Wheat Ridge

Colorado Plus opens Monday with 56 local beers on tap -- and a brewery next month

The Colorado Plus Brew Pub (originally known as Colorado Liquid Art Works) will open on Monday, May 13, at 6995 West 38th Avenue in Wheat Ridge, with 56 Colorado craft beers on tap. Located in the former Valente's Italian Restaurant, which closed in 2008 after 44 years, Colorado Plus will also in ... More >>

Medical marijuana dispensary review: Best Colorado Meds in Wheat Ridge

Best Colorado Meds is an orphan from Fort Collins, left to fend for itself in a partially hidden Wheat Ridge location after being ousted due to a dispensary ban. My budtender told me the owners hope to reopen in the Fort and keep the Wheat Ridge store running, too -- likely a good move considering t ... More >>

The writing is on the wall at the Colorado brewery, which is taking over the old Valente's

Change is inevitable, but it's not always smooth, which is why Eugene Kahng, co-owner of the soon-to-open Colorado Liquid Art Works brewery in Wheat Ridge, hit a few bumps when he painted over a mural that had decorated the side of Valente's Italian Restaurant, a community mainstay that closed in ... More >>

Operation Blood Sport: Meth and coke ring bust leads to discovery of cockfighting operation

If the Jefferson County DA's office is right, some of the sixteen people indicted in a drug ring bust weren't satisfied with dealing meth and cocaine. They were also allegedly involved with an illegal cockfighting operation featuring seventy roosters plus accoutrements that allowed the birds to slas ... More >>

A dozen new breweries on tap for the Denver Metro area by spring 2013

Breweries, big and small, have been opening at a dizzying pace over the past year along the Front Range, from Colorado Springs to Windsor and everywhere in between. Denver alone welcomed eight new breweries in the past twelve months, while Boulder County added at least eight, including four within t ... More >>

Flower Power

Photos: 10 Best of Denver places to stay cool during a heat wave

In case you haven't noticed, it's been hellishly hot around here lately -- which naturally got us thinking about the best places to cool off in the Denver area and beyond. Fortunately, our Best of Denver archive features more than twenty years' worth of great ideas about pretty much everything under ... More >>

Sushi Bay will open where the Hole closed

If you've been following this blog, then you've no doubt read about the endless parade of pizza joints that are sweeping across the Denver landscape: Toppings started slinging pies in LoDo last Friday; Right Coast Pizza began tossing dough two weeks ago in Wheat Ridge; and Fired Up will open in the ... More >>

A sausage fest with local buffalo and Funkwerks' Dark Prophet

​When I bumped into my neighbor the other day, we got to talking about sausage. He'd recently acquired a beautiful new meat grinder and has been having a great time with it. I, coincidentally, have always wanted to make my own sausage, and asked if he'd show me how. "Of course!" he said. "I ha ... More >>

A gang of cartoon characters landed these students in trouble

Slide show: Meet the Slang Gang

Reader: Using "Epic fail" to discuss art leads to epic failure in nude-sculpture censorship debate

​Our post about the attempted censorship of nude art at a Wheat Ridge rec center led to a debate about the quality of the pieces, by Kittredge's Michael McGrath. One person dismissed them with the phrase "EPIC FAIL," which caused another reader to pull out the big verbal guns.

Cold weather got you down?: Reader says, "Welcome to Colorado, you big pussies"

Flickr​The decision by school districts throughout the area to close today due to cold temperatures, not snow, has led to a lot of eye-rolling among old-timers, who remember the days when only Acts of God could justify class cancellations. Representing this viewpoint is one reader from Wheat R ... More >>

Trent Hix: JV Bandit allegedly lived with his mom, walked to the banks he robbed

Trent Hix.​When members of the Rocky Mountain Safe Streets Task Force dubbed a local bank robber the JV Bandit, they had no idea how appropriate the nickname would turn out to be. Trent Hix, the man now accused of being the crook in question, may be 38-years old, but he reportedly lives with h ... More >>

Time to get back on the right track: Wheat Ridge Rec Center offers free classes all day

More athletic than sitting on the couch.​Blame it on the holiday influx of cheese logs, goose-meat and cases of Hofbräu, but you've been feeling a little sluggish lately. And broke. Plus, "sluggish" and "broke" is a very negative combination of things to be feeling, according to your court-or ... More >>

Mange & scabies alert due to Wheat Ridge foxes

Flickr​Mange and scabies aren't ailments most of us associate with the 21st century. But Wheat Ridge Police Department spokeswoman Lisa Stigall says they're still around and a very real danger in her community thanks to some stricken foxes, as is demonstrated by a disgusting photo on view bel ... More >>

Metal peddlers earn a little money and a lot scorn as our Shmucks of the Week

​In the past week, metal thieves have been working hard. The likes of Richard Goodface and Duane Brown, have allegedly been stealing the cast-iron metal storm grates for meager recycling money. Others have stolen the metal vases off of gravesites at cemeteries in Denver, Golden and Wheat Ridge ... More >>

Jocelyn H. Chilvers is suburban superhero Wheat Ridge Yardivore: Kenny Be's Hip Tip

Full-sized comic below.​Wheat Ridge Yardivore Real Name: Jocelyn H. Chilvers; Occupation: Garden Coach; Suburb of operations: Wheat Ridge; Hair: Weeded; Eyes: Watered Suburban superhero skills: Like all Wheat Ridgers, Yardivore's life force is augmented by art, gardening and constant garden-v ... More >>

Robert Knudsen: Sexually violent predator leaves Wheat Ridge on heels of parole violation

Robert Knudsen.​One of the most uncomfortable responsibilities for municipalities these days is to inform the citizenry that a sexually violent predator has come to town. So imagine how delighted the folks in Wheat Ridge were to let folks know that one who'd previously been living in the commu ... More >>

Robert Wallace shooting: Make My Day law meets Gran Torino

Robert Wallace on 9News.​The Robert Wallace case has all the trademarks of a justice-gone-awry tale. When Wallace, an 81-year-old Wheat Ridge resident, saw two men trying to steal his trailer this past February, he opened fire, hitting one of the men in the head. But the person busted in the s ... More >>

Creepazoid allegedly trying to lure kids using puppy promises

A Flickr photoIf a stranger offers to show you one of these, kids, don't bite.​Puppies: They're wonderful to hug. But cuddling up with the guy in Wheat Ridge who's been chatting up kids about them would be infinitely less enjoyable. According to the Wheat Ridge Police Department, a middle-age ... More >>

Smoking outside could be banned, too?

A Flickr photoHope you're not in Wheat Ridge, missy.​The blogs of Denver are working hard to provide content you'll enjoy. Here are three examples. Face the State's Jared Jacang Maher reports about a Wheat Ridge draft ordinance that would extend the city's smoking ban to "parks, trails, bus s ... More >>

Wheat Ridge considers banning patio smoking

A Flickr photo​Last night, at a study session of the Wheat Ridge City Council, members considered making significant revisions to the town's smoking ordinance, including banning smoking on outdoor restaurant and bar patios. "The council provided staff direction to bring the ordinance forward ... More >>

Kenny Be's Worst-Case Scenario: The grand illumination

The Winter in the City program is an effort to warm up to suburban shoppers by showing them how "Denver has seen the light!" The evening begins at Union Station with a visit from "Concealed-Carry Claus." He will be packing a 500-magnum "candy cane" as a promise of protection to all white guys atten ... More >>

Medical marijuana in Colorado: A directory

Herbal Connections dispensary (photo by Aaron Thackeray)​ Colorado's medical marijuana business is booming -- or, if you prefer, blooming. You can read about the growth in Joel Warner's feature story or The Latest Word's marijuana category, which includes reviews of dispensaries. But if you ju ... More >>

Mile Highs and Lows: Peace in Medicine Center

​As Colorado's medical-marijuana industry grows, marijuana dispensaries of all types and sizes are proliferating around the state. Some resemble swanky bars or sterile dentist offices; others feel like a dope dealer's college dorm room. To help keep them all straight, Westword will be offering ... More >>

Today's most disgusting crime: Raw sewage dump near Wheat Ridge High School

A photo of a suspect in a raw-sewage dumping; click to enlarge the image. Here's a crime that really stinks: Wheat Ridge Police are on the lookout for a man who poured raw sewage directly from his camper into a drain leading to a retention pond near Wheat Ridge High School. No big deal? Well, Wheat ... More >>

July 4: What you can blow up and where

A Flickr photo So you want to set some shit off this weekend? Because different jurisdictions have different rules, fireworks that may be perfectly lawful on one block may be illegal on the next. Most items that neither explode nor leave the ground are permissible in Colorado. But in Wheat Ridge, a ... More >>

Dispatch from Geekdom: A day at the Rocky Mountain Swordplay Guild

Photos by Ben Moger-Williams The dress code calls for black on black, or at least dark on dark, but I wear red pants. It sets me up as an outsider, which is exactly what I am - at least when I arrive. But by the end of the day, I'll feel like a fellow condottieri, a medieval mercenary-in-training l ... More >>

We'll Toast to That

This Just In…

The latest nightlife news.

Shall We Dance?

Shall We Dance?

Smells Like Teen Spirit

Totally awesome Teen Night rocks the Wheat Ridge Carnation Festival.

Best Public Swimming Pool

Wheat Ridge Recreation Center

Best Italian Sausage Sandwich

Vincenza's Italian Bakery & Deli

It's a Breeze

DPL unleashes a summer reading bug

Free For All

Highlighting the week's greatest gratis event

Best Thrift Shop With a Cause

Treasure Trunk

Letters to the Editor

From the week of October 26, 2000

Better Boys

Harvesting memories with the men of Wheat Ridge.

Best swimming pool

Wheat Ridge Recreational Center

Best wafting odor

Jolly Rancher Candies

Best lampshade salesperson

Lynda Ferris, Lampshade Gallery

Ready, Willing and Disabled

The state's treatment of the developmentally disabled isn't broken. So why does Colorado want to fix it?

I Drink, Therefore I Am

An incomplete history of local barchitecture, undertaken in two sober afternoons.

Strange but True

STRANGE BUT TRUE

DRIBBLES AND BITS AND BITS AND BITS.

MY WAY OR THE HIGHWAY

IN WHEAT RIDGE, THE TIME IS ALWAYS RIGHT FOR FIGHTING IN THE STREET.