September: Harvest Season, Sugar Beet Days, and Wide-Open Gravel

September might be the most underrated month on the High Plains. The summer heat finally lets go, harvest starts rolling on the county roads, and Historic Downtown Sterling fills four straight weekends with things worth driving for. There is a hometown harvest party, a public art unveiling that stays up all year, an after-dark walk through 150 years of Logan County history, and the biggest fall festival in northeastern Colorado. Whether you have a Saturday or a long weekend, here is everything happening in Sterling and Logan County this September, in the order it unfolds.

September 4: Hometown Harvest in the Chamber Courtyard

The month opens with an easy Friday evening downtown. On September 4, Hometown Harvest runs from 5 to 7 PM in the Logan County Chamber Courtyard at 109 N Front Street, hosted by the Logan County Chamber of Commerce right at the front end of harvest season. It is the kind of come-as-you-are community evening that tells you everything you need to know about Sterling: you show up for one thing, run into half the county, and stay a lot longer than you planned.

(Make it a full day as First Fridays at First Presbyterian opens its 29th season over the lunch hour. Check the Logan County Chamber events calendar for schedule.)

September 5: The Sculpture on Loan Unveiling

Saturday morning, September 5, the Logan County Arts League reveals this year’s sculptures at the Sculpture on Loan Unveiling, from 9 to 11 AM at North Division Avenue and West Main Street. The best part of this program is that the pieces do not disappear when the ceremony ends. They stay on display for the full year, which means every walk through downtown for the next twelve months comes with something new to look at.

Sterling has been quietly building one of the best public art collections on the Eastern Plains for decades. Bronze statues line Main Street, and the city’s famous hand-carved living tree sculptures, including the Skygrazers giraffes, are scattered through Columbine Park and beyond. Make the unveiling your starting point and walk the rest of the route while you are downtown.

Round out the weekend with a stop at Sterling Creatives, the downtown artist co-op in the Creative District, and a pint at Parts and Labor Brewing Co., the first brewery on Colorado’s Eastern Plains, built inside a century-old Cadillac dealership.

September 12: Tombstone Trail Tours at Riverside Cemetery

Logan County history, told after dark. Tombstone Trail Tours returns to Riverside Cemetery at 18611 US Highway 6 on Saturday, September 12, from 6:30 to 10 PM. Admission runs $5 to $10. The Logan County Arts League walks visitors through the stories of the homesteaders, railroad men, sugar beet farmers, and business owners who built this county, told on the ground where they are buried.

This is history, not a haunted house, and it lands differently when you are standing at the headstone while somebody tells you the story. Bring a light jacket and shoes you can walk in. September evenings on the plains cool off fast once the sun drops.

If you want to make a full day of it, the Overland Trail Museum on the east edge of town covers the same era in daylight, with a pioneer village, homestead artifacts, and one of the best small-museum collections in the state.

September 19 and 20: Sugar Beet Days Takes Over the Courthouse Square

This is the big one. Sugar Beet Days is Sterling’s signature fall festival and the biggest weekend of the year in Logan County, and it fills the Historic Logan County Courthouse Square at 315 Main Street with more than 200 food and craft vendors plus two full days of entertainment.

Saturday, September 19: 9 AM to 6 PM
Sunday, September 20: 10 AM to 4 PM

The festival is a tribute to the crop that built this town. Sugar beets turned Sterling into an agricultural hub more than a century ago, and the whole county still turns out to celebrate it. Four things worth knowing before you go:

Come early Saturday if you want parking close to the square.
Bring cash. Plenty of vendor booths are cash only.
Save room for the food row. It is the reason a lot of people come.
Sunday is the calmer day. If you would rather browse than crowd, go Sunday.

Full schedule and vendor information are at sugarbeetdays.com.

All Month: Fall Gravel Season on 1,600 Miles of Unpaved Road

Gravel riders, September is the month. Logan County has more than 1,600 miles of unpaved road, and this is when it all comes good. Mornings are cool, the light runs low and long across the fields, the wind usually settles, and the summer heat is finished. Add long sight lines, almost no traffic, and prairie that stretches to the horizon, and you have some of the most underrated riding in Colorado.

One thing to plan around: it is harvest out here. Expect to share the county roads with combines, tractors, and grain trucks. Give them room and they will do the same. The Gravel Adventure Field Guide for Logan County has the routes, the GPS files, hand-illustrated maps, original art, and stories from the saddle. Pick up a copy at the Logan County Visitor Center or start planning at the Explore Sterling gravel cycling page. Finish the ride the right way with something cold at Parts and Labor Brewing.

All Month: The Farmer’s Market and the Quiet Side of the Season

The Logan County Farmer’s Market keeps going through the end of September at the Bomgaars parking lot, 102 N 12th Avenue, on Wednesdays from 4:30 to 6:30 PM and Saturdays from 8 to 10:30 AM. Fresh produce, locally raised goods, and vendors from right here in the county.

And if the festivals are not your speed, September is arguably the best month of the year at North Sterling State Park. The summer crowds are gone, the camping is quiet, the shore fishing is good, and the night sky over the reservoir is as dark as it gets in Colorado.

Make September in Logan County Your Own

From a hometown harvest party to a cemetery walk after dark to 200 vendors on the courthouse lawn, September is one of the best months to discover everything Sterling and Logan County have to offer. Browse the full calendar on the Explore Sterling events page, find a place to stay on the lodging page, or call the Tourist Information Center at 970.522.8962. Sterling sits about two hours northeast of Denver on I-76, which makes any weekend in September an easy drive and an easy yes.