With summer in full swing, Colorado prepares to celebrate its bold flavors through a series of food and beverage festivals and events. Guests are invited to sample Colorado's signature offerings from sweet corn and spicy chilies to crisp apples and flowing wine. Below is a sampling of events where visitors can experience Colorado's finest homegrown food and drink offerings. 

Strawberry Days (July 16-19).  Glenwood Springs invites visitors to enjoy free strawberries and ice cream during a three-day celebration featuring arts, crafts, live entertainment, food and beverages at the 115th Annual Strawberry Days Festival.

Steamboat Wine Festival (August 1-5).  Experience more than 100 food artisans, wineries, breweries, distilleries, epicurean purveyors and locally-made products at this ultimate food and wine experience.

Olathe Sweet Corn Festival (August 3-4). Olathe's hot days, cool nights and glacier-fed fields are said to produce some of America's sweetest corn. Enjoy all the signature 'Olathe Sweet' corn you can eat at the town's renowned festival.

Rocky Ford Watermelon Day (August 18). Celebrates the world-renown cantaloupes and watermelons produced in Rocky Ford, home to some of the most fertile soils in the nation.

Telluride Mushroom Festival (August 16-19). Shroomfest celebrates all aspects of the fungal world, from gourmet wild edibles to medicinal mushrooms grown in Telluride.  The San Juan Mountains that surround the town are famous for the bounty of fungal species grown in the region.

The Palisade Peach Festival (August 16-19). The 44th Annual festival kicks off with an ice cream social and street dance, celebrating everything peach from pies to ice cream, preserves to salsas, and even virgin peach daiquiris.

Windsor Harvest Festival (September 1-3) is kicking off its 91st anniversary with a hot air balloon launch and parade during this end of summer event.  The festival will showcase a town barbeque, street dance and horse drawn carriage rides.

Colorado State Fair (August 24- September 3). With livestock shows, horse shows and fine arts exhibition to the Colorado Dueling Cooks Challenge, where professional chefs are paired with home cooks to prepare an all-Colorado meal, there is something for everyone at the Colorado State Fair.

Taste of Colorado (August 31-September 3).  Originally named Festival of Mountain and Plain, Taste of Colorado is the state's end-of-summer celebration in Denver.  More than 500,000 people enjoy over 50 local food establishments, 270 marketplace artisans and vendors, six entertainment stages and educational programs promoting the diverse cultural and western heritage of the region.

Apple Fest (September 8). The Historic Turner Farm invites guests to step back in time to the turn of the 20th century and enjoy apple pie contests, old time demonstrations and great family fun in Buena Vista.

Colorado Mountain Wine Fest (September 13-16). The Colorado Mountain Wine Fest draws thousands of wine lovers to sample a growing array of Colorado wines and participate in a variety of events, including the Tour de Vineyards bicycle tour, winding through 25-miles of the wine country and orchards of Palisade.

Loaf N' Jug Chile and Frijoles Festival (September 23-25). Pueblo's harvest celebration showcasing the town's most loved crop, green chilies - particularly the Pueblo Chile. Events include cooking competitions, arts and crafts, music and entertainment throughout the weekend.

For more information on Colorado's agricultural products, farmers markets and events, download a copy of the 2012 Colorado Farm Fresh Directory.