The summer cabins are boarded-up until next season; the kids are back in school; the throngs of tourists have migrated back home and the hay’s put up. Fall is in the air.

 

For many, there’s a brief window of autumn between mid-September and mid-October that’s considered the best time of year. And it’s the perfect time to revel in some more inspirational dalliances.

 

And some of those dalliances get underway this weekend. The annual Art Hullabaloo sponsored by the Sangres Art Guild will be held Friday and Saturday with a slew of family-friendly events, including a “Trashion Fashion” show Friday (think haute couture using recyclables). On Saturday, there will be music, art, entertainment and a day’s worth of fun throughout downtown Westcliffe. Local art galleries will get in on the act, with Bill Gillette’s photo gallery hosting an opening reception Friday evening (and again next Friday), and an impressive annual exhibit at Gerald Merfeld’s Brookwood Gallery.

 

Also on Saturday evening will be a ranch rodeo and dance at the rodeo grounds, featuring some traditional rodeo events along with some hilarious spins on those western traditions.

 

The big event of September will be next weekend’s annual Art for the Sangres exhibition and sale to benefit the San Isabel Land Trust. This year’s event, the 13th annual, will be held Saturday, Sept. 26, at the Pines Ranch. As in past years, more than two dozen of the West’s most acclaimed artists will be displaying their works, and a third of each sale goes to the Land Trust for its ongoing efforts to preserve important ag lands, wildlife habitat, scenic open space and historic properties. The local organization has protected some 32,000 acres from development, and since its inception, the Art for the Sangres event has raised close to a third of a million dollars for those efforts.

 

If there’s a time to sit back, take a breath, and enjoy the inspirational beauty of the Wet Mountain Valley, late September is it.