ARVADA, Colo. — On the coldest night of the season, Olde Town Arvada celebrated. It was the annual tree lighting in the square.
But then, briefly, the music stopped.
And Kristin Chayer, president of the Board of Directors for the Olde Town Business Improvement District (BID), asked the crowd to remember Joe Hengstler with a moment of silence.
Joe, 42, died from cancer in September. He leaves his wife Meg and 6-year-old daughter June.
Joe was not only the executive director for BID, but also the glue between the Olde Town board, the businesses, and the political landscape. He had lived there for about a decade after moving to Colorado from Chicago. He told Denver7 in July that 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.
"What went through my mind during the moment of silence was how respectful everybody was, because it did fall silent," Kristin remembered after that quiet moment.
All of the celebration that night, including the tree lighting, was always in Joe’s hands.
"Even being the first one on stage, instead of walking behind him, was impactful for me," Kristin said.
Joe was also a person that held the community together during hard times, like the fatal shooting in Olde Town Arvada in 2021.
"This isn’t going to define us, this isn’t going to break Olde Town," Joe told Denver7 back then. "Olde Town in Arvada is a special community to a lot of people for a lot of reasons and this isn’t going to change that."
Jake Weesner called Joe his best friend.
"We were supposed to be old men together. He was supposed to see his daughter graduate high school. He was supposed to see her grow into a woman," he said.
Jake organized a celebration of life for Joe at the School House restaurant in Olde Town. Hundreds of people showed up. The celebration spilled into the street.
"When Joe was first diagnosed — in my lifetime, cancer wasn't a death sentence. And then, out of nowhere, it was, oh, he got the one that was a death sentence," Jake said. "And it was tough to wrap my head around. He was young. Forty-two years old and his daughter just turned 6. It's not something you'd expect or put into terms or understand."
They cleared a big space in the School House Restaurant and bar and remembered their times together. Joe's brother from Indiana talked and friends reflected and Joe's wife Meg and their precious daughter June were held, on a day no one thought they would have to live through.
