7 family-friendly things to do in Pueblo this summer without breaking the bank
Winter is fully in the rearview, and with warm, sunny weather ahead for the spring and summer, families in Pueblo are likely looking for cheap ways to entertain the kids in the months ahead.
Luckily, Pueblo is full of fun indoor and outdoor activities that can be just as fun for parents as they are for children.
Here are some budget-friendly options to consider in Pueblo for $15 or less per person.
At the Pueblo Zoo, families can see animals of all shapes and sizes, from zebras and lions to penguins and eagles, and even reptiles such as the Gila monster and rainbow boa constrictor.
The zoo also offers a chance to learn about animals and how conservation plays a role in protecting some endangered species.
If you're receiving SNAP Food assistance, show Pueblo Zoo employees an EBT card and you can gain entry for up to four people for just $3. Pueblo Zoo is a participant in the Museums for All initiative, which grants free and reduced admission to more than 1,000 museums across the U.S.
Otherwise, tickets are no more than $14 for adults with discounts for children and seniors, and a portion of the admission goes toward conservation efforts. Children under 3 years old get in free.
The Pueblo Zoo is open between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. daily from May to September and is located at 3455 Nuckolls Ave.
The Rides at City Park are scheduled to open for preseason hours May 24 (5-9 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays), with extended summer hours (5-9 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays, 2-9 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays) set to begin June 5.
The rides include 10 amusement park rides and two bounce houses for just 25 cents each per child, or 50 cents (two tickets) each for adults. To get unlimited access to all rides, grab a wristband for $5. The miniature amusement park also offers a variety of special events throughout the summer every year.
2025 Special events include:
June 20: Superhero Night
July 18: Princess night
July 25: George R. Williams Memorial Carousel Day
August 15: Roller Coaster night
October 17: Halloween event
The Pueblo Weisbrod Aircraft Museum is a must-see attraction in Pueblo. Filled with aircraft and vehicles from throughout the history of the U.S. military, from World War II to the present day.
The museum includes two hangars full of exhibits. A centerpiece of the museum is a B-29 Superfortress bomber named Peachy.
Admission is $10 for adults, and children under 7 get in free. Seniors (over 60) and retired military gain access for $8.
The El Pueblo History Museum, which is nationally honored by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, incorporates a reconstructed and immersive 1840s trading post, an archeological site, and innovative exhibitions that explore the many cultural and ethnic groups of the region, according to its website.
The museum chronicles Pueblo's history from a border frontier town to a booming steel production site to the present day, with rotating exhibits on specific aspects of Pueblo history.
On May 17, Pueblo will open its latest exhibit, "Dog Patch: a Pueblo Community's Legacy."
The museum has created an RSVP survey ahead of the event, which is open to the community.
Tickets are $7 for adults and $5 for seniors. SNAP/EBT cardholders can get in for $1.
Other Pueblo museums you can check out include the Pueblo Heritage Museum, the Sangre de Cristo Arts Center, and the Buell Children's Museum, among others.
The Buell Children's Museum, located at the Sangre De Cristo Arts Center, features exhibits, education, and activities geared toward children. Currently, the museum features an exhibit on folklore around the world, from the adventures of Anansi, a West African trickster, to the darkness of the Black Forest inhabited by the folkloric monsters of the Brothers Grimm.
Concurrently, the Sangre De Cristo Arts Gala will feature limited-time galleries such as "surrealism of the Southwest" and "Beauty reborn," more details of which can be found on the Sangre De Cristo Arts Center website.
The art center is located at 210 N. Santa Fe Ave., and is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Bring your friends and family to Epic Entertainment to compete over 19 holes of "Mischief Mini-Golf." The course includes "mischief spinners" and water hazards, according to the website.
Adults play for $9, seniors and kids 11 and younger for $7, and kids 4 years old and younger for free with a paid adult.
Epic Entertainment also includes outdoor laser tag for $8 for the first game and $5 for subsequent games. Games are 15 minutes each.
They also offer batting cages, which offer 10 pitches for $1, $25 for half an hour of unlimited pitches, or $40 per hour.
Epic Entertainment is located at 701 South Pueblo Blvd. and is open between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. every day.
Featuring mini golf, escape rooms, and classics such as billiards, darts, and arcade games, Pueblo West's Copper River Family Entertainment offers fun for the whole family. Escape rooms are $25 per person, while mini golf comes at $12 per person for nine holes, plus a bag of "mining rough" to be sluiced.
Copper River Family Entertainment, 395 S. Angus Ave., in Pueblo West, is open Wednesday and Thursday from 5-10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m.; and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Lake Pueblo State Park is one of the most visited parks in Colorado and offers many budget-friendly options such as hiking, fishing, biking, or even swimming. With over 10,000 acres of land, the park offers hiking opportunities of varying lengths and difficulties, and even includes picnic spots.
The park also offers camping as an option. Camping spots will cost you between $28 and $36 per night, depending on your setup, which can be split amongst your group if you go with one.
Daily park passes are $10 for adults and grant you access until the following day.
Local news: What to know about the Eastside Streetscape Project at El Centro del Quinto Sol
Questions, comments, or story tips? Contact Justin at jreutterma@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @jayreutter1. Support local news, subscribe to the Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com.
This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Things to do in Pueblo this summer for less than $15 per person
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Tours of world's largest mine now available for the 2025 season
The Rio Tinto Kennecott mine, also known as the Bingham Canyon mine, opened its door to visitors for the 2025 season. Located southwest of Salt Lake City at the base of the Oquirrh Mountains, the iconic Kennecott mine is a human-made, open-pit copper mine operated by Rio Tinto. Sitting over a half-mile in depth and over 2 miles across, Rio Tinto Kennecott is the largest mine in the world. It's been operating for over a century, since its opening in 1903, producing more than 19 million tons of copper to date. During World War II, the Kennecott mine produced about 30% of the copper used by the Allies, establishing new records for copper mining. The self-guided tours, or 'Visitor Experience,' aim to spread consciousness about the role of the mine in modern life. The Kennecott mine supplies about 20% of the nation's refined copper, which is an essential element in today's infrastructure, manufacturing and technology. Guests can learn how ore is processed and turned into refined copper as well as safe mining practices and responsible environmental stewardship while seeing firsthand the gigantic scale of Kennecott's operation. The highlight of the visit includes a stop at the mine overlook, where guests can contemplate the gargantuan stature of the pit. The shuttle to the overlook runs every 30 minutes from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Tickets are available for purchase at the Rio Tinto Kennecott Visitor Experience's website, and should be booked in advance. Admission is $6 per person, and children under 5 enter for free. All proceeds go to the Kennecott Charitable Foundation, which supports local nonprofits. Walk-ins are allowed, but guests might not be able to see the mine overlook if the center is at capacity that day. The current visitor experience opened its new location in 2019 after a massive landslide buried the old visitor site along with several equipment trucks and fuel, according to Deseret News accounts, but there were no human casualties.
Los Angeles Times
5 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
Fascism and a clown suit: L.A. Opera's gripping new ‘Rigoletto'
Though mean-spirited, the jester Rigoletto — Verdi's hapless, vengeful hunchback — wins our hearts as the outsider whom a heartless world so often abuses. 'Rigoletto' remains an opera reminding us where to direct our sympathies when authoritarianism remains the alternative. That is not as straightforward as it sounds. Los Angeles Opera has struggled with one insufficient 'Rigoletto' production after another, imported or homegrown. Singers and conductors have been counted on to save the show, and sometimes they have. Last time around, the most interesting contribution was, however scrappy, conductor Matthew Aucoin's idea-rich interpretation. This time, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on Saturday night, L.A. Opera unveiled a violent, politically disquieting production in which a tortured jester faces mob rule. If an out-of-control clown gives you the creeps, check out the crowd in cartoon masks meant to disguise evil. Tomer Zvulun, who heads Atlanta Opera, where this production got its start, begins his director's note in the program book with a quote from Alfred Hitchcock: 'There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it.' Baritone Quinn Kelsey's gripping 'Rigoletto,' as good as it gets these days, is all bang. The men of the L.A. Opera chorus are terror personified. This is the third time L.A. Opera has turned to cinema for help with 'Rigoletto,' on the surface a spellbinding drama. L.A. Opera in its advertisements likens it to film noir. For the company's first go with the opera in 1993, it approached Peter Medak, who unfortunately bowed out to make the thriller 'Romeo Is Bleeding.' Seven years later, L.A. Opera went Hollywood. Film director Bruce Beresford updated the ducal court of Mantua to present-day Beverly Hills and Venice Beach. But neither cast nor company were up to making it work. Zvulun, who turns to fascist Italy in the years before World War II, counts as his inspirations the films by Federico Fellini and Luis Buñuel. That doesn't do much either. Resources once more fall short. The turntable set, which evokes little of anything, was created for Wolf Trap Opera in Washington, D.C. The chorus' cruelty is fitting, but masks are by now a commonplace movie trope for evil. The Duke, a philanderer, has far less interest in mob rule than in chasing skirts. The party scenes with leggy dancers, meant to be decadent, are inoffensive. But there is violence. Knives are convincing. Zvulun introduces mayhem and murder. Two ghosts make appearances for goosebumps. The lighting (Robert Wierzel) is full-bore noir. The set is mostly dark with characters starkly spotlighted giving the impression of a black-and-white film. A storm scene, one of Verdi's great innovations, is so strongly revealed that it has no need for the added strobe effects. The lighting, in fact, is key. It highlights both the strength of the cast and some of the weaknesses of the production. Kelsey, who has spent a good deal of his career impressively singing the title role around the world, is here weighed down by his costume. Somehow among the elegantly dressed in fascist Italy society, there is this guy in a bright red clown outsider status as a hunchback is instead a costume that presumably serves as scarlet letter or Star of David. Still, the old-fashioned nature of this 'Rigoletto,' along with an excellent cast, saves it. So does James Conlon's conducting, which supplies humanity to Kelsey's fuming anger. It takes a lot to love Rigoletto, who keeps his daughter, Gilda, locked up, although she, of course, sneaks out and falls for the count. Kelsey may lack the warmth of some of the great Rigolettos of the past, but there may not have been any more powerful. The visceral energy of the anger of this guy in a clown suit is the stuff of nightmares. Rigoletto orchestrates his own downfall and Kelsey's horror at the end feels like the unleashing of a new breed of violence. Lisette Oropesa is back as Gilda. In the previous L.A. Opera production she began blandly only to be awakened by the raw meaning of love, singing very prettily all the while. She does so again, the blandness this time all the more superficial and ensuing depth equally greater, the prettiness richer and mattering more. She romanticizes her lover, the Duke disguised as a student, looking in her mirror while applying makeup, as though 'Caro Nome' were 'I Feel Pretty.' But her duets with Rigoletto are pregnant with emotion, and she is stunningly angelic in the end. As the Duke, René Barbera, a light and agreeably lyric tenor, goes his own way. He is overpowered by the chorus, oblivious to all but pleasure. There are many strong voices, notably Peixin Chen, the regal bass who plays the assassin Sparafucile, and Sarah Saturnino, a seductive mezzo-soprano who is his sister, Maddelena, who lures the Duke. This 'Rigoletto' closes Conlon's penultimate season as L.A. Opera music director. Seemingly born to conduct Verdi, Conlon can whip up as much dramatic excitement as anyone might need. But he has in recent years taken a more expansive approach to Verdi. His restraint and reserved pacing classes up some of the cheaper tricks of the production and, more important, gives perspective to it most powerful ones. Listening to the elegant orchestra, the clown suit didn't seem so bad. After 32 years of failed attempts, L.A. Opera has finally moved the 'Rigoletto' needle in the right direction.
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
Snap adds new tools for building Bitmoji games
Snap is launching new Lens Studio tools that AR creators and developers can use to build Bitmoji games, the company told TechCrunch exclusively. The company is also releasing a Bitmoji Suite as well as new assets for games. With Lens Studio 5.10, the new games assets offer developers new ways to build dynamic games Lenses, the company said. We're getting a turn-based system to enable back-and-forth gameplay, as well as the ability to Snap and respond to a challenge or turn in the same game. There's also a new customizable Character Controller that supports different gameplay styles, including third-person, first-person, side-scroller, and top-down perspectives. The leaderboard has also been updated with new templates for start and end screens, a standardized and hybrid view of friends and global scores, and new friend-related metrics, like 'friends who have played.' The Bitmoji Suite brings new tools for personalizing and animating Bitmoji. Users can now design custom outfits for Bitmoji, generate stylized props, and animate them using Snap's library. The company is also launching a new collection of single-player and turn-based Bitmoji Game Lenses that users can play and challenge friends in. The new Lenses include Bitmoji Bistro, Bitmoji Buckets, and Beatmoji Blast. Users can already play a number of game Lenses built by AR developers, but this is the first time Snap has introduced a collection of Bitmoji Game Lenses designed around challenging your friends. "Lens Studio empowers our vibrant community of over 375,000 AR creators, developers, and teams to seamlessly build and publish Lenses, so we're excited to give them even more tools to create," the company said in an email to TechCrunch. Snapchat also said that developers can register for a chance to win cash prizes for using Bitmoji Suite and Games assets with its Bitmojiverse Challenge. This article originally appeared on TechCrunch at Sign in to access your portfolio
