Loveland Festival of Lights 2026: What to Know on Fourth Street

For years, 11 strands of colored lights hung across Fourth Street. They're gone now. In their place is a string-light system that can change color for different holidays, and it gets its first holiday-season run on the finished street this month. The first big night is the Festival of Lights on Friday, Nov. 20, from 5 to 8 p.m., and this year it covers all five rebuilt blocks.

The street itself is close to done. The storefronts are a separate story. Walk east from Lincoln Avenue and you reach the block where most of downtown's announced openings are clustered. That same block has had a sidewalk fenced off since a roof collapsed there on Sept. 30.

What the city's part of the project delivered

Sean Hawkins, executive director of the Loveland Downtown District, wrote in his October Downtown Dialogue column in the Loveland Reporter-Herald that the Heart Improvement Plan's Fourth Street work was "two weeks from completion." That came after two years of planning and 20 months of construction. He listed what is new on the street:

• Boulder seat walls along the corridor
• Bike racks on every block, which downtown never had enough of before
• Pedestrian-level light poles throughout
• Easier crossings at the busiest intersections
• The color-changing string lights that replaced the old overhead strands

Public art is being added too. The city's HIP Streets weekly update for Oct. 26 through Nov. 1 said permanent sculptures would be installed on Blocks 1, 2, 3 and 5, and that a few parking spots might close briefly to make room for the equipment. In June, the Visual Arts Commission's placement plan assigned George Lundeen's Monkey Business and Kim Kori's Dreaming of the Kiss to Block 2. It put Joe Allred's Campana and Pat Kennedy's Persistence of Vision on Block 3, and Emad Boback's Separation and Darrel Davis's Pondering Chimpanzee on Block 5. Those are planned spots. Look for the pieces to show up over the next few weeks rather than all at once.

Hawkins wrote that one goal of the project was to bring new businesses into downtown. That's where the 200 block comes in.

The 200 block is where downtown's pending openings are

Line up the downtown restaurant news from this year by address and most of it falls between Lincoln and Cleveland:

Sky Bear's move was reported by What Now Denver in March, and the brewery's own site hasn't announced a move-in date. The Dug and Firkin's timing comes from a July Downtown District column. The city's licensing agenda shows a complete brew-pub license application filed July 7 and scheduled for the Aug. 20 meeting. None of the three restaurants on this block has a public opening date yet.

Lighthouse Dance, the studio next door to 225, has been closed since Sept. 30 as well. So of the four businesses with pending or interrupted plans on this block, none is open yet.

What the fence at 225 E. Fourth means for Nov. 20

According to the Reporter-Herald's Oct. 23 follow-up, the roof partially collapsed after a construction mishap inside the future Rio Grande space. The city closed the buildings on both sides over concern that Rio Grande's walls could fall outward. The paper reported that once plans are set, demolition, including removal of the collapsed roof, should take about four weeks, and the walls need support while that happens. The building's owner estimated Rio Grande's opening would slip about six months from its earlier target of early next year.

As of the city's Oct. 26 update, the sidewalk in front of 225 E. Fourth was still closed and pedestrians were directed to follow posted signs. In his column, Hawkins wrote that "all our businesses will be open" for the festival. The Reporter-Herald's report two days earlier said there was still no timeline for the gallery or the dance studio to reopen. If you're going downtown on the 20th, plan for this stretch of the 200 block to look different from the rest of the street.

Both businesses have kept working elsewhere in town. Lighthouse Dance moved its classes to Redemption Church and Faith Church, which agreed to host the studio until at least December. Independence Gallery showed its Loveland Art Studio Tour work at 426 N. Lincoln Ave. and is taking art inquiries through its Facebook page. Holiday shopping at the gallery this year means reaching out to it directly.

At the depot end, the first new restaurant has already opened

Past Cleveland, at the Railroad Avenue end of the street, the first of downtown's new restaurants is open. Echo Brewing Company opened in Loveland's 124-year-old train depot on Railroad Avenue. The grand opening was the weekend before the Oct. 23 Reporter-Herald story, which puts it at Oct. 17 and 18. Echo is a family-owned brewery from Erie. Here's what the Loveland location offers:

• Neapolitan-style pizzas, including the Margherita, the meat-heavy Norcia and the Capra with artichoke hearts and Kalamata olives
• Echo beers brewed in Erie, such as Fire Fly IPA and Campfire Kölsch, plus guest taps, cider, wine and mixed drinks
• Seating for about 200
• Open seven days a week, from 4 p.m. on weekdays and 11 a.m. on weekends, with weekday lunch possible next summer

The Downtown Development Authority's restaurant grant program helped pay to rebuild the depot's aging kitchen around the new pizza oven. That's the private investment the street project was meant to bring in, and Hawkins wrote that three more businesses are coming to empty spaces on the Railroad-to-Garfield block. Those three haven't been named yet.

Driving to the depot still takes some planning. As of Oct. 26, cars couldn't cross the BNSF tracks on Fourth Street at all, and vehicles could reach Block 5 only from Garfield Avenue. Pedestrian crossings at the tracks were also shifting. The city publishes changes every week on the HIP Streets project page, so check it before heading east of Railroad.

Festival of Lights, Nov. 20, from west to east

The Downtown District's festival page shows how the evening is spread across the street:

1. Floats on Fourth, Lincoln to Washington. In its third year, the stationary float parade lines two blocks with parked floats. The center of the street stays open for walking, and marching bands, dancers and other performers move through the crowd. Judges award prizes for the best floats.
2. The Valentine Flea's holiday art market. More than 30 booths of local makers, artists, and handmade and vintage vendors.
3. Meals on Wheels booth. Hot chocolate and s'mores kits you can roast on site, with all profits going to Meals on Wheels.
4. Reindeer, carriage rides and Mr. and Mrs. Claus. These are spread along the street through the evening.
5. Tree lighting in front of the Rialto Theater. This closes out the night.

The Downtown District estimates 8,000 to 10,000 people came to the 2025 festival. That was before the street was finished. Expect this year's crowd to fill all five blocks, including the 200 block with its fenced sidewalk, right next to the float parade.

If you want lights before the 20th

Centerra's holiday season starts a week earlier. The Flip the Switch ceremony at Chapungu Sculpture Park is Friday, Nov. 13, from 5 to 7 p.m. That same day, the All Is Bright Tour begins and runs daily through Jan. 1 at several Centerra spots, including the light display at Chapungu. Santa's Workshop follows on Saturday, Dec. 5, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Loveland Visitor Center, with local vendors, Santa photos, an alpine slide and s'mores. The page links to a full-schedule PDF with 2025 in its filename, so use the 2026 dates printed on the page itself.

Winter Wonderlights won't be part of this list. Visit Loveland announced in August 2025 that the event would not return for the 2025 season.

I'll be watching the 200 block this winter as Sky Bear, The Dug and Firkin and Rio Grande firm up their dates and Independence Gallery and Lighthouse Dance work toward reopening. If you own a downtown building, a business, or a home within walking distance of Fourth Street and want to talk through what these openings could mean for your property, Rachel Vesta is happy to sit down with you. Book a consultation, and I'll bring the latest downtown details.