"It's one of the final pieces to completing this puzzle," HIP Streets project manager Shelley Aschenbrenner told the Reporter-Herald in late September. She was talking about BNSF swapping out the rails and crossing panels where Fourth Street meets the tracks. In the same interview she said the whole Heart Improvement Plan was still on track to finish in November.
So this fall, the end of construction and the downtown event calendar land at the same time. That was planned. The $24.5 million rebuild was paid for with utility enterprise funds and Certificates of Participation backed by the Downtown Development Authority, with no General Fund money. It was built as event infrastructure that also carries cars. The Pumpkin Festival on October 10 is the first big event laid out over three rebuilt blocks, and one of those blocks still has crews on it.
A Street Wired for Tents
Look at what went in under and alongside the pavers. Every streetlight has a metered outlet. Every block has its own event-power pedestals that can run tents or stages without generators. Programmable Tivoli string lights hang overhead and can change color by season or for a specific event. Removable bollards let the City close Fourth Street for events without hauling in barricades.
Block 3, between Lincoln and Cleveland, is the centerpiece. It's a curbless event street, sloped to drain toward the middle, and it holds the Rialto Theater and the old Brown Street Clock site. Parking there switched from diagonal to parallel. That cost 31 spaces on the corridor, and the City added or restriped 33 spaces nearby to make up for it.
Even the boulders have a job. Some downtown buildings sit up to a foot higher or lower than the ones across the street, so crews used big, locally sourced boulders to handle the grade change, and they double as seating and planters. Concrete walls would have saved about 1% of the cost and been less accessible. The trash cans are bear-resistant now too.
Every Finished Block Got a Party
The City has opened each finished block alongside an existing downtown event. Blocks 1 and 2 opened with the Festival of Lights. Block 5 opened with the Bluegrass Festival. Block 3 reopened to cars and parking on July 24, and its block party ran with Pastels on 5th on September 12. The Downtown District's plan for that party included live music, sidewalk sales, a community chalk mural and a tasting event with nine restaurants.
That leaves Block 4, from Cleveland west to North Railroad Avenue. In July the City expected it done by late fall 2026, with the intersections around the railroad tracks finished before the holidays. No one has officially named a grand opening for the final block yet. But the next big date on the calendar is already being billed on the finished street.
October 10 Spreads Across the Last Open Work Zone
The 7th Annual Downtown Pumpkin Festival runs Saturday, October 10, from noon to 5 p.m. It's free to attend, and the Downtown District describes the space as "three recently renovated blocks of 4th Street." Here's the layout, from west to east:
- Farmers Market Block, Railroad to Cleveland. Market stands, pumpkin picking and vendors. This is Block 4.
- Pumpkin Decorating Block, Cleveland to Lincoln. This is the main event on curbless Block 3. A $15 ticket gets you a large pumpkin, a tote bag, supplies and time with a local artist. You can also watch live pumpkin sculpting, and there's a DJ and food vendors.
- Entertainment Block, Lincoln to Jefferson. Find Your Light Theatre Co. and Brandon Harrington, aka DJ Beetlejuice, host. The FNBO Group & Family Costume Contest starts at 1 p.m., a "Trolls" performance at 2, the Pumpkin Pie Eating Contest at 3 and a Pumpkin Hoisting Contest at 4.
The first stop on that list sits on the block that was still a work zone the week before. The City's update for September 28 through October 4 says Block 4 was still closed to cars, with crews working on lights, concrete and pavers.
What Block 4 Looks Like Right Now
Pavers going in on Block 4 means one practical change. Businesses no longer need temporary ramps for people to get through their doors, which Aschenbrenner called "a really exciting milestone" for them. The railroad crossing is the bigger hassle. As of the latest weekly update, cars still couldn't cross the BNSF tracks on Fourth, and pedestrians were told to follow posted signs because the crossing route keeps moving. Block 5, between Garfield and Railroad, can be reached by car only from Garfield.
The 100 block's storefronts have stayed open to foot traffic the whole time. Cactus Grille at 119 E. Fourth St. still posts its regular hours. The Loveland Downtown District's directory lists these neighbors on the same block:
- Burks Tavern, 118 E. Fourth St.
- Jack Jack's 4th St Market, 114 E. Fourth St.
- Little Piece of My Heart, 112 E. Fourth St.
- Cloz to Home, 129 E. Fourth St.
There's also one piece of local history right at the corner. The artesian well at the Block 4 intersection was drilled in the 1880s and still flows. Its marble plaque is going back up.
The Rest of October Uses the Same Pavement
After the Pumpkin Festival, the Halloween calendar stays mostly within walking distance of the Rialto. Visit Loveland lists these dates:
- Find Your Fright haunted house at 333 E. Fourth St., Fridays and Saturdays starting October 9.
- Downtown Zombie Crawl, starting at Loveland Aleworks on October 17.
- Trick-or-Treat Street, October 24 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., hosted by Loveland Aleworks with participating downtown businesses.
- Rialto Theater Center ghost tours, October 25 and 26 from 5 to 8 p.m. at 228 E. Fourth St.
November Is When the Old Landmarks Come Back
The Festival of Lights runs Friday, November 20, from 5 to 8 p.m. It brings holiday lighting, live music, a tree lighting, live reindeer, a holiday market and carriage rides. The Downtown District says it "will be located on the newly completed 4th Street this year." The official downtown Christmas tree is going back to its old spot in front of the Rialto.
The clock is due around the same time. The Brown Street Clock across from the Rialto came down in December 2025. Americlock in Maryland is restoring it for $38,000 with new movements, LED lighting, new lenses, black powder coat with gold accents, and the original "Brannan Brothers" lettering on the top glass. As of June, the City expected to reinstall it in November 2026, about five feet from where it used to stand. The Rialto is also getting a new marquee right on Fourth Street, and Patrick Kennedy's bronze "Persistence of Vision" is going back in front of the theater.
If you want to see what came out of the ground before the street went back in, the Loveland Museum's Mezzanine Gallery has "Found on Fourth" through February 13, 2027. It shows Michael Simms' photos of each stage of construction along with small everyday objects crews dug up. A History of HIP Streets lecture is set for January 8. The biggest find won't fit in a gallery. It's a massive concrete caisson in the middle of Fourth Street that once held an 80-foot World War I Liberty Loan flagpole, which was replaced around 1930 by one of Loveland's earliest traffic signals.
The 200 Block Is Next
The street itself is almost done. Several buildings on the 200 block of East Fourth are still under construction, so new tenants will keep opening after the paving crews leave.
Sky Bear Brewery and Pub is moving to 209 E. Fourth St. The new space is planned at about twice the size of the current one, with a back patio, two front patios and an upstairs event room. The brewery's website still lists 272 E. Fifth St. and says "New location coming soon." During the week of September 21, steel beams were still going in at the Fourth Street building. The Dug and Firkin, a planned British-style brewpub at 243 E. Fourth St., was described in July as opening later this year. Rio Grande is planning a restaurant at 225 E. Fourth St. for early 2027.
That Rio Grande building had a setback on the afternoon of Wednesday, September 30. A contractor's machine hit a support beam and part of an interior roof came down. No one was hurt. Independence Gallery and Lighthouse Dance next door were told to stay closed until the structure is shored up. Gallery owner Billie Colson told the paper that the near-constant construction and street closures this year had already meant fewer customers. The last finishing touch comes after the holidays. "Bloom," a new art piece by Jen Lewin running the length of all five blocks, is scheduled for the first quarter of 2027.
Selling a place near Fourth Street, or just curious how a finished downtown changes the way a listing gets photographed and pitched? That's the kind of thing Meagan Griesel works out with sellers, from the Rialto block to the railroad tracks. Start your neighborhood-focused strategy and get a custom marketing plan built around the street as it is this fall.
