Where to find ripe, juicy, fresh Colorado fruit on the Front Range
Colorado’s Mesa County peach trees require 10 years to mature, but once they do, they’ll yield some of the juiciest fruit in the nation, superceding even California’s best. Warm sunny days and cool dry nights here, combined with soil chock full of phosphates, sulfates and nitrogen, produces unusually flavorful peaches. Nearly 200 peach growers near Palisade pick the season’s ripest peaches and ship them around the country. Locals can seek these summer treats along roadside stands throughout August. Palisade-area farms also bring their peaches to Front Range farmer’s markets. Here are some of the top spots for finding the state’s sweetest. Monday: Denver, S. Tamarac Drive and E. Hampden Avenue, Denver, 11 a.m.; Tuesday: Evergreen, Home Depot parking at Evergreen exit, 10 a.m.; Wednesday: Littleton, Broadway and Ridge Road, 11 a.m.; Thursday: Arvada, Old Wadsworth Boulevard and Vance Street, 9 a.m.; Friday: Pueblo, Midtown Shopping Center, 7 a.m.; Saturday: Boulder, 13th Street between Canyon Boulevard and Arapahoe Avenue, 8 a.m.; Sunday: Westminster Market Place, 105th and Sheridan Boulevard (City Park), 10 a.m.
For additional markets, check the Colorado Department of Agriculture at ag.state.co.us
