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Week of September 1, 2022
JEFFERSON COUNTY, COLORADO
A publication of
INSIDE: VOICES: PAGE 12 | LIFE: PAGE 14 | CALENDAR: PAGE 17 | SPORTS: PAGE 24
VOLUME 18 | ISSUE 11
Arvada Harvest Festival set to return from two-year layoff The 97th iteration of the event to feature carnival rides, parade, live music and more Sept. 9-11 BY RYLEE DUNN RDUNN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
After a year of uncertainty, the Arvada Harvest Festival is back. The 97th edition of the event — which
dates back to 1925 — will take place from Sept. 9 to 11 at the Harold Lutz Sports Complex at 58th Avenue and Kipling Street. The parade will be held at 9 a.m. Sept. 10 with a pancake breakfast taking place beforehand. The midway opens at 4 p.m. on Sept. 9. This year’s event will feature carnival rides, a parade, vendor booths, a beer garden, a spelling bee and live music from acts including Hazel Miller and the Collective, The Trampolines and Stone Beat Invasion. New to this year’s Harvest Festival are a
home run derby and a car show, slated for Sept. 9 and Sept. 11, respectively. Last year’s Harvest Festival was canceled after a permit snafu with the City of Arvada. The festival — which has historically been hosted by the Arvada Jaycees and the Arvada Junior Chamber Foundation, not the City of Arvada — was not held in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the main challenges that led to the cancellation of last year’s event was the location. The Harvest Festival has typically been held in Olde Town, but the street closures made
the prospect of a parade untenable for the city. City team members helped the Harvest Festival Committee settle on the new location at Lutz Sports Complex. “We’re absolutely excited to be back,” Harvest Festival Committee President Renee Nelson said. “Being away for two years took a big toll on us. Being back, we’re ecstatic. We’re dealing with a lot with the change of venue, but we’re working through SEE FESTIVAL, P3
16 Jefferson Abortion providers make legislative recommendations to Rep. Crow at listening session County elementary schools slated for closure
Board of Education cites under enrollment; public meetings scheduled for September, October BY ANDREW FRAIELI AFRAIELI@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Abortion providers and advocates make legislative recommendations to Crow.
Representatives from Planned Parenthood, CU Medical, Cobalt and more highlight abortion issues BY RYLEE DUNN RDUNN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Amid attacks on abortion access nationwide, abortion providers and advocates met with Rep. Jason Crow (CO-06) on Aug. 24 at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus to make legislative recommendations. Representatives —including physicians, administrators and others with abortion-related experiences — from Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, Cobalt Advocates,
CU Medical and COLOR highlighted at-risk areas in the field including training deficiencies, protections for patients and providers, inclusive language and equity in access. Selina Najar, Cobalt Advocate’s political director, began the session by stating that since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Colorado has shouldered the burden of providing abortions to patients in neighboring states where the procedure is now illegal. “We are bearing the impact of the Supreme Court’s unconscionable decision to overturn Roe v. Wade,” Najar said. “What we have seen in Colorado is what we have warned about with the Supreme Court for years. Overturning Roe means that states like Colorado are under incredible pressure to help patients and providers.”
Crow — a longtime supporter of abortion rights — reaffirmed his position on the issue and said it was important for him to understand the “impact on the ground” so that he can humanize the issue to colleagues in an effort to gain their support. Additionally, Crow said that he hopes to prioritize protecting data so that abortion patients are not criminalized for seeking healthcare. “There are some areas that are unique for legislating as well that I think we could get some traction,” Crow said. “One of those is protection of data; of publicly available, public domain women’s health data that could be used to criminalize women’s healthcare in states where abortion is illegal. And there are
The Jefferson County Board of Education received a recommendation from district staff on Aug. 25 to close 16 elementary schools — including K-2, K-5 and K-6 schools. The district’s presentation by David Weiss, chief of schools for the District, and Lisa Relou, chief of strategy and communications, cited under-enrollment as the main reason for consolidating schools. The population of school-aged children decreased by 30,000 between 2000 and 2020, Relou said. The district has the capacity to serve 96,000 students but currently enrolled only 69,000 as of October 2021. The specific schools to be closed — by consolidating into other elementary schools — were presented and can be found in the board’s presentation. The district and board members emphasized that schools were chosen due to various criteria, including enrollment, and
SEE LISTENING, P5
SEE CLOSURE, P2
PHOTO BY KARA POWELL / COURTESY OF JASON CROW