Explore Elizabeth: five places in walking order

Elizabeth sits on Highway 86 on the Palmer Divide, about an hour from Denver. Main Street and Elizabeth Street run a block apart; the Main Street program’s Depot Parking Lot at 455 East Spruce Street, reached by Elbert or Banner Street, has more than a hundred spaces, so park there once. The two district parks are east of town on County Road 17 and need the car.

01 · Catrina’s Latin Food

Breakfast on Elizabeth Street. Catrina’s at 210 South Elizabeth Street is a family restaurant a block off Main, serving Mexican and Latin American plates, breakfast burritos and tacos, to eat in or take out. It opens at 6:30 am Monday to Saturday and runs to 8 pm; on Sundays it is 8 am–2 pm.

Getting there: a short walk from the Depot lot. Best for: an early breakfast six days a week.

02 · Historic Main Street

Cross to Main Street and walk it from north to south. The three blocks of 1880s and 1890s storefronts carry interpretive plaques, installed in 2012; start at the 1907 First National Bank building at 188 South Main, on the National Register of Historic Places since January 2023, and read as you go. The 1890 Huber-Carlson Building at 239, on the State Register since 1995, is the brewery at stop 05. Small Town Mini Donuts fries to order at 166 South Main from 6 am most days, closed Thursdays; The Carriage Shoppes at 392 marks the south end.

Getting there: on foot. Best for: the plaques, the hat shop and the antique rooms; a donut on the way.

03 · Casey Jones Park

Now the car, east on Highway 86. Casey Jones Park is the Park & Recreation District’s 103 acres on County Road 17, and the walk is a soft-surface loop of about 1.5 miles and roughly eight feet wide through the wooded north and east of the site, open to walkers, runners, bikes and horses; no motorized vehicles except mobility-assist devices and e-bikes. Park at the north end of the ball fields; the loop starts at the north-west corner of that lot. Around it are the ball fields, four pickleball courts, a fenced off-leash dog park under pines and the rodeo arena. The historic Casey Jones Pavilion hosts the Elbert County Marketplace on many Saturdays.

Getting there: a few minutes’ drive from Main Street; lot parking at the ball fields. Best for: the longer walk; dogs; a Saturday market.

04 · Evans Park

The shorter option is next door at 34201 County Road 17. Evans Park has a loop of about a third of a mile that starts and ends at Dragonfly Pond, with picnic tables and benches along the trail. The pond is stocked with trout by Colorado Parks and Wildlife and a license is required. The skate park is open during daylight hours, and the splash pad runs in summer. Prickly Pines is an 18-hole disc golf course through the wooded north end. Admission is $5 per player. Leashed dogs anywhere except the fields and the splash pad.

Getting there: the same road; lot parking. Best for: a short walk; children; a fishing rod.

05 · The brewery or the kitchen

Back in town, two ends to the day a block apart. The Elizabeth Brewing Company at 239 South Main has its five-barrel brewhouse on the ground floor of the Huber-Carlson Building, the taproom upstairs and a beer garden and patio behind, with a ramp to the garden and rear parking since the historic staircase is steep. It opens at 4 pm Monday to Friday and noon at weekends, closing at 10 pm except Sundays, when it shuts at 8 pm; trivia is on Tuesdays at 7 pm. Elizabeth Kitchen + Bar at 240 South Elizabeth Street opens earlier: 11 am Monday to Friday and 10 am at weekends for brunch, with the bar open to 1 am on Friday and Saturday. The kitchen closes before the bar does, at 9 pm Monday to Thursday, 10 pm Friday and Saturday and 8 pm Sunday.

Getting there: on foot from the Depot lot. Best for: a weekday evening after 4 pm at the brewery; lunch or weekend brunch at the kitchen.

The Stampede, separately

The Elizabeth Stampede fills the Casey Jones Park arena for three days of PRCA rodeo the first weekend of June, with a concert the night before and a parade down Main Street on the Saturday morning; in 2026 it ran 5 to 7 June, and the 2027 dates come out in spring. Plan it from the Stampede’s own calendar: in 2026 the public parked free at Elizabeth High School and Elizabeth Middle School and rode shuttles to the grounds, with no public parking at the park except ADA parking with a placard.

A simple first visit

1. Park at the Depot lot on East Spruce Street.
2. Breakfast at Catrina’s on Elizabeth Street.
3. Walk Main Street from the bank at 188 to the Carriage Shoppes at the south end.
4. Drive east to Casey Jones Park for the loop, or to Evans Park for the short one.
5. Come back for the brewery after 4 pm on a weekday or noon at the weekend, or the kitchen from 11 am.

Getting here

Drive times are estimates for normal conditions and vary with traffic, weather and construction; check a live routing service before you set out. Denver is about an hour, and the Denver Tech Center about 45 minutes by Parker Road. No public transit stop is confirmed on an official page read for this guide, so plan to drive.

Elizabeth is in Elbert County; the two parks belong to the Park & Recreation District rather than the Town. Posted signs override anything written here.

Accessibility: what we can confirm

The district describes the Casey Jones Park trail as a soft-surface loop about eight feet wide on which mobility-assist devices are permitted, and lists picnic tables and benches along the Evans Park loop. The brewery has a ramp to the beer garden and rear parking; the staircase to the upstairs taproom is steep. During the Stampede, ADA parking stays in the main lot at Casey Jones Park with golf-cart transport to and from cars.

Sidewalks and curb ramps on Main Street, step-free entrances to the shops and restaurants, and designated accessible parking at the Depot lot have not yet been confirmed on the ground and are not claimed here. Contact a business directly before relying on it. Corrections and additions to this section are welcome and published with their date.