This Saturday and Sunday, the 38-acre ranch across RidgeGate Parkway from the light rail station hosts two different events back to back. On Saturday, Oct. 3, Lone Tree Oktoberfest runs from 2:30 to 6:30 p.m. On Sunday, Oct. 4, the free Fall Festival runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Both events cost nothing to enter. Both use the same parking lot. And for the most popular parts of either day, it helps to have made plans before the weekend started.
The clearest sign is on the Fall Festival page. The wagon rides need pre-registration, and the City of Lone Tree has marked them sold out. Saturday has changed since last year too, and some of its ticket details have not caught up with the event yet.
Saturday has a new name and an earlier start
Last fall this event was called Lone Tree Craftoberfest. It took place on Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025, and started at 3 p.m. The 2026 version is Lone Tree Oktoberfest, and it starts half an hour earlier, at 2:30 p.m. The format is mostly the same: Colorado craft beer, food trucks, a game of bags, polka, and a stein hoisting competition.
The city's posted schedule is short and specific:
- 2:15 p.m. Ticket sales tent opens
- 2:30 p.m. Pouring begins, and Neue Polka Colorado starts the music
- 4:15 p.m. Stein Hoisting Contest, with separate rounds for kids, women and men
- 5:00 p.m. Graham Good & The Painters take the stage
You don't have to be 21 to attend. The FAQ says children's activities include inflatables, interactive games, music, polka dancing, and a kids' round of the stein contest. Food trucks will sell soda and water for anyone not drinking.
Beer is the only alcohol served, and the buying details are where the plan-ahead approach matters most. The Lone Tree Arts Center's 2026 order page lists one package, a "Tasting Glass" ticket at $36, which includes a $6 service charge. The city's event page also shows a $26 mug package with two beers. But its purchase buttons lead to a booking link from the 2025 event, and the mug offer matches last year's listing. The city's page also disagrees with itself on single beers. One section says $10 beer tokens will be sold at the entrance tent. The FAQ says no beer will be sold à la carte. Right now, the only price confirmed for 2026 is the $36 tasting glass. The Arts Center box office at 720-509-1000 is open weekdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., so Thursday and Friday are the last chances to confirm by phone before Saturday.
Neither the city nor the Arts Center has named the breweries or food trucks yet.
Sunday runs on a clock
The Fall Festival is put on by the City of Lone Tree and the Schweiger Ranch Foundation. It's free, and no tickets are needed. The pumpkin patch, petting zoo, vendor tents, food trucks, live bluegrass, games, and self-guided house tours are open the whole time, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Cheyenne Mountain ZOOMobile will be there too.
The best parts of the day run on a fixed schedule:
- 11:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 1:30 p.m. Story time and marshmallow roasting
- 11:45 a.m., 12:45 p.m., 1:45 p.m. Guided tours of the historic ranch, which meet at the back porch of the house
Each round starts 15 minutes after the one before it, so one hour can cover story time and then a guided tour. A family arriving around 12:15 could make the 12:30 marshmallows and the 12:45 tour, and still have time for the pumpkin patch before things wind down at 3. Pumpkins are for sale at the patch. The food trucks sell kid-friendly food and non-alcoholic drinks.
If you didn't get a wagon ride slot, here's what the city says:
Standby opportunities may be available on the day, but there are no guarantees.
Leave the car across the street, or at home
On both days, guest parking is at the RTD RidgeGate Park-n-Ride, right across from the ranch. Accessible parking is in the same lot. On Saturday, golf carts will shuttle guests who need help from the lot to the ranch gates. On Sunday, families can be dropped off at the Schweiger Ranch lot itself.
Since the parking lot is a transit station, you can skip driving altogether. The E and R light rail lines stop at RidgeGate Parkway Station, across from the ranch. Link On Demand gives free rides anywhere in Lone Tree, Highlands Ranch, and Meridian, and you book them through its app. That makes a difference on Saturday, when a beer package is the main reason many people come.
Walking or biking works too. The 27-mile East/West Regional Trail has connectors at Schweiger Ranch and at RidgeGate Parkway. The Happy Canyon Trail is still under construction. When it's done, it will connect the East/West Trail on the bluffs to the ranch and the future High Note Park, running under RidgeGate Parkway. High Note Park's first phase broke ground on April 29, 2026, and is expected to open in 2027.
Why a working ranch hosts the city's fall
The setting explains why these events don't feel like a parking-lot festival. Austrian brothers John, Joseph and Jacob Schweiger homesteaded here in 1874. The family later grew the ranch to nearly 4,000 acres. John and his wife, Anna, had seven children. The family grew grain and raised cattle, hogs and chickens. The restored buildings include the ranch house, barn, silo, stable, chicken coop, loafing shed, tractor shed and corral, and the oldest date to the late 1800s.
Douglas County made the site a historic landmark in 2004. The Schweiger Ranch Foundation formed in 2007 to restore it, and the city says that work was finished in early 2016. Today the foundation owns and runs the ranch as a nonprofit.
The ranch also has a calendar that drives the timing. The foundation lists it as open June through October and again in December, with hours that change by event. This weekend comes near the end of the ranch's longest open stretch of the year. For those who miss the Sunday tours, the foundation offers private tours by request.
The rest of October, close by
The calendar doesn't empty out after Sunday. The Lone Tree Arts Center is celebrating its 15th season. Its first main stage show, Always...Patsy Cline, runs Thursday, Oct. 8, through Sunday, Oct. 25. On Saturday, Oct. 31, at 7:30 p.m., the center will show the 1931 film Frankenstein with a live score by Michael Shapiro, played by the Lone Tree Symphony Orchestra. If you buy three or four shows in one order, you get 10% off. Five or more shows get 15% off.
Along Park Meadows, ColoradoBiz reports that Thirsty Lion is planning a December opening at 8335 Park Meadows Center Drive. The 7,900-square-foot restaurant will have 278 seats, and no exact opening day has been announced.
Lone Tree Brewing Co. now has a statewide distribution deal with Elite Brands. It's also expected to run a 200-seat beer garden at High Note Park when the park opens.
Being a short walk from the light rail and a historic ranch is part of what a home near RidgeGate is worth, and like the weekend's ticket details, that value is worth checking before you rely on it. If you're thinking about what your Lone Tree home might sell for, Hanh Chung can give you a clear, local read. Get a Free Home Valuation.
