Your weekly field guide to Littleton, Ken Caryl, and the SW Denver foothills

Happy Friday, and happy last day of July. August is showing up with its arms full: a trail we've waited six months for reopens tomorrow, Western Welcome Week opens next Friday with a drone show over Sterne Park, and the state finally said something useful about brown lawns. I've got all of it, plus the 30.8 million dollar surprise hiding in plain sight on Bradford Road. Sunday's going to be the hot one. Plan accordingly. On with it.

Six questions, about thirty seconds.

I've been sending this since April and I still know surprisingly little about who's on the other end of it. Whether you're in Ken Caryl or somewhere else around Littleton. Whether you've ever actually walked into a place because you read about it here.

So there's a short survey now. Six taps, and one last box that's optional if you'd rather just tell me something.

It tells me what to write more of, and it tells the local businesses who keep this free who they'd be reaching. Totals only, never anyone's name.

Take the survey

The brown-lawn story went on TV, and the state's answer lands in your favor. Last week I told you no Colorado law flatly protects a drought-brown lawn from an HOA fine. That's still true as written. But FOX31 ran the story twice this week, once built around a violation letter sent to a Ken Caryl homeowner, and the coverage pulled a clearer answer out of the state. The office that handles HOA complaints for Colorado says an association can't fine you for dry grass if you're watering as much as the drought rules allow. They can ask you to prove it. And if you're watering less than your allowed two days a week, a citation is fair game. So here's the practical version: keep to your two days, keep the controller schedule or a bill that shows it, and by the state's read, a drought-brown lawn is not a finable offense while the restrictions hold. The Ken-Caryl Ranch Master Association didn't respond to FOX31's interview request, or to my questions. Meanwhile the backdrop tightened again: as of the July 21 map, all of Jefferson County is in Extreme Drought, up from 41 percent the week before. The full plain-English breakdown, including your right to never keep turf at all, lives at hogbackpost.com/hoa-brown-lawn-colorado. Bookmark it for letter season.

Tonight, downtown does wine. The Wine Walk runs 4:30 to 7:30, 30 dollars in advance and 35 at the door, 21 and up with IDs checked, and check-in outside Denver Beer Co closes sharp at 7. Macbeth takes its final bows tonight and tomorrow at 7 at the Clement Park amphitheater, still free, still no tickets. And if your kid's team or your business wants into the Western Welcome Week parade, entries close tonight at 11:45, though a late fee applies at this point.

Tomorrow: art in the Valley, bikes in the city. The Ken-Caryl Ranch Art Festival runs 11 to 4 at the Ranch House, free whether or not you live in the Ranch, awards at 3. Littleton PD's Know Your Ride e-bike morning goes 10 to noon at the East Community Center. Jeffco marks Colorado Day with a 9 a.m. volunteer morning at South Valley's north trailhead. And the Pokémon GO crew spends the afternoon chasing a Gigantamax Rillaboom from Bega Park through downtown, 1:45 to 4.

Tuesday, mahjong at the library that isn't open yet. 1 to 3 at Deer Creek Library on Bradford Road, first Tuesdays, all levels welcome. More on that building below. Heads up that Bemis is closed Monday and Tuesday for a systems move.

Thursday, the Cass Clayton Band plays the Clement Park amphitheater at 7, free.

Next weekend, Western Welcome Week opens its 98th year loaded. Opening night Friday at Sterne Park, 5 to 10, free, with The Petty Nicks Experience and a drone show. Saturday brings free gold panning at Carson Nature Center, Art in the Park at Bega Park, and the kids' fishing derby at Geneva Lake. Sunday it's pancakes on the Geneva Lodge lawn and a ticketed Chris Janson show at Hudson Gardens. The Grand Parade lands the following Saturday, August 15, themed to Colorado's 150th.

Closer to home that same weekend, the Ranch stacks Food Truck Friday at both the Ranch House and Dakota Lodge, then Market Days and a Wedding Singer movie night on Saturday, all open to non-residents. That Saturday morning, Feed the City packs sack lunches for neighbors in need at the Kipling Chili's, 8:30 to 10:30. Volunteers 18 and up sign up at tangocharities.org.

The usual suspects hold their spots: the farmers market, Saturdays 8 to 1 downtown, and Wednesday Raid Hour at the Clement Park skate park at 5:50.

A steak restaurant is coming to the Bevy's building on Alkire. County records name it The Summit Steak Bar, a full-service spot at 5869 S Alkire: the tenant-finish permit is in final inspections and the food license was issued last week, which usually means an opening is close. There's no website or announcement out there yet, so consider this your early word. I'll chase the opening date.

There's a 30.8 million dollar library taking shape on Bradford Road. Jeffco's library system bought the big office building at 11100 Bradford Road last year, named it Deer Creek Library in November, and plans to turn 40,000 square feet of it into a full branch, opening in 2028. Design work is happening now, with construction to follow. You don't have to wait, though. Monthly programs already run on site, a bookmobile parks there Saturdays 11 to 3 with checkouts, Wi-Fi and card signups, and the old Ken Caryl book-return bin now lives there, open around the clock. Twenty twenty-eight is a wait. The Saturday bookmobile isn't.

The old Walgreens at Simms and Ken Caryl is becoming a medical office building. The conversion permit issued July 1, and its own wording tells the story: the first phase demolishes the parts that make the building readily identifiable as a Walgreens, the gable canopies, the pharmacy drive-through, the old entrance, then re-clads it and reworks the lot. The property sold in June. No tenant is named in the records yet, and the tenant permit is where a name usually first shows up, so I'm watching. A couple of you asked about this corner. This one's for you.

Black Bear Trail reopens tomorrow. The raptor closure that's kept it shut since February 1 ends today, which stitches Deer Creek Canyon and Hildebrand Ranch back together, barring a late wildlife delay, so give the gate sign the final word. Now the catch I promised you: the Upper Plymouth Creek stretch between Plymouth Mountain and Meadowlark is still closed for trail work weekdays, Monday through Thursday, 8 to 4:30, so the full through-ride is a Friday-through-Sunday move for now. Tomorrow qualifies, and it's going to be a hot one, so go early. Elsewhere: Bear Creek Trail at Lair o' the Bear closes Monday for flood-damage repair, and the fire ban holds at Stage 2 in unincorporated Jeffco, so leave the campfire and the charcoal home. Gas with a shutoff valve is still fine.

Today is the last day of the 80 dollar flat rate. Event and Airport Transportation's Sprinter deal, any Littleton address to any Littleton address, up to 11 passengers, rides out with July tonight. Book at least an hour ahead at limolimo.limo and let somebody else drive the Wine Walk. Local and licensed, Colorado PUC LL-03624.

Trains, and your chance to say something about them. The Front Range passenger rail plan would make Mineral Station its southern metro gateway, and the delivery plan gets a public forum in Littleton on Monday, August 10, 5 to 7 at Buck Recreation Center, free. The rail district's board is expected to vote at the end of August on whether a funding question goes to November's ballot, so this forum is the input window. On the school front, Jeffco's board reviewed ballot language for a possible 135 million dollar November ask at its July retreat, one combined measure or separate ones still undecided, with special public comment scheduled for August 4. No vote yet.

The market has split, and the line is the price tag. Above 900,000 dollars, buyers are firmly in charge. A six-bedroom on Catamount Lane in the Valley closed at 1.85 million, 7 percent under ask, after 79 days, and a five-bed on Willowleaf Drive went 3 percent under after more than three months on the market. Under 900, it's a different sport. A three-bed on Frost Avenue went pending in three days and closed 2.4 percent over list, and a four-bed on Capri Avenue did nearly the same, pending in three days, 2 percent over. The zip-wide stats read calm, a 708,690 median and 18 days on market, but that average is really two markets holding hands. Price sharp and the knife fight's still on. Price proud and plan to wait. And the builders haven't blinked: the county issued 11 new single-family permits in the zip this month, eight to Lennar and three to Toll Brothers.

The storms get one last word before the heat takes over: Friday sits at 88 with a real afternoon storm chance, then Saturday goes a dry 91, Sunday wants a piece of 100, and Monday matches it before a stormier Tuesday finally breaks the streak. Two alerts to plan around. An Ozone Action Day is in effect through 4 this afternoon, with the state asking everyone to limit driving until then, and a Heat Advisory covers Sunday from noon to 9. Do the ambitious stuff before ten and give the afternoons to shade and water.

Colorado turns 150 tomorrow. Statehood came on August 1, 1876, which is why the Welcome Week parade picked Colorful Colorado, 150 Years as this year's theme, and why the county is marking the morning with that volunteer event at South Valley. A century and a half in, the view from the Hogback is holding up nicely. If you want to celebrate like a local, it's a farmers market peach at 8, art at the Ranch House by 11, and Shakespeare on a blanket by 7. And that's the day.

That's the week from the foothills. Drink your water, wear the hat, and if you make it up Black Bear tomorrow, I'm jealous. Happy 150th, Colorado.

Joey

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