"The schedule right now on the construction is to be done by the end of October. Which basically means it could be done this October, or next October."
Chef Paul Goodman, known around town as Chef Pablo, was laughing when he told the Post Independent that in late August. He was talking about the indoor dining room at Stellar Fire Pizza, his new place at 406 7th St. on the Roaring Fork River. The line works as a guide to Glenwood Springs this fall. Three of the town's newest places to gather, at addresses on Sixth and Seventh streets, are each at a different stage of being built. One room just finished a remodel the city had talked about for two decades. One kitchen is running on a patio while its walls go up. One doughnut shop has its liquor permits and an address but no confirmed opening day. October in Glenwood runs on all three of those timelines.
A pizzeria with no walls, by design and by schedule
Stellar Fire opened in June with a silent partner and help from friends and family. It runs out of a food truck and a wood-fired oven Goodman built himself while the permanent indoor space is under construction. For now the outdoor patio is the main place to eat. Once the interior is done, the patio is meant to host live music and other activities.
That setup is intentional. Goodman modeled the temporary layout on a small pizza shack in Malpais, on the tip of Costa Rica's Nicoya Peninsula. In his words, it had "no walls, just a small awning and a couple of pool tables," and he called it "the epitome of food." The sourdough, the wood fire and the chalkboard menu at Stellar Fire all come from that time. Before Glenwood, Goodman opened Izakaya Carbondale in 2018 and was general manager there through the end of 2025. He describes the pizza concept as "a lot more me," with roots in pizza and room for specials and small plates.
A surf-shack patio is easy to love in August. In October, the open question is the gap between the contractor's end-of-October target and the early-December indoor opening Goodman gave. The restaurant's homepage, updated in early September, still says it is serving from its mobile headquarters with the brick-and-mortar space "coming soon." Its location page lists Wednesday through Saturday, 4 to 9 p.m. That page was posted in July and doesn't call those winter hours, and no public statement explains what the truck and oven do on a cold, wet night. Checking before you head over is a fair move until the doors are on.
The room on Sixth that took twenty years
At 601 E. Sixth St., the opposite problem just got solved. The Glenwood Springs Community Arts Center opened in 1989 in the old hydroelectric building, and clay was the only kind of class on its schedule back then. A remodel was discussed from the early 2000s on. Over the past year, the building was finally reworked into four main spaces: a concert venue, a dance hall, a clay studio and an art space. It also got new floors and walls and an ADA-accessible bathroom.
The center reopened with a free open house on Saturday, Aug. 15. Wellness supervisor Tiffany Lindenberg built the new lineup with arts and leisure coordinator Traci Wilson. "This is my dream," Lindenberg said. She listed painting, upcycling, fused glass, adult tap, theater dance, sewing, crochet and printmaking among the offerings.
The fall schedule on glenwoodrec.com shows what those four rooms now hold on an ordinary week:
- Mondays: Trash to Treasure upcycling for ages 7 to 13, 4 to 5:30 p.m. Sessions run Oct. 5 to 26 for $120 and Nov. 2 to 16 for $90. Both work out to $30 a class.
- Tuesdays: Happy Hands adult clay, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Sessions run Oct. 13 to Nov. 3 and Nov. 10 to Dec. 8, at $255 each.
- Thursdays: Teen Crochet and Yarn Lab for ages 10 to 17, 4 to 6 p.m. Sessions run Oct. 1 to 22 for $120 and Oct. 29 to Nov. 19 for $90.
- Select Fridays: Clay Date on Oct. 23 and Nov. 20, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., at $150 per couple.
- Select Saturdays: Family Holiday Masterclass on Oct. 24, Nov. 21 or Dec. 12, 1 to 4 p.m., at $20 per person.
- Sundays starting Nov. 1: Healing through Clay for adults 18 and over, 5 to 7:30 p.m., through Dec. 6, at $320 per session.
The $20 Family Holiday Masterclass is the cheapest way into the new building, and its first date falls a week before Halloween. Families with kids should also know about the scholarships. Lindenberg said Glenwood Springs Parks and Recreation offers scholarships that cover part of class costs for residents 18 and under who live within city limits. One gap stands out. The concert venue is one of the four new spaces, but the fall rec listings show classes only, with no separate concert calendar posted yet.
Doughnuts on West Sixth, with a full bar, soon
The third building is still waiting for its first open door. Sweet Coloradough owner Aaron Badalato announced a second Glenwood Springs shop on West Sixth Street in early September. He said his South Glen Avenue location can sell about 6,000 doughnuts on a typical Saturday. Colorado's list of recently approved liquor licenses puts the new shop at 101 West 6th Street, with permits issued Aug. 31.
The plan goes well beyond a pastry counter. It calls for breakfast and lunch sandwiches, coffee, more seating and parking, a full bar, and a full kitchen making doughnuts in-house. A drive-thru will come later and won't be ready at opening. Both Glenwood locations hold liquor licenses, which keeps alive the shop's habit of sometimes handing customers a free tequila shot. The new location is also within walking distance of downtown.
The September story expected an opening at the end of that month but set no firm date. Badalato told customers to "keep an eye out for soft opening days." As of the first week of October, we could not find a public report confirming the shop has opened. The company's locations page still lists only 2430 S. Glen Ave. for Glenwood. The South Glen shop stays open either way, and the company also runs shops in Rifle, Eagle and Grand Junction.
The calendar the buildings sit inside
The new rooms share the month with events that have been running for years. The busiest Saturday is Oct. 10.
- Oct. 9 and 10: History Ghost Walk, final weekend. The Glenwood Springs Historical Society's 26th annual walk takes place at Linwood Cemetery, 1204 Bennett Ave., with tours starting at 6:30 p.m. and later. Performers portray John "Doc" Holliday, Kate Bender, Caroline Clark Barlow, Ella Sellar, Ed Hughes and Ida Lee Alburn, among others. Tickets are $25, and children younger than 12 are not allowed. Proceeds support the historical society.
- Oct. 10: Kids Night at the Rec, S'mores and More. The Community Center at 100 Wulfsohn Road runs the evening from 4:30 to 9 p.m. for ages 5 to 11. That is almost exactly the age group the cemetery tours exclude, and it lands on the same night.
- Oct. 23 and 24: Clay Date, then the Family Holiday Masterclass at the Arts Center on Sixth.
- Oct. 31: Halloween Spooktacular and Spooky Skate, noon to 4 p.m. at the Community Center on Wulfsohn Road. Carnival activities come first, then skating.
People who live in Glenwood Park also have a civic date. On Oct. 7, the city is holding a neighborhood meeting from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Sopris Elementary School, 1150 Mt. Sopris Dr., to review road reconstruction plans and take comments.
Some downtown construction is also wrapping up on schedule, at least on paper. In mid-August, the city said resurfacing on Ninth Street would run through the end of September. It also said the Ninth-and-Cooper parking garage would be closed for structural and surface repairs through Oct. 3. Both dates have now passed, and we haven't seen a follow-up confirming the work is done. The same update said 19th Street was closed between Grand and Blake avenues, with businesses open through alternate access and no completion date given.
Why the patio matters more than it looks
Put the three projects side by side and you can see how a new place to gather actually comes together in Glenwood. The Arts Center needed a public remodel that took twenty years of discussion. Stellar Fire is serving customers on its patio while its own indoor space is still under construction, betting that a wood oven and a chalkboard menu can carry the business until the walls are finished. Sweet Coloradough has the permits, the address and a 13-year customer base that began, by Badalato's account, with nearly 30,000 free doughnuts, including one box handed onto a Roaring Fork Transportation Authority bus. Goodman explained his own version in a single sentence: "We want to celebrate the Roaring Fork life."
By December, the pizzeria may have its dining room, the doughnut shop may have its drive-thru, and the concert venue on Sixth may have a calendar. This October is the stretch when all three are still open questions.
Goodman's Costa Rica patio and Badalato's free-doughnut launch show what it takes to get a Glenwood business through a build-out. If you're opening or expanding a restaurant, studio or shop of your own along Sixth, Seventh or Grand, the C&E Group team has run businesses ourselves and can help you work through the lease terms, the space and the timeline. Connect with the C&E Team.
