Benson Sculpture Garden is Loveland’s open-air art museum: a leafy 10-acre park where roughly 190 sculptures stand among lawns, ponds and shade trees, with the foothills on the horizon. It’s free, it never closes, and it’s one of the most rewarding short stops on the Front Range.

The garden grew out of a bold idea in 1984. Five Loveland sculptors (George Lundeen, Dan Ostermiller, George Walbye, Fritz White and Hollis Williford), together with the city and local boosters, launched an outdoor show and sale in Benson Park, and the city set the park aside as a permanent sculpture garden in 1985. Every year since, proceeds from the show have bought new pieces, and today the permanent collection is valued at more than $5 million. In 2015 the garden even spilled across 29th Street into a newer section with more than 15 additional works.

Wandering the paved paths is the whole point. You’ll meet life-size bronze children, horses and wildlife, playful animals, abstract steel and stone forms and works by well-known artists including Glenna Goodacre’s Girl With Ribbons (1986) and Allan Houser’s Dance of the Eagle (1999). Many pieces sit right at eye level, so kids can get close, and the brick gateway, footbridges and gazebo make easy landmarks. Pick up the official collection map or browse it online to hunt for favorites, and plan on an hour or more if you like to read the plaques.

The big event is Sculpture in the Park, held the second weekend of August by the nonprofit Loveland High Plains Arts Council. It has grown into what organizers call the largest outdoor juried sculpture show in the country, with about 160 artists. Insider tip: visit early on a summer morning or at golden hour, when the low light makes the bronzes glow. Loveland is also the gateway to Big Thompson Canyon, so the garden pairs nicely with a drive up to Estes Park or an afternoon in Old Town Fort Collins.

The next Sculpture in the Park show and sale, the 43rd, is scheduled for August 13-15, 2027; tickets go on sale January 1. During setup the southwest corner of the park closes from August 1 to 16, and admission is charged only on show weekend. The rest of the year the garden is free. Details at sculptureinthepark.org.