Olde Town Arvada's Fall Overlap: Last Pours, First Bouquets, and a Garage With Room to Spare

"It was never just a winery," the owners of Silver Vines Winery wrote on Facebook on June 29, when they announced that their Olde Town tasting room would close at the end of 2026. That gives the Grandview Avenue tasting room about three months left. A florist, a renovated tavern and a bookstore-café are opening their doors in that same stretch.

So from now until December, Olde Town has both its outgoing regulars and its incoming ones. One of the district's best-known restaurants has already moved out. Another longtime gathering place has a last day on the calendar. Several newer businesses are just getting started. And the City Council has decided that parking stays free for now, after a study showed the district has more spaces than it seems to on a busy Saturday.

A Ramen Favorite Moved Out of Olde Town

The first change came in the spring, and some people still haven't heard. 303 Ramen had been at 5725 Yukon Street since 2017 until a fire on March 3 badly damaged the building. During remediation, Arvada firefighters found asbestos, and the property owner who had leased the space to owner Natenapa Bunkrong put the building up for sale.

Six months after the fire, on Sept. 11, 303 Ramen reopened at 8025 Sheridan Boulevard in northeast Arvada, less than five miles from its old spot. Bunkrong told the Arvada Press there would be some menu changes, with most of the focus on ramen and Japanese food. She said many of the dishes regulars ask for would stay, and the Press named several of them: the panang curry ramen, the shio ramen, the duck cheese wontons and the Thai iced tea. The new location is open every day from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.

"It's not far from our old location, so we're really happy to still be in the same community and close to many of our longtime customers," Bunkrong told the Press. If an Olde Town evening used to include a ramen stop, it now needs a short drive to Sheridan.

Silver Vines Has a Closing Date, and Its Busiest Weeks Are Still Ahead

303 Ramen's move was forced by the fire. Silver Vines' closing is planned. Brothers Danny and Jeff Chayer opened the winery at 7509 Grandview Avenue in December 2011. In 2017, Jeff and his wife Kristin took over. The Arvada tasting room will stay open through December, and a 15th Anniversary Party is planned for Dec. 6 from 2 to 6 p.m.

The winery has been part of Olde Town events for years, including the Eggnog and Cider Competition, A Chocolate Affair and the Rocky Mountain Archtop Festival. Kristin Chayer described the place this way:

"What started as a winery became a gathering place — for birthdays and anniversaries, for first dates and last toasts, for Tuesday-night regulars who became some of our closest friends."

Its last weeks also fall during the holiday season. If you have a birthday or anniversary coming up this fall, Silver Vines still has the white, red and dessert wines, charcuterie boards and bruschetta it has always served. After December, it won't.

Three Newcomers on the Edges of the District

The new arrivals aren't on Grandview. They're a few blocks out, on Olde Wadsworth, Ralston Road and Upham Street, and each is at a different stage.

TeeLee Floral and Events started in Golden as a wedding and events florist. At its Olde Wadsworth location, owner ScheLeese Goudy and her mother, shop manager Michelle Delport, have added retail bouquets, home goods, classes and locally sourced flowers. So a bouquet for a dinner party can now come from a shop in Olde Town.

Olde Town Tavern closed on June 22 for about two weeks of work and reopened on July 6. Co-owners Amity Farahmandi and Mallory Schissel oversaw plumbing repairs, reupholstered booths and repainting, and regulars pitched in. The tavern isn't new, but the room has been refreshed for the first time in a while.

My Book Cellar is the newcomer people are watching most closely. Olde Town friends Kim Beaumund and Kate Otto are turning the historic Smith-Houston House at 5715 Upham Street into a women-owned bookstore, café and bar. Plans include more than 3,000 new books, coffee, wine and beer, pastries and events. In September, the Press reported that the owners hoped to open before the holidays. Their website now says "Coming Winter 2026" and asks readers to find them at local book fairs in the meantime. Until there's a firm date, plan on the pop-ups, which this month include story hours at nearby businesses.

Put these together and Olde Town's center is spreading out. A walk that used to start and end on Grandview now runs from Olde Wadsworth to Upham and over to Ralston Road.

The Parking Debate Turned Up Empty Spaces

More businesses spread across more blocks means more driving in, which is why the city's Sept. 15 decision matters. After hearing from business owners and nearby residents, the Arvada City Council directed staff to pause the plan for paid parking in Olde Town. Business owners worried that fees would keep customers away. Residents worried that cars would spill onto their streets.

The study behind the proposal was done in 2025. It found that parking in the historic district is more than 85% full during peak hours and reaches 92% at its busiest. The peak windows were noon to 2 p.m. and 5 to 8 p.m. on weekdays, and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekends. Those numbers left out the 600-space RTD Olde Town Transit Hub garage, which is only 35% full at the same peak times. Councilmember Shawna Ambrose summed up the council's thinking:

"We have to solve the parking garage issue … before we do any paid parking. If we try to implement paid parking without solving where you can park for free, it's just not going to work."

The issues raised at the meeting were that visitors have trouble finding the garage entrance, have safety concerns, and face accessibility problems if they have limited mobility. Staff are testing two ideas. One is a "Southern Gateway" concept to make the garage feel like an entry point into Olde Town. The other is "Park and Earn," a possible rewards program for employees, visitors or both who park there. La Dolce Vita Coffee Shop owner Debbie Hansen suggested a third option at public meetings: make the first two or four hours free and charge after that, similar to Golden.

The city survey drew about 4,000 responses, and the results are still being reviewed. City spokesperson Rachael Kuroiwa said there is no deadline for paid parking to come back to council. Councilmember Bob Fifer pointed out that the city has been discussing Olde Town parking since 2010 and doesn't expect the issue to go away. For this fall, parking is free, curb spaces fill up at the busy hours, and the garage has hundreds of open spaces.

An Olde Town Calendar From Now Through December

October and November are busy. Here's what's coming, in order:

• Oct. 10, 10 to 11 a.m.: A free curator and family walk-and-talk for Rigsby Revisited: 50 Years Later at the Arvada Center, 6901 Wadsworth Blvd.
• Oct. 10, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.: The Arvada Gardeners' fourth annual Pumpkin Festival at Arvada Community Garden, 9195 W. 57th Ave., with garden tours, kids' activities, pumpkin and squash contests and about 15 local vendors.
• Oct. 17: The Three Tenors: Trane, Rollins, and Getz at the Arvada Center.
• Oct. 22: An evening with Holocaust survivor Sora Vigorito at the Arvada Center.
• Oct. 24: Unsettling Tales of Edgar Allan Poe at the Arvada Center.
• Oct. 30, 5 to 7 p.m.: Trick or Treat Street, family trick-or-treating in Olde Town.
• Oct. 31: Halloween Drag Queen Storytime at the Arvada Center.
• Through Nov. 1: Barefoot in the Park on stage at the Arvada Center.
• Through Nov. 8: The Center's 50th-anniversary exhibitions, pARTy: Celebrating 50 Years and Rigsby Revisited.
• Nov. 20 through Jan. 3, 2027: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Arvada Center.
• Dec. 6, 2 to 6 p.m.: Silver Vines' 15th Anniversary Party, its farewell, at 7509 Grandview Ave.

On a Saturday with several events, you can park in the Transit Hub garage before 10 a.m., when the weekend peak starts, and walk the loop: flowers on Olde Wadsworth, a glass at Silver Vines while it's still open, and dinner at Olde Town Tavern on Ralston Road. After December, Silver Vines will be gone, and My Book Cellar is aiming to open on Upham Street sometime this winter.

At Jessica Arguello, I keep up with changes like these because they affect the places you walk to every week. If you're wondering how the changes in Olde Town affect your own street, or what your home near the district might be worth this season, schedule a consultation and we'll talk it through over coffee in Olde Town.