NEDERLAND — The Nederland Downtown Development Authority (NDDA) met on Wednesday, March 11, to discuss what was one of the community’s biggest desires for their downtown area: showcasing East 1st Street’s likelihood as a “festival street” that can close to vehicle traffic and become a pedestrian street mall during special events and seasonal activities.  

Throughout 2025, the NDDA worked to consult with Studio Seed—the firm hired to develop the Town’s Subarea Plan—in the creation of the Authority’s Plan of Development and 18-Month Work Plan. The “Flexible First Street Demonstration Project” was the fifth recommended catalytic project listed in those updated plans. 

“The intent of this is to do a really good demonstration of how we can efficiently do this, because we’ve never done it before,” NDDA Executive Director Kate Masingale told The Mountain-Ear, noting the success of similar initiatives in Arvada, Boulder, and Fruita.  

The demonstration is tentatively planned to take place in the fall, during heavy-traffic leaf peeping weekends, and around one of the Nederland Farmers Market’s flagship events, Harvest Fest. With the exception of business deliveries, the street would be shut down to vehicle traffic during the demonstration.

“It just makes sense, but it’s a big lift, so if we have a blueprint that’s easy to replicate we can do a couple of different demonstrations in a few different ways,” Masingale said. “We can make it easier for leaf peepers to stop and stay here, and we can capitalize on the traffic that comes through here appropriately, so it doesn’t feel like we’re undertaken.

"If we can park these people, and they start spending money, it’s not just this whirlwind whiplash anymore—it becomes a different thing.”

Studio Seed estimates a total of 55 hours to create and produce the Flexible First Street Demonstration Project for a total fee of $9,625. The NDDA will be discussing the matter further, and potentially voting on it during their next meeting.  

If it goes well, the demonstration could become a blueprint for the long-term flexibility of East 1st Street, where it would be closed to vehicle traffic for part of the year, while otherwise maintaining its current one-way vehicular access and on-street parking availability during the rest of the year.

In addition, the NDDA’s planning documents—informed by a year-long community and stakeholder engagement process—envision businesses down and around East 1st Street having room for “outdoor dining, small plazas, and unique design elements” on “wide, accessible sidewalks.”

“We’re not planning on spending a lot of money because we do have a lot of assets," Masingale said. "We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel, we’re just trying to do it better than we have before to show people what it can be.”

During their last regular meeting, Masingale detailed to the NDDA the goal of working with Studio Seed in planning and executing the demonstration. That work will entail graphically designing a festival street format for East 1st Street, scheduling and implementing a program of events, and working directly with business owners and Town staff on planning, permitting, and process.  

“And nothing is permanent,” Masingale said as she explained the nature of the pilot project. “This is not some done deal. We’re going to give it a try, and we have a great consultant that will be working with us.”

Studio Seed is expected to draft the preliminary details of a festival street demonstration, from the scheduling of events to brainstorming marketing strategies throughout April, engaging with business owners in May, and finalizing the plan and beginning implementation by the end of June. 

Masingale said one of her major goals for the project was “to work very hard with the businesses to show what we can do and how we can grab traffic if we all work together.” 

Reach-outs to downtown businesses should begin this month, she added, earlier than initially planned.

“We want to hear everybody’s complaints so we can address them and we can talk about them,” Masingale said. “We want everyone to feel that they’re heard, that there’s a process, and that they have somebody that they can contact when they’re upset about something.”

 The Nederland Downtown Development Authority meets the second Wednesday of every month. Their next meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 8 and will be held online as well as in person at the Nederland Community Center. 

For more information go to townofnederland.colorado.gov/downtown-development-authority.