Downtown Loveland Fourth Street Fall Events: What's Open This Fall

Under downtown Loveland, the water main that crews dug out of Fourth Street was a cast-iron line laid in 1924, along with the roadway on top of it. The pipe served the street for roughly a century. Replacing it is the reason Fourth Street has been torn up, block by block, since a groundbreaking on Feb. 24, 2025. It also explains why this fall's downtown calendar fits so closely around the construction schedule.

As of the first week of October 2026, four of the five blocks are open and one is still fenced. The Downtown District is promoting its fall events around the renovated blocks, even though the last one isn't finished yet. The pavers and patios get the attention, but the work was really about two less visible things: new infrastructure underground, and a bet that a better street will bring tenants back into buildings that have been empty for a long time.

The Pipe Came First, the Patios Came With It

The City calls the project the Heart Improvement Plan's 4th Street Revitalization, often shortened to HIP Streets. It covers five blocks from N. Washington Avenue west to N. Garfield Avenue, which is longer than the stretch most people think of as "downtown." Talk of a downtown overhaul goes back to a 2009 master plan. It was scaled down in 2014 and updated in 2017. Momentum came once Loveland Utilities added the Fourth Street waterline replacement to its project list and the Downtown Development Authority agreed to help pay for the surface work.

That funding split shows up in the budget. The City estimated the program at $24.5 million. Of that, $12 million comes from the Stormwater, Water and Power enterprise funds, and $12.5 million comes through Certificates of Participation. No General Fund money was allocated. In May 2026 the City reported 4,150 feet of new waterline, 3,080 feet of storm pipe, 19 storm manholes, and 21 inlets. It said the underground work finished ahead of schedule and under budget. No final total for the full program has been published yet.

The new street is designed to host crowds, and several of its features only make sense with that in mind:

• Block 3 has no curbs. The block between Lincoln and Cleveland was built as the main event street. It has removable bollards and a roadway that slopes toward a center drain, so water runs to the middle of the street instead of the gutters.
• The boulders do structural work. Some downtown buildings sit up to a foot higher or lower than the ones across the street. Large, locally sourced boulders handle those grade changes and double as seating and planters. The City found that concrete walls would have cut costs by only about 1% and would have been less accessible.
• The paver pattern helps people with low vision. Charcoal soldier-course pavers create a contrasting edge, and the pattern changes to herringbone where the colors change.
• Diagonal parking became parallel parking to make room for wider patios. The City's walking-tour notes count 31 spaces lost along the corridor and 33 added or restriped nearby.

When the first blocks reopened in November 2025, Top Knot owner Shelby Carpenter pointed to the wider sidewalks and brighter overhead lighting outside her shop.

Where the Fences Are This Week

The City's weekly update for Sept. 28 through Oct. 4, 2026 gives the clearest picture of which blocks are usable.

The City expects Block 4 to be finished in late fall 2026, with the railroad-track intersections done before the holidays. A July Reporter-Herald story said the last block was expected to be done in November and all work finished by the end of the year. Until then, the Rialto Theater block is the fully finished center of the street. The block just west of it, toward the tracks, is still the one people walk around.

A Calendar Built Around the New Street

This fall, the Loveland Downtown District is promoting its major events on the rebuilt street.

1. Downtown Pumpkin Festival, Saturday, Oct. 10, noon to 5 p.m. The Downtown District lists it on "three recently renovated blocks" of Fourth Street between N. Railroad Avenue and Jefferson Avenue. Plans include pumpkin decorating, artists, vendors, contests, and a family-friendly haunted house. That stretch includes Block 4, which the City's Sept. 28 to Oct. 4 update still listed as closed to cars for concrete and paver work, so check the posted signs on the west end that day.
2. Scarecrow contest, Oct. 13 through 31. Find all 13 displays and vote for a favorite.
3. OBC Harvest Wine Walk, Sunday, Oct. 18. The six stops are Urban Field, Loveland Tap & Tavern, Sandos, Slice 'n Roll, Door 222, and Vatos Tacos & Tequila.
4. Breakfast-themed Foodie Walk, Sunday, Nov. 8. This is the second Downtown Foodie Walk of the season.
5. Festival of Lights, Friday, Nov. 20, 5 to 8 p.m. The Downtown District is promoting it as held "on the newly completed 4th Street." The evening includes a tree lighting, live reindeer, a holiday market, carriage rides, and Mr. and Mrs. Claus. Floats on 4th returns for a second year. It is a stationary parade, with floats parked along both sides of the street, the center left open for walking, and marching bands and performers moving through the crowd. It also extends the festival by two blocks.

The Festival of Lights is a good measure of how far the project has come. In 2025, the City's goal was simply to reopen Blocks 1 and 2 in time for it. In 2026, the official downtown Christmas tree goes back in front of the Rialto Theater, and Block 3 is built to handle exactly the kind of crowd this event brings.

Two events off Fourth Street fill out the season. Centerra's free 21st annual Halloween Hullabaloo runs Oct. 24 from noon to 4 p.m. at Marketplace at Centerra on Fall River Drive. The City's Ski & Sports Swap is Nov. 13 and 14 at Chilson Recreation Center, 700 E. Fourth St.

What the New Street Is Meant to Fill

A finished street doesn't fill a storefront by itself, and the Downtown District has said so plainly. In a Sept. 27 Reporter-Herald column, Loveland Downtown District executive director Sean Hawkins wrote that vacant downtown properties can pay half the property taxes of an active neighbor and generate no sales tax. He also wrote that downtown businesses do better when their neighbors bring in foot traffic. His example was going for Josh and John's ice cream after a meal at Comet Chicken or a beer at Verboten Brewing.

His clearest example sits on Block 3. The former Mr. Neat's space next door to Independence Gallery and across from the Rialto had been vacant for about 20 years. In late September, construction started there on a Rio Grande Mexican Restaurant planned for next spring. Then on the afternoon of Wednesday, Sept. 30, a contractor's machine hit a support beam inside the building at 225 E. Fourth St. and part of an interior roof collapsed. Nobody was hurt. Lighthouse Dance and Independence Gallery were evacuated and closed until the structure is shored up, and as of that report the Reporter-Herald had no estimate for when they would reopen. Gallery owner Billie Colson told the paper that the constant construction and street closures on Fourth Street this year had already cut into customer visits.

The changes along the street this year have gone both ways:

• The Dug and Firkin, a brewpub planned for 243 E. Fourth St., was described in July as opening "later this year." No opening had been confirmed as of early October.
• Bank of Colorado is moving from 206 E. Fourth St. to a new branch at Third Street and Cleveland Avenue, with a mid-November opening and a grand opening planned for Nov. 20.
• "B" Sweet Cupcakes owners Dana and Sue Brungardt announced in June that they planned to move from 425 E. Fourth St. to downtown Berthoud later in the summer, after their building went up for sale.
• Sky Bear Brewery planned to move from 272 E. Fifth St. to 209 E. Fourth St., and Erie-based Echo Brewing planned a location at 409 N. Railroad Ave. As of an April report, neither had an opening date.

Hawkins also mentioned plans to renovate the former Loveland Elks Lodge on Fourth Street, about 30,000 square feet, and a development taking shape at Third Street and Lincoln Avenue on the former Colotex site.

The Pieces Still on Their Way

Several finishing touches are still to come. The historic Fourth Street clock is being professionally restored with DDA funding and will go back near its original spot "in the coming months." Permanent sculptures were being installed on Blocks 1, 2, 3, and 5 during the first week of October. An art feature running the length of all five blocks is planned for the first quarter of 2027.

When Block 3 reopened, Hawkins described what each finished section is supposed to bring:

"Each section we complete brings new energy, improved accessibility, and a stronger foundation for our businesses while building on the rich history that makes downtown special."

Public Works Director Will Jones said the upgrades are "built to serve our community for the next century." The pipe they replaced lasted about that long. The new line went in ahead of schedule, and the storefronts above it are filling one lease at a time, with the Rio Grande at 225 E. Fourth St. aiming for next spring.

If you own a building or a home near downtown and want to know what the new Fourth Street means for your property, Catherine Montgomery and the Power of 3 team are glad to walk through it with you, either over coffee on one of the finished blocks or wherever suits you best.