Festivals and Events

To find out about local happenings, contact the Moab Information Center (435/259-8825, www.discovermoab.com). Unsurprisingly, Moab offers quite a few annual biking events.

The Moab Skinny Tire Festival (first week of March) and the Moab Century Tour (early October) are both supported road bike events that benefit the Lance Armstrong Foundation. For information on either, visit www.skinnytirefestival.com or call 435/259-2698.

The mountain bike endurance race event 24 Hours of Moab, held in mid-October, pits four-person relay teams against the rugged terrain of the Behind the Rocks area. This is one of North America's major events for mountain bikers, bringing more than 500 teams and over 5,000 spectators to Moab. For more information, go to www.grannygear.com/Races/Moab/index.shtml.

Another major annual athletic events is the Canyonlands Half Marathon and Five Mile Run (www.moabhalfmarathon.org) in late March (third Saturday).

Moab's most popular annual event, more popular than anything celebrating two wheels, is the Easter Jeep Safari (www.rr4w.com), which is the Sturgis or Daytona Beach of recreational four-wheeling. Upwards of 2,000 four-wheel-drive vehicles (it's not open just to jeeps, though ATVs are not allowed) converge on Moab for a week's worth of organized backcountry trail rides. "Big Saturday" (the day before Easter) is the climax of the event, when all participating vehicles parade through Moab. Plan well ahead for lodging if you are planning to visit Moab during this event, as hotel rooms are often booked a year in advance.

Spend Memorial Day weekend camping out on the festival grounds and catching acts at the Desert Rocks Music Festival (www.desertrocks.org), held in the desert a few miles southeast of town.

June kicks up dust at the Spanish Trail Arena (just south of Moab at 3641 S. U.S. 191) with the professional Canyonlands PRCA Rodeo held the second weekend of the month, with rodeo, parade, dance, horse racing, and 4-H gymkhana.

The Moab Music Festival (435/259-7003, www.moabmusicfest.org) is first and foremost a classical chamber music festival, but every year a few jazz, bluegrass, or folk artists are included in the lineup. More than 30 artists are currently involved in the festival, which is held the first two weeks of September. Many of the concerts are held in dramatic outdoor settings.

The Moab Folk Festival (www.moabfolkfestival.com) is the town's other big annual musical event, attracting nationally recognized performers to Moab the first weekend of November.

Nightlife

A lot of Moab's nightlife focuses on the rowdy and well-loved Eddie McStiff's (57 S. Main St., 435/259-2337), which is right downtown, with 12 handcrafted beers on draft, two outdoor seating areas, and live music several times a week.

Although the Moab Brewery (686 S. Main St., 435/259-6333) brews on the premises and is a pleasant place to sample good beer, it is more of a restaurant than a bar. You can also buy its microbrewed beer to go.

Woody's Tavern (221 S. Main St., 435/259-9323) has live bands on the weekends—you might hear bluegrass, roots rock, reggae, or jam bands here.

The Rio (2 South 100 West, 435/259-6666), a sports bar and Mexican restaurant, has dancing on weekends and karaoke during the week.

For a more family-friendly evening out, consider the Bar-M Chuckwagon's Live Western Show and Cowboy Supper, a kind of Western-themed dinner theater that includes gunfights, live country music, and other Old West entertainment in addition to a buffet chuck wagon dinner.

Another long-time tradition for evening entertainment is Canyonlands by Night, a cruise on the Colorado River that ends with a sound-and-light presentation along the sandstone cliffs. Dinner packages are available; children under 4 are not permitted per Coast Guard regulations.

For a selection of movies, head for Slickrock Cinemas (580 Kane Creek Blvd., 435/259-4441).