When in doubt, just drive east along Colfax Avenue; you're bound to see something amusing. Or check out one of these ten:
Aurora Cultural Arts District
auroraculture.org
Yes, there's culture in Aurora — and plenty of it. The Aurora Cultural Arts District was established fifteen years ago with the goal of promoting a number of creative offerings and organizations in the city, all located within a few blocks of each other in the 80010 zip code...and close by, if not on, Colfax. Our favorite stops include Vintage Theatre, still going strong at 1468 Dayton Street; the Aurora Fox Arts Center at 9900 East Colfax Avenue, which is celebrating its fortieth season with a spruced-up sign and a variety of shows; and the People's Building at 9995 East Colfax, which fills in all the gaps with community-based programming. The show must go on!
Cherry Creek State Park
4201 South Parker Road, Aurora
303-690-1166
[email protected]
Cherry Creek State Park is the center of recreational life in Aurora. Sure, it has to share its 35 miles of trails, ten dozen campsites and 4,200 acres with other south suburban neighborhoods, but it's closer than the far-flung Aurora Reservoir to the east or the mountains to the west. Along with Chatfield, it's the only state park with a designated area for flying drones. Kids love the 12 Mile Stables, where they can pet and ride horses; adults love to fish for walleye, bass and rainbow trout, or race a jet ski around the reservoir and scare off those fish. A runner can train for a marathon without leaving the park, or venture out with the cyclists along the Cherry Creek Trail, which winds through the park and travels all the way to Confluence Park at the edge of downtown Denver.
Family Karaoke
2760 South Havana Street, Unit R-S, Aurora
303-755-5658
Ready to sing for your supper at one of those great nearby restaurants? Or just want to give voice to everything that's noteworthy about Aurora? Family Karaoke is the place to do it. This spot has multiple private karaoke rooms, all decorated with their own themes, for parties as small as one to four people or as large as twenty. We recommend grabbing a bunch of friends rather than going solo; those who are shy can warm up at a full bar with custom cocktails, sake and soju. Bonus points for the very welcoming, friendly staff.
H Mart
2751 South Parker Road, Aurora
303-745-4592
myhmart.com
Aurora boasts a fantastic outpost of famed Korean-American grocery chain H Mart, which stocks not just hard-to-find ingredients for Asian home cooking, but also household goods and some of the best candies and desserts around. A shopping trip to H Mart is not just an errand — it's an outing, especially if you take time to hit up the food court. Save a few minutes to make your way across the parking lot to Ebisu Japanese Lifestyle Store for more high-quality products, including a range of beauty tools.
Hogan Park Art Walk
Highlands Creek, 24495 East 35th Drive, Aurora
720-356-0123
theaurorahighlands.com/art-in-the-park
Aurora's art scene is exploding as fast as its population, both inside and out. Especially outside at Hogan Park, where Aurora Highlands innovative developer and CEO Carla Ferreira has been adding massive sculptures to the massive housing project, creating an incredible Art Walk. Some of the pieces are enormous: Hunter Brown's "Life Blood," for example, weighs in at around 15,000 pounds; Michael Benisty's massive "Broken but Together," a 25-foot sculpture of two shining steel figures in an embrace, towers over one end of the two miles of walkway. The free park debuted last June, and it's a development any city would envy.
Nick's Garden Center & Farm Market
2001 South Chambers Road, Aurora
303-696-6657
nicksgardencenter.com
Nick’s has been a community staple since it opened in 1987, offering year-round entertainment in addition to its stock of plants and landscaping products. The family-owned and -operated business transforms with the seasons, from selling locally grown produce as a farmers' market in the summer to hosting Santa Claus amid rows of fresh-cut Christmas trees in the winter. But Nick’s is arguably at its best right now, with a Fall Fest featuring pumpkin patches, roasted green chiles, a straw maze, an inflatable obstacle course, a haunted hay ride and more.
Plains Conservation Center
21901 East Hampden Avenue, Aurora
303-326-8380
auroragov.org
Want a quick trip back in time to the days when Aurora was all prairie? The city-owned Plains Conservation Center is a nature preserve and educational center with replicas of a homestead village and tipi camp that showcase pioneer and plains Native Americans life in the late 1800s. The center encompasses over 1,100 acres of shortgrass prairie with stunning view of the Rocky Mountains. Hike the rolling trails and see wildlife ranging from bald eagles to prairie dogs and pronghorn. Admission is free, though there are special guided tours and programs, too.
Skate City
15100 East Girard Avenue, Aurora
303-690-1444
skatecitycolorado.com/Aurora
Aurora is full of places that rank high in fun and affordability for all ages, with Skate City a prime example. Whether you're eight or 35, Skate Cite's intensely bright carpet, hair-flailing music lineup and classic arcade games and snack bar menu will create or conjure childhood birthday memories. As artificial intelligence takes over the world and presidential candidates daydream about eating dogs, it's nice to know that you can escape the screen and get two hours of skate time, rentals included, for $12. Maybe that's all this country needs to come together.
Stampede, which has two levels and a huge dance floor, has no problem reaching its 1,000-person capacity with the top-notch Latin bands it brings in.
Courtesy of the Stampede
2430 South Havana Street, Aurora
303-696-7686
stampedeclub.net
Anyone looking to boot-scoot like a vaquero from Mexico should make tracks to the Stampede. Once a place to yee-haw and lasso a cowgirl or cowboy, the club has shifted more toward the Latin dance lovers who like to wepa with genres like cumbia and banda. Every Wednesday is ladies' night, when vaqueras get two free drinks and everyone can catch a free line-dancing lesson at 6:30 p.m. On Mondays, the music switches to West Coast swing. And from Friday to Sunday, the big, rustic venue with two levels and a huge dance floor hosts live performances of acts across all Latin genres, from Mexican ska to Honduran merengue, bringing in big names like cumbia star Reymix and ranchera singer Luis Alfonso.
Stanley Marketplace
2501 Dallas Street, Aurora
720-402-9435
stanleymarketplace.com
When developer Mark Shaker proposed turning the old Stanley Aviation factory into a commercial complex and community gathering space, people scoffed. Back in 1954, U.S. Navy test pilot Robert Stanley had created a sprawling factory to design, test and manufacture ejection seats for the military. But by 2007, what had been home to Aurora's once-largest employer was an empty, 140,000-square-foot shell. Since it opened ten years later, though, every inch of Stanley Marketplace has been filled with shoppers, diners and, above all, independent businesspeople eager to try out this entrepreneurial idea. Don't tell Trump, but the Stanley even hosted weekly open houses for immigrants to show off their skills and services.
