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Neighborly: Rock Ledge Harvest Fest, Garden of Gods Fossil Day both Oct. 7

      
Visitors take in the Rock Ledge Ranch's Harvest Festival in 2004. The barn, where old-time music and dancing often take place during the event, is in the background.
Westside Pioneer file photo
The two attractions opposite each other at Gateway Road and 30th Street - the Garden of the Gods Visitor & Nature Center and Rock Ledge Ranch Historic Site - will hold simultaneous annual events Saturday, Oct. 7. The former will be from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., the latter from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
       Both have free admission.
       For the Visitor Center, it will be Fossil Day, featuring activities inspired by theiophytalia kerri, a unique type of dinosaur whose bones were found within what's now the Garden of the Gods. People can bring in their own fossils and have them identified.
      
Specialists from the Western Interior Paleontolgical Society answer questions at the 2016 Fossil Day in the Garden of the Gods Visitor & Nature Center.
Westside Pioneer file photo
Starting at 1 p.m., the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo will have a program displaying small animals. Other presentations will be at 11 a.m. (ammonites) and 2 p.m. (dinosaurs).
       For Rock Ledge Ranch, it will be the Harvest Festival, celebrating “the bounty of a traditional fall harvest,” as a flyer states.
       Included will be old-time music and children's games, a ranch-grown farmers market, the Seven Falls Indian Dancers and an opportunity to visit the restored historic houses and blacksmith shop.
       No joint activities are scheduled between the two locations, although overflow parking for Visitor Center events is often provided at Rock Ledge, which has the bigger lot.
       In general, “we hope the two events will feed each other,” commented Bret Tennis, Colorado Springs Parks' operations administrator for the Garden of the Gods.
       The Visitor Center is at 1805 N. 30th St. Rock Ledge is katty-corner from the center, with its parking lot access from Gateway Road, off 30th.
       For more information, contact the Visitor Center at 634-6666 x0 or Rock Ledge at 578-6777.

Westside Pioneer/press release
(Posted 9/28/17, updated 10/5/17; Outdoors: Garden of the Gods/Rock Ledge Ranch)

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