Denver, CO
Denver’s La Raza Park Improvements project survey closes Sunday, public meeting scheduled for March 14
Time is just about up for the community to weigh in on the future of a historic landmark in Denver.
La Raza Park, located in Denver’s northside neighborhood, became the city’s third historic cultural district last summer.
Now city leaders want to know what improvements people want to see in the park.
La Raza Park becomes Denver’s third historic cultural district: “It means a lot to this neighborhood”
Through a survey, the city is asking community members about changes to the playground, basketball courts, ADA-compliant pathways, native landscaping and an irrigation system.
From the kiosks to the murals and sculptures, the history at La Raza Park runs deep.
It is also where students from a nearby micro-middle school, Embark Education, have their recess and lunch.
Students, like 12-year-old Dixon Yepez, use the park to play football and basketball almost daily.
“All the students at Embark come to this park almost every single day and it doesn’t matter what the weather conditions are,” said Dixon.
His dad Jorge Yepez says the park means a lot to his son.
“He comes here quite often during school and he talks about it a lot when he gets home,” he said.
The park is just five minutes away from the school.
“We will always come to this park and we always have a fun time here,” said Yepez.
The city of Denver wants others to be able to enjoy the park, just like Dixon.
That’s why this survey was created to get feedback from community members on what improvements they want to see through a 5- to 10-minute survey.
“For me, I think maybe a redo of the playground because the playground has graffiti and it’s very dirty,” said Dixon.
Playgrounds paint the story of a community and La Raza Park is no exception.
The city wants to honor that history using the survey to make changes everyone approves of.
“The fact that they’re improving the park is always good for any community,” said Yepez.
Design plans will be developed this year with construction set for early 2025.
City leaders hope the improvements will highlight the park’s legacy as a symbol of unity and a space where the Northside community can continue to thrive.
“This overall area has a lot of meaning to it and even though I wasn’t a part of it, a lot of people who were live in this neighborhood,” said Dixon.
The survey for the $1.7 million project is available in Spanish and English and will close on Sunday, March 3.
Funding sources for the La Raza Park Improvements project include the legacy fund, Denver Parks and Recreation Capital Improvement Program, Elevate Denver Bond and Rise Denver Bond.
A public meeting will be held on Thursday, March 14 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Aztlan Recreation Center for those in the community interested in attending.
Denverites looking for a stellar cup of Joe don’t need to travel far to savor the flavor of excellent coffee.
That’s according to The World’s 100 Best Coffee Shops, a website that rates global hospitality establishments where coffee lovers can find better brew. The website recently announced its 2026 list of the best coffee shops in North America, Central America and the Caribbean and two local companies made the list.
Sweet Bloom Coffee Roasters came in at No. 43, while Queen City Collective Coffee ranked No. 61. Not bad for a list that includes must-hit destinations in places like Guatemala and Costa Rica, which are known for their exports of coffee beans.
The World’s 100 Best Coffee Shops decided the ranking through a mix of nominations and voting by both the public and experts. Places were evaluated based on the quality of coffee served, barista expertise, ambiance, sustainability practices, and innovation among other criteria, according to the website.
Sweet Bloom Coffee Roasters, which came on the scene in 2013, helped usher the so-called fourth wave of coffee locally, which focuses on honoring the beans’ agricultural roots and using techniques like pour-over to extract more flavor from each brew. The company started with a wholesale roastery and retail shop in Lakewood before expanding to Arvada through a merger with another company called Two Rivers, and later to Westminster. In 2022, Food and Wine magazine named Sweet Bloom’s Westminster locale the best coffee shop in Colorado.
Queen City Collective has certainly earned the popular vote among Mile High City coffee drinkers if the company’s expansion is an indication. Since opening its first retail location in 2018, in a spot shared with Novel Strand Brewing Co., Queen City has expanded to seven locations between Denver and surrounding suburbs, including Wheat Ridge and Aurora.
To see the full list of must-hit coffee shops across the globe, visit theworlds100bestcoffeeshops.com. For additional recommendations, check out our list of Colorado’s best coffee shops with picturesque patios and views.
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DENVER (KDVR) — With the mild winter and warm start to spring, beekeepers are seeing swarms earlier in the year and expect the season to be longer than usual.
Gregg McMahan is a dispatcher for the Colorado Swarm Hotline. It’s usually his job to send a beekeeper to collect a swarm when someone calls, but on Sunday afternoon, he decided to handle one himself.
“Nice little swarm,” McMahan said. “It’s tricky, though, because it’s hanging on a fence.”
A warm winter and spring mean swarm season has begun four weeks early.
“Never seen it like this ever,” McMahan said.
This call is to a house on Denver’s east side. When McMahan arrived, he saw a swarm had taken up residence on the fence.
“Absolutely typical, it is on the small side,” McMahan said.
He got to work, first luring them into a box when he spotted a good sign.
“See all these girls, they got their butts up, they’re fanning their wings. That’s telling us the queens in here,” McMahan said.
With the queen in hand, the rest began to follow her into the box.
McMahan said two years ago, he had 400 calls like this. Last year, only 100, the Swarm Hotline was as unpredictable as the weather, which has caused bee activity earlier in the year than ever.
“It makes it hard on the bees, you know? Two days ago, I’m collecting swarms in the snow,” McMahan said.
Rescuing them is integral to Colorado’s ecosystem. McMahan hopes people give a beekeeper a call instead of spraying them or harming them in any other way.
“They do a phenomenal amount of pollination within this state. Not only our native flowers but all the other flowers that people bring in,” McMahan said.
Slowly but surely, the swarm left the fence and moved into the box. McMahan loaded them into his truck to deliver them to their new home.
“Westminster to the Stanley Lake Wildlife Refuge, so these girls will have lakefront property tonight,” he said.
As he wrapped up, McMahan’s phone was buzzing more than the bees. Just another call to start a swarm season, he thinks, could be a long one.
“This year I’m already 20 swarms deep, so I’m expecting way more than 100 this year,” McMahan said.
To have a bee swarm removed for free from your property anywhere statewide, the Swarm Hotline number is 1-844-SPY-BEES.
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