Lakewood celebrates 50th anniversary of Cider Days festival
Lakewood Celebrates 50th Anniversary of Cider Days Highlighting Agricultural Roots
Heritage Lakewood Belmar Park marks the 50th anniversary of its annual Cider Days festival on October 3-4, 2026, celebrating the region’s agricultural history as the former “Fruit Belt” of the Front Range. The milestone weekend features antique cider pressing, tractor pulls, and a new full-scale apple-launching trebuchet, drawing visitors to explore the park’s historic structures and apple-growing legacy.
Festival Highlights and Historical Impact
- Milestone Event: The 50th annual Cider Days festival runs October 3-4, 2026, at Heritage Lakewood Belmar Park, featuring historical demonstrations, artisan vendors, and traditional cider pressing.
- Agricultural Roots: Long before suburban development following World War II, rural Jefferson County served as a prominent fruit-growing region where Denver residents traveled via the historic Denver and Intermountain Railroad to pick apples.
- Modern Preservation: Local landscape architects and residents are mapping, DNA testing, and propagating heritage apple varieties that survived the 20th-century subdivision of the land.
The Historical Fruit Belt of the Front Range West of Denver
Dotted across Lakewood, residents can find living remnants of the area’s agricultural past where apple trees of various types and sizes sit in yards and along busy streets west of Denver. According to volunteer Dan Klimek at Heritage Lakewood Belmar Park, the area was once rural Jefferson County, serving as a countryside escape for Denver residents looking to get out of the city. This part of Jefferson County was widely recognized as the “Fruit Belt” of the Front Range, where visitors historically rode the Denver and Intermountain Railroad for a day of apple picking. Today, RTD’s W Line to Golden follows much of that same historical route.
Homesteaders in the early 1870s cultivated apples primarily for home use, but early settler and farmer Valentine Devinny expanded the practice by opening a “you-pick-it” orchard near West 6th Avenue and Wadsworth Boulevard by 1890, representing an early form of agritourism. Dense clusters of orchards historically thrived along West 13th Avenue between Wadsworth Boulevard and Kipling Street in the Eiber neighborhood, as well as further south and east along Wadsworth between First and Sixth avenues.
DNA Testing and Heritage Apple Tree Preservation in Local Neighborhoods
Suburban development in the 1930s and 1940s subdivided the former orchards to build houses, though many existing fruit trees continued to grow on residential properties. When landscape architect Matt Wilgenbusch purchased a 1927 farmhouse in the area, the backyard fruit trees sparked a deep interest in local agricultural history. Noting multiple heritage varieties across his neighborhood—including Beacon, Cortland, Jonathan, Delicious, Macintosh, and Golden Delicious—Wilgenbusch partnered with a laboratory in Washington to analyze young spring leaf samples through DNA testing.
Working alongside neighbors, Wilgenbusch documents and DNA tests surviving trees, providing property owners with printed records detailing their specific tree types and historical significance. These efforts mirror broader regional preservation projects, such as a Boulder initiative mapping apple trees and collecting leaf samples for DNA sequencing, ensuring these genetic strains are preserved and propagated.
Anniversary Attractions and Community Partnerships at Heritage Lakewood Belmar Park
The City of Lakewood highlights this agricultural history through Cider Days, which returns to Heritage Lakewood Belmar Park for its 50th celebration. The weekend event introduces a full-scale apple-launching trebuchet for discarding non-edible apples, alongside traditional activities like antique cider pressing by participants like Gerhard and Lisa Leicht, blacksmithing demonstrations, mule-driven wagon rides, tractor pulls, and historic building tours.
To support the milestone event, the city coordinated with local sponsors including the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD), Denver Water, Credit Union of Denver, CommonSpirit, Elevate Eyecare, Mintz Law, Xcel Energy, Mountain Safe Exteriors, Champion, Foothills Credit Union, MIX 100, Alameda Connects, and ArchWell Health. Due to high demand and expected sellouts during peak hours, event organizers strongly encourage early ticket purchases through LakewoodCO.gov/CiderDays and recommend using public transit, rideshares, or the complimentary bike valet service due to limited on-site parking.