DENVER — Independent businesses along Denver’s East Colfax Avenue are celebrating this weekend what makes this area of the city so unique.
Doppio Coffee was bustling with folks enjoying the warm morning sun on Saturday.
Local Denver artist Emily Burrowes stood just outside the front entrance, hard at work selling prints of her drawings.
Many of Burrowes’s prints depict Colfax icons like the Ogden and the Fillmore. These buildings were some of the first from which she drew inspiration when she started creating art during the pandemic lockdown.
“Just the character of it. I feel like everyone knows about Colfax. It’s iconic,” said Burrowes.
On this particular Saturday, she was one of several pop-up vendors participating in the district’s fifth annual Independents Day. No, that’s not a typo – it’s a weekend dedicated to celebrating the district’s locally-owned businesses.
“It’s an opportunity to hang one of the Colfax flags in the window and say that you’re a participant and you’re an independent business,” said Denon Moore, owner of Savageau Coffee and Ice Cream.
Moore is a business owner and a member of the Colfax Business Improvement District, which has been hard at work as the area continues to change.
The BID aims to get more people to Colfax long after Independents Day is over.
“We think probably in early fall we’re going to see [the] Bus Rapid Transit break ground and start building and making improvements to the RTD system,” said Moore.
The Colfax Bus Rapid Transit system, known as The Lynx, will run down Colfax Avenue with a dedicated lane on both sides of the road.
It’s expected to bring double the number of people to the Colfax district and improve pedestrian safety.
The City and County of Denver tells Denver7 it’s working with the Colfax BID to prepare business owners for any construction impacts through assistance like grants.
Local businesses on East Colfax Avenue look to the future as they take part in Independents Day Weekend
Even with the growing pains, business owners like Moore are excited for more foot traffic.
“Just an improved system, a clean system, something that is streamlined, so we know we don’t need a schedule. We can hop on every five minutes and just count on something a little bit more reliable,” said Moore. “For us, outside of Savageau Coffee and Ice Cream, we’re going to have a station. I really look forward to that day.”
Burrowes, an urban planner by day, said she is also excited to see how additions to Colfax, like the Lynx, work to transform the community.
“I think the fact that they’re doing these things to beautify it, to make Colfax safer, to get people to come back here instead of other places of the city, super important, especially keeping that history and legacy of Denver,” she said.
This week, Denver Economic and Development Opportunity project teams will host a project webinar that will include a section on small business support, information on upcoming Chats on Colfax, and resources available for small businesses.
The Chats on Colfax series will be held at local restaurants on Colfax to better explain the grant program and business plan development and for businesses to give feedback on what they need. The first few Chats on Colfax will focus on the western section between Broadway and Williams Street, where construction will begin, and will move eastward with construction.
Starting in Q1 2025, small businesses between Broadway and Williams will be invited to apply for grant funds.
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