EDGEWATER COLLECTIVE Connecting Schools To Community Through Events Page 4
LOCAL NEWS Who’s On Your Local Primary Election Ballot? Page 6
NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS A Cool Place With A Cool Mission Page 14
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| SLOAN’S LAKE | WEST COLFAX | TWO CREEKS June 18 – July 15, 2018 • ngazette.com • FREE
Festivals And Fairs Coming To Your Neighborhood ■ By
Sally Griffin
T
he definition of a festival is “a celebration or an occasion for joy, often with a program of cultural events.” A fair is “a public exhibit of culture and particular achievement, often combined with entertainment and sale of products.” Lucky for our area, we have plenty of both. It is that time of year that is the best time for joy, celebration, and fun. I remember how much fun my siblings and I had with carnival rides and games, parades, music, food, and special treats when we were growing up in this area. This year, we want to remind you of several festivals or fairs that will take place in our parks and streets.
Carnation Festival The Carnation Festival is a celebration of the Wheat Ridge community since the city’s incorporation in 1969. Once designated as Carnation City, Wheat Ridge embraces its heritage through this wonderful event. Celebrating its Continued on page 8
40 WEST’S ARTLINE OPENED WITH A BLOCK PARTY on First Friday, June 1, on Lakewood Place between Reed and Pierce streets. The bright green-painted line on sidewalks guides visitors along the 4-1/2 mile route connecting activities and artwork at local parks. PHOTO BY KATHRYN ZEIGLER/COURTESY OF THE 40 WEST ARTS DISTRICT
Renewed Life For Merritt Memorial Methodist Church Building ■ By
G
Ken Lutes
enerations Church is conducting services in the Sloan Lake neighborhood where members of the Merritt Memorial Methodist Church worshipped from 1902 to 2016. Founders of Generations Church, Jody and Mandy Earley, were able to rent the Merritt building at 23rd Avenue and Irving Street in July of 2017. They started informal services at their West Highland home in 2015 but soon outgrew the space and began public services at Valdez Elementary School the next year. The Earleys are pleased with the growth that Generations is experiencing in its current home and consider the growth to be a sign of relevance. The average weekly attendance at Generations is about 65; when Merritt closed, the congregation had fallen well under 15, according to the Rev. Paul Kottke, United Methodist Church’s district superintendent at the time. He also stated that church attendance in the U.S. was trending downward, a sign of the “saturated lives” people have these days. “A lot of connection and community does happen on line and at meetups where people find community in different ways,” Jody Earley says, “but the message and purpose of the church is as relevant as it has always been. “There are many metrics by which to measure the success of a church. Although church attendance [in the U.S.] is declining, one of the things for us is being the church to our community. We’re not just waiting for people to show up on Sunday morning. We’re more intentional about reaching the community outside of these four walls.” The Earleys believe that what keeps a church relevant is a sincere connection to its community and the commitment to service. In the church parking lot is the church’s
white truck/van with “Hope” painted on its sides. “In September,” said Mandy Earley, “we’ll use the Hope truck to help get 10,000 bags of non-perishable food to families in need, and to food banks as well. We try to be supportive of what people are doing, to let them know we appreciate them and that there’s no strings attached.” “We’ve taken cookies to North High, Edison Elementary, Lake Middle School, Fire House 12, and the District 1 Police Department,” Jody Earley said. “The Hope truck could also be used to help someone less fortunate to move. We plan to fill it with
school supplies for schools this fall.” The Earleys met in their home state of Oklahoma in 1998 at a church summer camp. “We married in 1999 and had our first child while living in Tulsa,” Jody Earley said. “We thought we’d spend the rest of our lives in Tulsa. Then we felt a calling to move out, but we didn’t know where.” In 2003, they found themselves serving at a church in Gaithersburg, Md., a suburb of Washington, D.C. “It was in the process of moving to Maryland that we thought maybe someday, several years in the future, we would pastor a church, which in today’s vernacular is
called ‘planting a church.’ “Thirteen years later, we ended up here in Denver, with our four girls, all of whom go to public schools,” said Mandy Earley. “We really just fell in love with the city.” Looking for a family-oriented community, the first neighborhood that stood out to them was Stapleton; another was Washington Park. “One day,” Jody Earley said, “we were in Highlands Square [32nd and Lowell], and we felt this was the neighborhood we were supposed to be in. A door to opportunity opened, and we ended up with a house in Continued on page 2
PEOPLE YOU SHOULD KNOW
Michael Klinker’s Passion For Trees Takes Root In Edgewater ■ By
Laurie Dunklee
M
ichael Klinker makes it his business to look up — at trees, that is. The Edgewater resident’s goal is to grow the city’s leafy canopy by helping people to plant more trees. “Everyone looks down at their grass and their flowers. People don’t often think to plant trees, even though they help both our environment and our home values,” says 34-year-old Klinker, who moved from Indiana to the Sloan’s Lake neighborhood in 2012, and to Edgewater last year. “Trees are my passion. I’m looking to make it easier for people to choose their trees by providing lots of information in one place.” Klinker’s “one place” is arboradvisor.com, a free website he built in his spare time that provides information about the 75 best trees to plant in the Denver area. Klinker is renovating his house and upgrading his property, and in Continued on page 2
ARBOR ADVISOR WEBSITE CREATOR MICHAEL KLINKER wants to grow the city’s green canopy. PHOTO BY LAURIE DUNKLEE