Family Life

Families have great opportunities for fun and growth throughout our community. There are multiple recreations centers sponsored through the City of Lafayette at the Bob Burger Rec Center and also the Boulder Valley YMCA. These facilities offer lessons for kids of all ages teaching things like swimming, soccer and more.

Also fun for families with children is our local WOW! Museum. This is a mini-children’s museum with activities for play and learning throughout. Of course there are incredible parks, too. Our favorite is Waneka Lake’s ‘Fishy Park’ (as my daughter has named it for the large orange fish latter that greets everyone who comes to play. Parents like this park best because it is sheltered by large cottonwood trees keeping it cool even on the hot summer days.

Families love our community for the strong school system including Douglass Elementary, which is listed as one of the best elementary schools in Colorado. Many of our other local schools also have great curriculum. Be sure to ask the parents whose children go to the schools for their personal opinions about the quality of education in Lafayette CO. The online rankings often different than what people actually experience in the classrooms.

Downtown Life - Old Town Lafayette, CO

Urban Hipsters who want to walk to restaurants and shops will love Old Town Lafayette CO. Our main street is call the Public Road and is where most of the restaurants, coffee shops, and such are located. If you go to the far south end of the Public Road in Lafayette CO you will find nature trails for hiking. This balance between urban and outdoor lifestyles tells the perfect story about what the residents of Lafayette love most about living here.

Yearly festivals hosted by the City of Lafayette include many parties in the Old Town area such as the annual Peach Festival & Oatmeal Festival. The entire town will come out to Waneka Lake for the July 4th celebration, complete with fireworks!
This is such a big event that people from neighboring towns will visit, too. The residents around the lake are the luckiest because they can walk and ride bikes to the park and miss out on the parking mess and traffic jams after the event is complete.

There are so many new breweries in Lafayette CO and in the surrounding towns that Lafayette CO decided to have a bunch of parties for them! The City of Lafayette hosts the Lafayette Brew Fest and the Boulder Valley YMCA has the Craft Brew and Barbeque at the end of each summer. These are great places to meet in the community and have a good drink.  Some of our favorites include Liquid Mechanics, Odd 13, and The Post.

Every first Friday in Lafayette CO through the summer months there is Art Night Out. This is particularly fun because of the live music, food trucks, and art vendors that line the street. It has been a fast growing and popular event in Lafayette CO, while still holding onto the quaint hometown feel that our community is known for. This organization is also known for the annual placement of art throughout the Old Town district of Lafayette. Each season artists apply for placement of their pieces throughout the streets of Lafayette. Those selected will surprise residents and guests with the creativity and flare added to the streets of our town. And that is just the beginning! For example, pARTiculars Art offers art classes that bring people together. Located in the heart of our town is the Indian Peaks Golf Course, enjoyed by people of all ages. There are private and group classes offered through the pro shop. Don’t tell, but many of the local residents will also use the golf course for cross country skiing after a big snow!

Golden Years

If you are moving through your golden years here in the city of Lafayette you will find many activities for social connection. The Lafayette Go Services provides dynamic and fun activities for adults who want to keep the excitement in daily activities. Both of the recreation centers (YMCA and Bob Burger Rec Center) offer classes for active adults. Affinity is the newest 55+ retirement community in Lafayette CO that has activities to make everyone’s days sail by! Some of the fun includes a lounge for socializing, a movie theater, pool and spa!

Real Estate Market

The real estate market in Lafayette CO has been extremely aggressive since about 2013. I noticed competition in the marketplace regularly for single family that is less than about $600-$650,000. The average price for a single family home in 2014 in Lafayette was about $407,000 which was up 7.5% year over year which was $379,000 in January of 2013. The average price for a townhouse in Lafayette in 2014 was $252,000 which is up 18% since the year before when it was $213,000! That increase is an indication that Lafayette is one of the last areas in Boulder County with affordable townhouses for sale and the competition for them can be fierce.