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‘This Must Be the Place’: Carbondale Mountain Fair celebrates the feeling of ‘home’ with a Talking Heads-inspired theme

Courtesy Eric Allen/Carbondale Arts

Live music, free-spirited competitions and more than 100 vendors will come to Carbondale this weekend for the 53rd annual Mountain Fair.

The fair kicks off tomorrow, and runs through Sunday, with most of the festivities happening in Sopris Park.

This year’s theme is inspired by a Talking Heads song, “This Must Be the Place,” so festival merch will feature a giant fish in an oversized gray suit, emulating the band’s frontman David Byrne. The design was created by local artist Kirsten Hix — and if you want it on a T-shirt, you’ll need to go early, because those are known to sell out fast.

A few other do’s and don’ts?

You can bring your own lawn chairs and picnics, but no outside alcohol or glass containers are allowed inside the venue.

The festival is very family friendly: This year’s venue includes a tent for pregnant and breastfeeding people and a quiet-zone for young kids and their grown-ups. There’s also an “Oasis Family Block Party.”

But you can’t bring your fur-babies with you to the main venue. Pets aren’t allowed in Sopris Park during the festival, and dogs must remain leashed in the block party on Main Street and the vendor corridor along Weant Boulevard.

And if you’re riding your bike — highly encouraged — you have to leave it in one of the designated corrals, not just anywhere in the venue. The Carbondale Downtowner, which offers free ride-share services, will also be available during Mountain Fair.

A full schedule of events, from wood splitting contests to salsa lessons, is available at carbondalearts.com/mountain-fair.

Kaya Williams is the Edlis Neeson Arts and Culture Reporter at Aspen Public Radio, covering the vibrant creative and cultural scene in Aspen and the Roaring Fork Valley. She studied journalism and history at Boston University, where she also worked for WBUR, WGBH, The Boston Globe and her beloved college newspaper, The Daily Free Press. Williams joins the team after a stint at The Aspen Times, where she reported on Snowmass Village, education, mental health, food, the ski industry, arts and culture and other general assignment stories.