An “open carry” proposal seems bound for Loveland City Council consideration, and it has nothing to do with guns.
It’s about alcohol and whether it should be OK for people to carry adult beverages in open containers on Fourth Street in downtown Loveland during specified hours on certain days.
A year-old state law enables cities to designate “entertainment districts” where alcoholic drinks can be purchased at licensed establishments and carried publicly in specified zones.
City officials are exploring whether the provision might help breathe more life into downtown Loveland. The proposal hasn’t been placed on a council agenda.
“Downtown revitalization, I’ve always thought, is a mobile thing,” said Loveland councilman Daryle Klassen, who was the first to float the idea among other city officials. “You go up and down the street. You hear some live music up here, and stop and talk with a friend down the street.”
Greeley is the first Colorado city to open a downtown district for public alcohol consumption, testing its “Go Cup” program at Friday Fest events, held on the Eighth Street Plaza and along a half-block stretch of Eighth Avenue in the heart of downtown.
“It’s been so well received,” said Mandi Huston, a Greeley Downtown Development Authority staff member who has been involved in operation of the project. “We’ve had absolutely no negative experiences with this. People know now that there’s something to do here.”
Huston said Greeley’s success is measured by the crowds that attend Friday Fest, including many city residents who have needed to consult maps to find their way downtown.
“It’s drawn a lot of people from out on the west side,” she said. “We’ve even had families from Longmont come to downtown to enjoy this.”
Greeley DDA staffers have received so many inquiries from other Colorado cities and towns interested in their program that the agency will conduct a Sept. 7 symposium on how they put it in motion.
