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Articles written by Jessica Checkas


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  • North 95th Street reconstruction began April 22

    Jessica Checkas|Apr 24, 2024

    North 95th Street between Valmont Road and Lookout Road is being "completely rebuilt" starting this week, with road closures for eight hours on weekdays between 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., according to an announcement from the Boulder County Public Works Department. Phase 1 of the plan began April 22 between Lookout Road and Gunbarrel Ridge Road and is projected to end sometime in early 2025. The Boulder County Public Works Department's website states there will still be access to neighborhoods...

  • NHS Mock Trial team fourth at the State Mock Trial Championship

    Jessica Checkas|Apr 24, 2024

    Niwot High School's Mock Trial team took fourth place at the State Mock Trial Championship competition held on March 8 and 9 at the Jefferson County Courthouse in Golden. The group has been training for mock trial competitions since early October with a team of twelve students trained by their coaches, attorney Erika Grant, occasionally her husband Cameron Grant, and Sean Stewart. This year's team was Paul Blignaut, Cayla Piper, Charley Broenniman, Stella Munro, Aidan Coble, Justin Ge, Mina...

  • Niwot Elementary School student Cooper Edwards wins regional spelling bee

    Jessica Checkas|Apr 3, 2024

    The Boulder Valley Regional Spelling Bee was held at Platt Middle School on March 16 with 51 contestants from Boulder and Broomfield Counties. Niwot Elementary School fifth-grader Cooper Edwards took top honors as the Spelling Bee's first place winner. Edwards is one of two students from Colorado who will be competing at the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, DC, in May. Tejas Raman, a seventh-grader at Boulder Country Day School in Gunbarrel, took second place. A former student at...

  • New business in Cottonwood Square

    Jessica Checkas|Feb 14, 2024

    Panasas, Inc. is renting the office space above the restaurant Farow in Cottonwood Square. The space was recently vacated by Skyland Analytics, a company that dealt with cloud-based data management and analytics. The company left the Niwot location sometime after it was bought by IDBS in November 2021. The space was vacant for only about two months before Panasas moved in. Panasas, Inc., is a computer storage company based in Sunnyvale, California. The Niwot office manager is Peter Maddocks, Vice President of Engineering, who previously worked...

  • Sunset Middle School Rising Star art student Madison Kintzel

    Jessica Checkas|Jan 3, 2024

    Madison Kintzel, an eighth-grader at Sunset Middle School won the Niwot High School Art Show Rising Star Award for her sculpture of a willow tree erupting out of the middle of a book, with long spiraled paper branches and tiny paper leaves hanging over a lake, which was made by cutting several layers of paper deeper into the bottom half of the book. The artwork is entitled "Weeping Willow." The award was presented during the Niwot High School Art Showcase in early December. The Rising Star...

  • Winter holidays around the world

    Jessica Checkas|Dec 27, 2023

    While Christmas is the most common winter holiday in the U.S., there are a variety of other winter holidays celebrated around the world. The winter solstice is a common date for winter celebrations all over the world since it is the longest night of the entire year. There are sites of ancient buildings that were built to accent astronomical events such as the winter solstice. These solstice commemorations are also suspected to have had an effect on the dates of many other winter holidays, and wh...

  • Sunset Middle School Arts Student of the Week Aliyah Olivares

    Jessica Checkas|Dec 27, 2023

    The Sunset Middle School Arts Student of the Week, seventh-grader Aliyah Olivares, was nominated for her incredible drive to create and learn about art. She improves her craft with every iteration and studies art in and outside of school whenever she has free time. Olivares creates art in many different mediums including clay sculpting, digital drawing and artwork, papercraft and paper maché. She particularly enjoys paper maché, however her favorite medium is drawing. She is planning on expandin...

  • Sunset Middle School Arts Student of the Week Julianna Deems

    Jessica Checkas|Dec 20, 2023

    Julianna Deems was nominated by her art teacher, Jennifer Tjornehoj, as the Sunset Middle School Arts Student of the Week. Deems is in the sixth grade and recently won the Blue Ribbon Award, a prestigious award based on handpicked artwork by the principal of the middle school. Deems loves painting, oil pastels, and creating sculptures in and outside of her classes at Sunset. She also participates in the school's orchestra program. Deems said that she has a strong connection with art. "When I do...

  • NHS Art Showcase included elementary and middle school artists

    Jessica Checkas|Dec 13, 2023

    Niwot High School’s Second Annual Art Showcase was a big success Dec. 4-6. The show was hosted by the Niwot High School Booster Music Performance and Art which is affiliated with the Niwot High School Boosters, Inc., and sponsored by the Boulder School of Fine Art. The show displayed art from both students at Niwot High School as well as from younger art students at Burlington Elementary School and Sunset Middle School. The show was started a year ago to help display the achievements of local arts students which often has been overlooked due to...

  • Holiday Market has record crowd

    Jessica Checkas|Dec 6, 2023

    This year's Holiday Market at the Left Hand Grange had a record 1,003 people attending, marking a huge jump from the previous record of 635 people in one day, according to Deborah Fowler, one of the event organizers. This year, the Niwot Nickel, a specially made wooden coin worth $5 off one item in December at participating merchants, highlighted the event. Those visiting the Grange also received a tote bag with the Niwot Business Association logo on it. The Festive Food Hall at the Grange...

  • Niwot Holiday Markets coming Dec. 2 and Dec. 9

    Jessica Checkas|Nov 29, 2023

    It's that holiday shopping time of year again, and the Niwot Holiday Market will be open beginning Saturday, Dec. 2. The Market will be set up in the Left Hand Grange and throughout downtown Niwot and Cottonwood Square from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with lots of opportunity for holiday fun and magic. The Market will return on Saturday, Dec. 9, again from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Vendor stands offering various seasonal goodies, local art, crafts and trinkets will line the sidewalks, and several local...

  • Potential subdivision at 63rd and Niwot Road set for hearing Oct. 18

    Jessica Checkas|Oct 11, 2023

    Earlier this summer, Ifrain and Shannon Rodriguez submitted an application to create a new subdivision on their land at the corner of 63rd and Niwot Road. The application asks to allow them to build nine new houses on the land, eight of which would be along the east side of 63rd. The application is Rodriguez TDR/PUD, Docket Number SD-23-0003. The proposal would use Transferable Development Rights, or TDRs, to allow the additional homes to be built on the 39.5 acre parcel. The TDR program was dev...

  • Niwot Trot runs into its 15th year Oct. 1

    Jessica Checkas|Sep 27, 2023

    The Niwot Elementary Parent Teacher Advisory Council (PTAC) is hosting the annual Niwot Trot for the 15th year to raise money for Niwot Elementary School. The Trot will start on Oct. 1 at 9 a.m. in Whistle Stop Park, and will likely end around 12 noon. Registration is $25 and includes a T-shirt, with race day registration at $30. All proceeds go towards the PTAC to help improve the school. Register at https://www.niwotptac.com/niwottrot.html. The PTAC is a non-profit organization composed of...

  • New teachers at Niwot Elementary School 2023 - Part II

    Jessica Checkas|Sep 27, 2023

    This year, Niwot Elementary School has hired six new teachers due primarily to the recent retirements of previous teachers, all of whom worked at the elementary school for at least well over a decade. In addition to Hanna Sandhoff, Lyndsey Moauro, and Nina Starks, who were profiled (https://www.lhvc.com/story/2023/09/13/education/new-teachers-at-niwot-elementary-2023/8339.html) in an the September 13 issue of the Left Hand Valley Courier, there are three more new teachers at Niwot Elementary thi...

  • Record crowd at RISE concert

    Jessica Checkas|Sep 20, 2023

    The Jared Music Foundation's (https://jaredmusic.org/) annual RISE Concert on Sept. 7 had the concert's highest turnout ever with an estimated 1,000 people attending the performance in Whistle Stop Park. The Jared Music Foundation is dedicated to helping children interested in music by granting scholarships and providing instruments to help aid young musicians follow their passion. RISE is the Foundation's main annual fundraiser. The money raised will go towards scholarships for children and...

  • New teachers at Niwot High School

    Jessica Checkas|Sep 20, 2023

    There are six new teachers and a new family liaison starting at Niwot High School this year, teaching a wide variety of different studies. According to Principal Eric Rauschkolb, these hirings are due to a large increase in Niwot High School's enrollment, This year, the school had 100 more students enrolled compared to last year, and the St. Vrain Valley School District has given NHS more staffing distribution. Three of the new teachers are familiar to the high school students because they have...

  • New Teachers at Niwot Elementary 2023

    Jessica Checkas|Sep 13, 2023

    Niwot Elementary School has hired a significant number of new teachers this fall due to retirements and student enrollment. In the past year, several teachers retired at Niwot Elementary School, including Julie Nelson-Breyer, Jessica Easley, and Lori Charbonneau, all of whom taught at Niwot for an average of two decades. As a result of the retirements and the school's commitment to maintain an appropriate student-to-teacher ratio, the school hired six new teachers. "Because we lost teachers, we...

  • New Niwot welcome sign

    Jessica Checkas|Sep 6, 2023

    Just off of Highway 119 on the north side of Niwot Road is a new carved rock sign, welcoming visitors who get off the Diagonal Highway to enter Niwot. Montana Heather, a Niwot High School senior, created the sign, located on the north side of Niwot Road just across from Peppertree Drive, as his Eagle Scout project. The planning and coordinating behind the construction of the sign took almost two years due to the spacing requirements of the sign itself, which required approval by Boulder County b...

  • History of coins featured in Now & Then Lecture Series

    Jessica Checkas|Aug 30, 2023

    The Niwot Historical Society's first lecture in its annual Now & Then Lecture Series, Aug. 23, featured Daryl Mercer and the history of coins, particularly in Colorado. The Now & Then Lectures were started in 2011 by Laura Skaggs and have continued for 12 years, bringing interesting new historical insights to the history lovers in Niwot. The Now & Then Lectures are now organized by Kathy Koehler, who has been the president of the Niwot Historical Society for several years. The lecture series...

  • RISE music concert at Whistle Stop Park

    Jessica Checkas|Aug 23, 2023

    The annual Jared Music Foundation RISE Concert fundraiser comes to Whistle Stop Park Thursday, Sept. 7, at 5 p.m. The concert will begin with Mojomama, a funky blues Rock & Rails favorite, followed by Soul School, a crowd-pleasing multi-genre band that plays anything from soul to country to pop. Donations will provide young musicians from Boulder to Niwot to Longmont with scholarships and instruments to continue pursuing their love of music. The concert is free. Dancing is encouraged. Food...

  • Niwot Historical Society starts annual Now & Then Lectures

    Jessica Checkas|Aug 16, 2023

    Starting this August, the Niwot Historical Society will resume its annual series of "Now & Then Lectures" covering various aspects of Colorado's history. Kathy Koehler began the series 22 years ago and they have continued even during the pandemic. Koehler is now President of the Niwot Historical Society, and has kept the series going. According to Koehler, the long history of the lectures has been successful, and the wide variety of topics are available online. "Since 2011, we have hosted four...

  • Blooming crowds at weekend Flower Fest

    Jessica Checkas|Aug 9, 2023

    At the start of Niwot's Flower Fest last Saturday, Aug. 5, a huge line trailed outside Fly Away Home Decor, going all the way to the gas station in Cottonwood Square at the end of the block. Some people arrived an hour before 10 a.m., the official start of the Flower Fest, in order to receive one of the free 75 baskets for the Flower Walk. "There were around two hundred people. We had to turn people away." said Sarah Cioni, owner of Belle Terre Floral, a florist shop specializing in bridal...

  • Dancing Under the Stars

    Jessica Checkas|Aug 2, 2023

    Dancing Under the Stars, an event that has been thriving in Niwot for four years, is still going strong. Every Friday night in the summer, a stage is set up in the parking lot of Cottonwood Square located at Niwot Road and 79th Street. Free dance lessons begin at 7:00 p.m. until 7:45 p.m., and then the dance floor overflows until 9:30 p.m., well after the stars have started to shine. The DJ plays the genre of the week including salsa, swing, and Cuban salsa and the lessons get everyone ready...

  • Niwot Flower Fest coming next week

    Jessica Checkas|Jul 26, 2023

    Niwot’s first Flower Fest will be held on Aug. 5 from 10:00 a.m to 3:00 p.m. on Second Avenue and in Cottonwood Square Shopping Center in celebration of colorful summer blooms. Sponsored by Niwot Business Association and the Niwot Local Improvement District, the fest is being organized by Sarah Cioni, the owner of Belle Terre Floral, and Kathy Trauner, the owner of Fly Away Home Decor, with several fun events planned and lots of free flowers. The first seventy-five arrivals at Fly Away Home for the Flower Fest will receive a punch card to u...

  • Summer construction at Niwot High School

    Jessica Checkas|Jul 26, 2023

    Over the summer, Niwot High School has been temporarily closed while the school’s plumbing system is updated. The school was closed the Tuesday after Memorial Day and will reopen on July 31 after nine weeks of construction. “The school has grown a lot since it opened in 1972,” said Niwot High principal Eric Rauschkolb. “Some of the plumbing was original and we were starting to have some problems with the pipes backing up.” Due to the age of the building and the growth of the school, there was an odd mix of older pipes and newer systems w...

  • Pampered Pooch Walk

    Jessica Checkas|Jul 19, 2023

    A steady stream of four-legged companions strode through Niwot on Saturday, July 15, with their human friends as part of the Pampered Pooch Walk sponsored by the Niwot Business Association. The Pampered Pooch Walk was a four-hour event starting at 10 a.m., encouraging all dog owners to walk around Niwot and visit local businesses for fun doggy opportunities, treats, and canine-related goodies. Most of the local businesses in Niwot participated in the Walk. Some, such as A Few of a Kind Vintage...

  • Fourth of July raised funds for local groups

    Jessica Checkas|Jul 12, 2023

    On the 4th of July, the pancake breakfast fundraiser outside of Niwot Market attracted over a thousand people this year. The breakfast was sponsored and implemented by the Niwot Market, Pat Murphy-The Niwot Group of Compass Real Estate, the Niwot Community Association, the Niwot Patriotic Cookie Moms, the Niwot Local Improvement District, the Niwot Business Association and many volunteers. Proceeds from the event will be distributed among the Niwot High School Marching Band to assist with their...

  • Story Behind the Name: Little Raven Trail

    Jessica Checkas|Jul 5, 2023

    Little Raven Trail is a small street connecting a wide circling loop of Legend Ridge Trail in the Niwot’s Legend Ridge subdivision. The name “Little Raven” is a reference to a Southern Arapaho Chieftain, who came from the same tribe as Chief Niwot, the namesake of the town of Niwot. The two chieftains’ stories are interconnected. Little Raven (1810-1889) was an Arapaho Chief who lived in the area which would become part of Denver, Colorado, including the area along the South Platte River a...

  • Niwot supports Bike MS: Colorado Ride

    Jessica Checkas|Jun 28, 2023

    The rest stop at Whistle Stop Park was brimming with bicyclists Saturday morning, June 24, to raise awareness and money for the Bike MS charity, dedicated to helping victims of multiple sclerosis. The ride took place on a gorgeous summer morning when all of the flower boxes down Second Avenue were in full bloom, and many locals watched from the coffee shop patio as the endless stream of bicyclists zipped by. Other Niwot community members helped out the riders at the Whistle Stop Park rest stop....

  • Bike MS Colorado charity ride coming through Niwot

    Jessica Checkas|Jun 21, 2023

    On June 24, hundreds of bikers in colorful gear will fill the streets of Niwot, heading west on Niwot Road before looping down to Second Avenue, with a rest stop at Whistle Stop Park before crossing the Diagonal Highway to continue north on N. 73rd Street. The Bike MS charity is making its annual ride through Colorado. The route for this ride can be up to 100 miles long, winding from the Front Range Community College in Westminster to Colorado State University in Fort Collins. The Niwot...