At the corner of Public Road and Simpson Street, the side wall of 103 N. Public Road still carries two faded advertisements. One is for Coca-Cola. The other is for Pat and Gar's Hi-Way Bar. A block north, at Public Road and Geneseo Street, the former Chase Bank stands empty. The City of Lafayette owns it and has already chosen the business it hopes will move in.
Most downtown storefronts change hands through private deals. These two spots are different. Lafayette's government is deciding what happens to both of them in public, through council votes, a resident survey and an arts board. In both cases, residents had a voice in the outcome.
A mural built to rotate
On Aug. 4, 2026, the Lafayette City Council told staff to go ahead with the option the city calls "Option 2." The Pat & Gar Hi-Way Bar section stays. The Coca-Cola ad will be replaced by a rotating mural program, and the first new mural will pay tribute to the original under guidance from the Lafayette Cultural Arts Board. According to Colorado Hometown Weekly, the city could commission new murals every three to five years through a public artist selection process.
The city staff presentation, as Colorado Hometown Weekly reported, gave the reasoning in one line:
The approach "would honor the original intent of advertisements of this period, which were meant to be temporary and rotating."
Council had two options in front of it:
| Option chosen | Option rejected | |
|---|---|---|
| What happens to the wall | Keep the Pat and Gar's section, replace the Coca-Cola section with rotating murals | Restore the whole mural offsite and reinstall it |
| Estimated cost | $35,000 to $50,000, including the first commissioned mural | $38,800 to $110,000 |
| Who pays or maintains | A proposed $50,000 contribution from the Lafayette Urban Renewal Authority could cover it. Later murals could be funded by sponsorships, grants or Downtown Development Authority money | Maintenance would have passed to the owner of 103 N. Public Road |
The chosen option costs about the same as the cheapest version of a full restoration, and it ends up somewhere very different. The wall becomes a public art spot that changes every few years. Yellow Scene's coverage also describes the three-to-five-year rotation and the city's plan to start commissioning the work.
A block north, residents picked the bank's next tenant
The bank at 200 N. Public Road went through the same kind of public process. The city received three proposals to buy the nearly 9,000-square-foot building, listed at $1.6 million. Colorado Hometown Weekly reported that a survey on the Lafayette Listens website, open through early July, let residents watch short videos from each applicant and answer questions about them.
The three proposals:
- The Read Queen Bookstore & Cafe, which wants to move from 129 N. Harrison Ave. into the bank building.
- A community restaurant and beer garden, pitched by the owner of Lafayette's Teocalli Cocina.
- A four-use plan that would split the building into separate spaces, from a partnership between The Arts Hub and Urban West Group.
The survey drew about 1,800 responses, according to Lafayette Economic Development Director Brigid Keating, and The Read Queen got the most support. Keating said the proposal would reuse an existing building and help a local business grow. On Aug. 4, council authorized staff to negotiate with the top-ranked proposer.
Barbra Huntting and Deirdre Appelhans opened The Read Queen during the COVID pandemic. Huntting described the problem to council, as Colorado Hometown Weekly reported:
"This amazing community has supported us for six years, and we just keep growing and growing, and we've outgrown our space. We try to hold these events, these gatherings, these book clubs and programming, but we just don't have the space for it right now. We're bursting at the seams, basically."
According to the Daily Camera, council will consider a purchase-and-sale agreement at a future meeting if the negotiations succeed. For now, The Read Queen is still on Harrison Avenue, and its own events calendar lists its book clubs and gatherings.
On both of these corners, the city either owns the building or is making the call on the wall, and residents had a say before council acted. Both choices also aim at use by the public: a bookstore that wants space for its events, and a mural program meant to bring new art every few years.
City programming already fills the block
The city already puts on programming along this stretch. The Collective, at 201 N. Public Road, is across Public Road from the bank building. Through Sunday, Nov. 8, it is hosting the city's Día de los Muertos exhibit, which opened Sept. 24 and runs 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the city calendar. Later this month it hosts the free Lafayette Community Mending Circle on Sunday, Nov. 22, from 1 to 4 p.m.
Two doors north, at 211 N. Public Road, is the block's newest restaurant. Remi's Cajun Creole Cafe opened this summer, according to Axios Boulder. Owner Dara Sanchez-Mack spent 15 years in hospitality, and Colorado native Napoleon Lewis runs the kitchen in the 60-seat room. The menu runs from gumbo, jambalaya, crawfish étouffée and po'boys to New Orleans BBQ shrimp, fried green tomato BLTs and "Voodoo Wings" in a sticky, sweet-and-spicy Cajun sauce. Remi's also bills itself as a community gathering place with music and events.
So the 200 block of North Public Road now has a city exhibit at The Collective, a new restaurant with live music, and an empty bank that the city hopes to turn into a bookstore with space for events.
November, block by block
The rest of the month's Old Town calendar stays within a few blocks of those two corners. Every event below is listed by its organizer, and details can change before the date.
| Date | Event | Where | Time | Cost listed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thu., Nov. 5 | In-store wine tasting | Public Wine, 100 S. Public Road, Unit B | 4 to 6 p.m. | Free |
| Through Sun., Nov. 8 | Día de los Muertos exhibit | The Collective, 201 N. Public Road | 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. | Not listed |
| Sat., Nov. 7 | First Saturday | Kaleidoscope Collective, 209 E. Simpson St. | 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. | Free |
| Fri., Nov. 13 | November featured-artists reception | pARTiculars Gallery and Teaching Studio, 401 S. Public Road, Unit 1 | 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. | Not listed |
| Sun., Nov. 22 | Community Mending Circle | The Collective, 201 N. Public Road | 1 to 4 p.m. | Free |
Kaleidoscope Collective is on Simpson Street, just off the mural corner. A Saturday morning there on Nov. 7 fits easily with a stop at The Collective, which has the Día de los Muertos exhibit open through the next day. The Public Wine tasting is Thursday, Nov. 5, at the south end of the same street.
December starts at Festival Plaza
The season's next big gathering belongs to the Lafayette Chamber of Commerce. Holiday on the Plaza is Saturday, Dec. 5, from 2 to 6 p.m. at Festival Plaza in Old Town. The Chamber calls it "an intimate community event" and accepts only a small number of vendors.
The vendor pricing shows who the event is built around. Booths cost $125 for handmade goods and specialty items, $150 for consumable products, and $300 for food trucks. Brick-and-mortar stores on Public Road pay $75, the lowest fee on the list. Vendors have to be fully set up by 1:30 p.m. and stay open until 6:01 p.m.
The Chamber's discount follows the same local preference as the city's two decisions. The lowest booth fee goes to shops already on Public Road, and the city is negotiating the bank sale with the local business residents ranked first.
At The Denver Group, we follow streets like Public Road closely, from council votes on city-owned buildings to which storefronts open next. If you'd like to talk about how changes in Old Town Lafayette fit into your own plans, let's connect.
