ARVADA, Colo. — More than 120,000 people call the City of Arvada, which is northwest of Denver and not far from the mountains, home.
Over the years, the City of Arvada has gained popularity for those looking to shop small and enjoy the pleasantries of a city with a small town feel.
It's where this week's Denver7 | Your Voice took reporter Veronica Acosta to hear from locals about living in a community that has prioritized a tight-knit feel and walkability, all while making moves to solve some of its core issues.
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Among those moves have been establishing a plan to make the Olde Town Arvada square a more pedestrian friendly area. Some of the Arvada residents we spoke with also mentioned their concern over homelessness in the city.
Denver7 found out the officials presented a homelessness strategic plan to its city council back in 2024, which it's still working on finalizing. We will dig into this more in a Friday report.
This Friday, Denver7 | Your Voice is heading back to Arvada to share the stories of community members there – the positive stories, the challenges and everything in between – and produce a set of special on-location newscasts. We will be live from Olde Town on July 25 during Arvada's Fourth Friday event. Denver7 evening anchor Jessica Porter and other crews from the station will be live on location. Find more information here.
The best parts of Arvada, as shared by residents
Denver7 took the time to sit down with different members of the Arvada community. The first was Joe Hengstler, executive director for the Olde Town Arvada Business Improvement District, who has played an integral part in activating Olde Town Arvada.
"I have lived in Arvada for close to 10 years," he said. "I moved from Chicago to Golden and then from Golden to Arvada when we wanted to settle down and put some roots down and buy a house."
As he became more ingrained in the community, he said he was amazed by how many people in Arvada deeply care about the place they call home and have worked to make a positive impact over the decades.
"It's awesome to be able to go to an event and meet and talk with the people who started the Arvada Center, or who were down here in Olde Town when it was a much, much different place," he said. "You've kind of seen the ebbs and flows over the years of what Arvada has gone through."
Over time, he has seen businesses change, he told Denver7.
"I think we've gotten some really, really great businesses in here, especially over the last two or three years, and of course, we still have our flagship businesses too that really anchor the community," Hengstler said. "Obviously, the biggest change that's most noticeable to people is that we now have pedestrian friendly streets, and so we're in phase two of that. And we're going to be moving into a more permanent phase over the next few years, with infrastructure upgrades and really making it feel more like a pedestrian mall and less just kind of like a closed street."
Nate Rothman, who only recently left Arvada to move his family to Evergreen, told Denver7 he wanted to live in an area where there are lots of things to do, but outside of a busy city.
"That was a really big and nice change to come to this area and see, you know, that that was available here," he said.
The walkability aspect of Olde Town Arvada is part of the reason Rothman took his family back to where they used to live on the day Denver7 visited the area.
"I lived in Arvada for such a long time, and so anytime we're able to walk around the streets and enjoy the establishments — we just ate at Bonfire Burritos, which just opened up, which is really cool, walk down and kind of see all the old shops that we shop at still, and would frequent when we lived down here," he said. "We lived about two miles from here when I was in Arvada, but we were able to ride our bikes or walk down to Olde Town every day, if we wanted to. We would often bring our kids down with us, whether that was when they were younger in a bike trailer or when they were older riding their own bikes."
Olde Town was also a destination for date nights, he said, and became a beloved spot for him and his wife to walk around.
"We could come have a couple drinks and not have to stress about how to get home or paying for an Uber," he said. "We could just walk back. So, that pedestrian friendliness is awesome."
The tight-knit and family-oriented atmosphere in Arvada is also a big draw for many people, including Scott Spears, who owns several businesses in Olde Town Arvada, including Schoolhouse, Secret Level and Scrumptious, among others.
"We have tons of friends that have been here since elementary school," Spears said. "We have tons of friends that are moving back with their families. It's just a great community. I think it's kind of big city and little city at the same time... Everyone's nice and it's clean and it's fun, and there's stuff to do. But if you don't want to do stuff, you can just hang out. There's awesome trails that you can get to. There's biking trails everywhere. It's just a great community."
Spears told Denver7 that he's a business owner, and that's not easy — not even in Arvada.
"It could be busier everywhere, I mean, but that's across the country," he said. "All restaurants are having a hard time right now. Retail is having a hard time right now. I honestly haven't talked to any industry (that is) having an awesome time... We'd love for people to get out, spend more money. And we understand, money is a little tight right now, so we're trying to make specials and do things to make it a little bit more affordable."
As a restaurant owner, Spears told Denver7 he's battling the costs associated with doing business.
"The cost of goods are way up. The cost of labor is way up. In restaurants, our margins are razor thin, and when those two items go up, we can't really make money," he added. "Honestly, it's just been trying to break even for a couple of years."
Arvada residents express worries over homelessness and safety
When asked about what they worry about, or concerns they may have, several of the Arvada residents Denver7 spoke with mentioned homelessness in the city.
Brooke Turney, an employee at Schoolhouse who was born and raised in Arvada, said she has noticed a "big change" in being able to walk around at night, even if it's just to her car after work.
"Sometimes, I have to get one of the guy bartenders to walk me there, because I don't always feel the safest," she said. "I think that's something we could work on. Just the amount of homeless population and drugs that are going around Arvada right now."
Rothman also mentioned homelessness and explained how he hopes it's approached, during his conversation with Denver7, too.
"How can we help those people be, not necessarily be more comfortable in their circumstance, but help them find better circumstances where they're not relying on what they can find on the street to live," Rothman said.
Still, it's the charm Arvada offers that keeps even those who once called it home, like Dustin Simmons who recently moved to Lakewood, coming back to the suburb.
"I specifically made it a point to look up different things in Arvada, and Old Town was one of the very first things that had come up," he said. "We have the winter market that they have, they set up the nice little ice rink and everything. That's awesome."
"I think my favorite thing about the community, honestly, is how tightly knit it is," Simmons added. "All the people are very well interacted with each other. Everybody knows everybody."
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