Downtown Boulder Gift Cards are a great gift for the end of the school year

As another school year rapidly approaches, Downtown Boulder applauds the students and parents at all of Boulder’s educational institutions. From preschools to universities, May and June mark another year of learning for all and graduation for some.

A Downtown Boulder gift card is the perfect gift for a student, graduate or that special teacher that has made such a positive impact. The gift card gives recipients the ability to make purchases at over 130 Downtown shops, service businesses, and eateries in Downtown Boulder.

The new gift card program was launched in February of this year and has been extremely successful. The convenience of the card and the associated services has made it a more friendly and effective service. Customers who purchase cards can use Downtown Boulder’s website to check their balances and register their card. For those that register their card, they will receive an email after about 10 months to remind them how much they have left to spend on the card.

Visit BoulderDowntown.com to get that card today before the end of the school year!

New Downtown Boulder Visitor Center experiences big numbers

Downtown Boulder’s new visitor center has opened at 1301 Pearl, formally Sonrisa flower shop. The building has been remodeled, painted, and stacked with all the information needed to navigate and enjoy Boulder and the Pearl Street Mall.

Additionally, it is staffed by Downtown Boulder’s goodwill ambassadors who are experienced and knowledgeable members of the Downtown Community. One ambassador of note is a familiar face to Downtown Boulder. Though not slinging hot dogs, “Fast Eddie” Ermoian will be helping visitors with his wealth of knowledge about downtown Boulder while working out of the new visitor’s center.

Soon, those using the center will have the ability to check their email or surf the Web. Downtown Boulder is placing a computer in the center to further accommodate visitors to the mall. The goal is to allow visitors full access to all events and information in downtown through maps, the computer, literature, and of course the ambassadors.

Downtown Boulder decided to lease the property from the city and transform how to get information to the visitors of the Pearl Street Mall. Patrons can walk into the air-conditioned building, ask questions, read literature about attractions in Boulder, and find out what’s happening in Downtown Boulder that day.

The center, which is supported by the City of Boulder and the Boulder Convention & Visitor’s Bureau, opened in mid-April. Since then, the foot traffic has significantly increased. Dave Adams, deputy director of Downtown Boulder, says they have about four times more people come by than at the old kiosk. People seem to be utilizing the center more because of its inviting ambience and abundance of information. The visitor center is open from 11am-8pm Sunday through Wednesday, and 11am-9pm Thursday through Saturday.

Springtime in Downtown Boulder

After a long winter, spring has arrived in Downtown Boulder and the Tulips are in full bloom on the Downtown Boulder Mall. Each year patrons look forward to strolling down the Mall to view more than 14,000 tulips in Downtown Boulder.

Tulip Time is a celebration of the thousands of tulips that have adorned Downtown Boulder’s pedestrian Mall since 1978 when the city of Boulder and its downtown merchants joined together with Boulder’s then sister-city Meppel, Holland, to bring 5,000 bulbed beauties to the brand new Downtown Boulder Mall. Since 1987, the city of Boulder has planted 15,000 tulips each fall, a task that takes three people one full week to accomplish.

Planting starts the 2nd week of September and the crew finishes around the first week of November. The major hurdle comes during the winter months, as it is crucial to keep the bulbs moist, so they do not dry out, as the drier a bulb gets, the reduced length of bloom it will produce. The blooming tulips last for four to six weeks.

This year’s bloom signifies the last efforts of Paul Hester and his 21 years of creating the beautiful canvas of Tulips in Downtown Boulder. We tip our hats to Paul and the wonderful ambiance Tulip Time produces for downtown.