‘Garden Spot of Colorado’ maintains small-town feel
BERTHOUD — New, hand-painted entrance signs for Berthoud along U.S. Highway 287 and Colorado Highway 56 feature a retro flavor — the perfect flavor for the southern Larimer County town’s efforts to maintain its small-town feel.
Still, growth is coming, because Berthoud has made its mark as an affordable option along the Front Range urban corridor between Loveland and Longmont. New subdivisions are sprouting on several sides of the town.
With more than 9,000 trees in its parks, public rights of way and natural areas alone, Berthoud revels in its reputation as the “Garden Spot of Colorado” and is celebrating its 42nd year as a Tree City, a designation conferred by the Arbor Day Foundation.
The family-oriented town has numerous parks, and its recreation center at Waggener Farm Park contains an aquatic center with pool, water slide, lazy river, hot tub and spa as well as basketball courts, volleyball courts, pickleball courts, a walking track and a climbing wall. The town also offers a wide variety of programs for youths and adults in the community. In April, the town acquired the 105-acre Schaal farm as part of its commitment to conservation along the Little Thompson River.
The 18-hole Ascendant championship golf course features sweeping views of Longs Peak and the Front Range and is designed around the natural landscape of Lonetree, McNeil and Welch Reservoirs. The Berthoud Bike Park opened in September 2023, complete with pump tracks, jump lines and dual slalom, and groundbreaking was held for an adaptive park.
The Berthoud Fire Museum opened in 2024 after years of work led by the town’s Caretakers of Tradition, a nonprofit organization made up of former Berthoud Fire Protection District firefighters. The museum is home to a restored 1888 hose cart and 1927 Julius Pearse fire engine.
The 18-hole Ascendant championship golf course features sweeping views of Longs Peak and the Front Range and is designed around the natural landscape of Lonetree, McNeil and Welch Reservoirs.”
Nonprofits also provide services to the community; the Berthoud Community Fund Committee channels grants from the Community Foundation of Northern Colorado.
Berthoud, parts of which extend east into Weld County, was founded on agriculture and railroad access. Its colorful history includes the use of German prisoners to help harvest sugar beets during World War II as well as a 2019 measure that made the town the only municipality in Colorado to ban the sale of puppy-mill dogs.
Industry has thrived in the town, which takes advantage of its access to Front Range cities along Interstate 25 and U.S. 287. Rocket engine manufacturer Ursa Major Technologies Inc. continues to make products for the budding private aerospace industry. Ranked 20th in Virginia-based nonprofit Silicon Valley Defense Group’s “NatSec 100” list, privately funded Ursa Major continues to win lucrative contracts for aerospace propulsion systems.
City Star Brewing Co. has grown from a taproom-focused brewery into a to-go sales model echoed by other small brewers in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Berthoud also is home to the offices of the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District, which has won awards for its promotion of water efficiency. Its Chimney Hollow Reservoir project west of Berthoud is mostly on schedule for completion this year. The project has reached the midway point of its four-year construction cycle. When done, it will be the tallest new dam — 350 feet — built in the United States during the past 20 years and will hold back a reservoir 2.5 miles long.