costume-wise, which is how you end up with a decades-long, entirely unexplained bee costume tradition. Bogan traces the whole philosophy back to an old line from a former boss: "If everybody's a freak, then nobody's a freak." 

Words to ride by.

A Fort Collins original, nearly three decades in the making

Tour de Fat started in 1999 and Bogan has personally worked more than 100 of these events across the country. 

He said, "It's this thing that's kind of undescribable, which makes it, I think, so cool." 

Not a concert. Not just a beer festival. Somewhere in between. And somehow bigger than both.

The event used to travel to cities all over the country. These days, it's down to two destinations: Fort Collins and Asheville, North Carolina, which is where the breweries are located. 

Tour de Fat isn't just an excuse to put on a cape and ride a bike (though it is very much that too). It's a fundraiser. 

Bogan says the event has raised more than $6 million for bicycle nonprofits in its history. The bicycle frenzy is raising money for just what you might think: trail building, bike co-ops, education programs and infrastructure work. 

This year's local beneficiaries include Bike Fort Collins, Overland Mountain Bike Association, Fort Collins Bike Co-op and Send Town Bike Club. 

Putting on a shindig like this is no easy feat. Bogan says they will have more than 400 volunteers working four hour shifts to help make this event happen. But don’t worry, every volunteer gets a free beer after their shift ends. 

The scale is genuinely wild for a Saturday in Fort Collins. Bogan puts the parade + crowd at somewhere around 25,000 to 30,000 people, with another roughly 15,000 moving through the brewery festival over the course of the day. 

How we ended up starting at City Park

The route has quietly evolved over the decades. Bogan says the earliest Tour de Fat parades launched right from the brewery, crossed College Avenue, hit Mountain Avenue, and looped back. 

From there it bounced through downtown, including stints at Washington Park and Civic Center Park, before organizers realized Mountain Avenue was really the heart of the thing. Eventually City Park became the launch point simply because it's a workable place to stage thousands of cyclists before the street closures kick in. 

No theme, make your own costume

If you're still scrambling for a costume, you’re certainly not the only one. 

Jessie Donaldson, owner of Brand Spanking Used in Old Town, has stocked up every single piece of flare you could imagine one might need to get weird for the event.

Before our interview started, she was in the back sorting through a pallet of new accessories for the weekend ahead. 

Her store, located at 227 S College Ave., has been a destination for Tour de Fat costumes since she opened her doors in 2009. 

In the front of the store, expect your normal thrift wear, but as you inch toward the back right, that’s when things start to get truly colorful. They’re stocked up with boas, crazy sunglasses, neon everything and every kind of hat you could imagine.

Even fezzes. 

Are you a last second shopper or did you simply forget Tour de Fat was happening this weekend? Donaldson said, “the brighter, the better” and suggested something breathable you can put over the top of your swim shorts or swimsuit.

After all, the weather report is calling for a high of 90 degrees on Saturday. 

In closing

Maybe that's the real reason Tour de Fat has stuck around for almost three decades: it's not really about the bikes, or even the beer. It's Fort Collins showing up as itself. 

Quirky and creative enough to pull off a day like this, friendly and outgoing enough to want thousands of strangers at the party, and respectful enough to make sure it stays safe and genuinely good for the community behind it.

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What’s not to love? My favorites include the orchard out back, the indoor gym AND basketball court but the outdoor patio with views for days really sticks the landing. 

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📚 Creativity Book Club: Bird by Bird — Blue Moose Art Gallery tackles Anne Lamott's classic at The Emporium, 10am–12pm. Details

🎱 Bingo Night — Free bingo and $1 wings at T Bar in Wellington, 6:30–9pm. Details

🎬 80s Movies Trivia — Free to play, prizes to win, at Cactus Grille, 7–9pm. Event info

🏃 Thursday Fun Run — Casual group run at Peculier Ales in Windsor, 6pm start. More info

🤘 Atomic Shine / Fell Harvest / Ghost of the Sun — Heavy rock and doom metal at The Atrium, 7:30pm, $12–15. Get tickets

💃 Country Swing Lesson — Free weekly lesson at Tom Davis Saloon, Loveland, 7–8pm, no partner needed. Details

🎸 Thursday Night Live: Road Pony — Country twang takes over Old Town Square, 7pm. Details

Friday, August 28

🖤 Emo Night Brooklyn — Late-night emo/pop-punk dance party at Aggie Theatre, 8pm. Get tickets

🌴 Coloradix & The Syrup — Reggae and ska night at Island Grill, 7pm. Details

🕺 Throwback Throwdown Dance Party — DJ Brian Howe spins decades of hits at Sky Bear Brewery & Pub, Loveland, 8pm. More info

🍄 Intro to Mushrooms — Basics of growing your own at Orion's Apothecary, 11am. Get tickets

🖼️ Connected by the Canyon: 50 Years Since the Big Thompson Flood — New exhibit opens at Loveland Museum, 11am–7pm. More info

🏍️ Realities Ride & Rally — Weekend motorcycle poker run benefiting local kids kicks off at Grimm Brothers Brewing (runs into Sat). More info

🤠 Wild West Weekend — Boot-scootin' dance party and Wild West fun at Jellystone Park, Estes Park (runs Fri–Sun). More info

Saturday, August 29

🩰 Henry Academy of Dance Showcase — Ballet to hip hop at the Lincoln Center, 6pm, $16–19.

🥕 Severance Farmer's Market — Weekly market at Blue Spruce Park, 9am–1pm. Details

🌷 Guided Gardens Tours — Casual stroll with Garden Ambassadors at Gardens on Spring Creek, 9:30–10:30am. Details

🧪 Intro to Tincture Making — Hands-on herbal remedies class at Orion's Apothecary, 3–4:30pm. Details

⛳ 8th Annual BK-Dub Golf Tournament — 18 holes, cart, and lunch at Boomerang Links, Greeley, 8am, $175/golfer. More info

 🦆 Fort Collins Rotary Duck Race — Rubber ducks race the City Park Pool lazy river, 11am. Details

🥁 Tour de Fat Dance/Drum Party — Community drum circle on Mountain Ave, 9:30am–12pm. Details

🥕 Windsor Farmers Market — Vendors, food, and live entertainment at Boardwalk Park, 8am–12:30pm. More info

🏍️ Veteran's Memorial "Poker" Run — CVMA ride from Thunder Mountain Harley-Davidson, Loveland, registration 8am. More info

🐕 Agility For Fun — Low-pressure agility class for dogs, Fort Collins, 9–10am. Details

🎤 Emo Night Karaoke — Live band-backed karaoke at Sound Bar, doors 7pm. Get tickets

🛍️ The Berthoud Market — Community market at Berthoud Town Park, 9am–1pm. More info

🦅 Live Raptor Ambassadors Talk — Rocky Mountain Raptor Program brings live birds of prey to High Plains Environmental Center, 9–10am. Get tickets

🎷 Live at The Gardens: Big Bad Voodoo Daddy — Swing legends play Gardens on Spring Creek, 6pm. Details

🎺 BluesFest 2026 — Free afternoon of live blues at Odell Brewing, benefits Disabled Resource Services. More info

🎙️ Saturday Night Karaoke — Grab the mic at Scrumpy's Hard Cider Bar, 8–11pm. More info

🧘 Tai Chi — Traditional mind-body practice at Gardens on Spring Creek, 8–9am. Get tickets

Sunday, August 30

🥕 Loveland Farmers Market at Fairgrounds Park — Fresh produce, live music, family activities, 9am–1pm. More info

🎻 The Last Wild Buffalo / Hunter Archer & The Quiver / Nigel Wearne — Folk and Americana at The Atrium, doors 7pm, $12–15. Get tickets

🚗 NoCo Cars & Coffee — Northern Colorado's monthly car meet, The Promenade Shops at Centerra, free. More infoHosting something the neighbors should know about?