Lyons? (Denver, Boulder, Estes Park: vacation, work, housing)

[4acadia]

Just wondering if anyone has any knowledge of, or opinions of Lyons...

How far a drive is it from Boulder, realistically?
Does it have a nice downtown of its own?
Friendly?
Is housing less than Boulder?
Is it a good alternative if we desire to be near Boulder?

Appreciate any input.
Thanks!

[brandilinn1117]

I am wondering about this little town also....downtown? Someone told me a lot of musicians.

[rebagirl]

We went through this town during a vacation this past summer. Interesting artwork within a small park. (I'm not into contemporary art, so was not impressed) The town is small, run-down looking, didn't see what I would consider a downtown. Just a pub, hardware store--and we saw maybe two people total. I felt like I was in the twilight zone, actually. Too quiet and sleepy for me. We were just passing through, and only spent about 2 hours there, so maybe someone else on this forum will have more info.

[chilaili]

I am moving to Lyons in the New Year!

It depends on what you're looking for. Lyons has a population of about 1600 people. There is one bus service that runs to Boulder Mon-Fri during rush hours only, but RTD of Denver is considering expanding that service since its usage went up nearly 25% this past year. There is a small public library, some nice coffeeshops and restaurants, a pretty good restaurant/bar/live music venue (Oskar Blues), a few antique/junk shops, a Montessori and high school, it's very close to the mountains and other mountain towns such as Estes Park and many trails, as well as having (I think) two rivers running thro the town. It does NOT have a large supermarket but a small regular one and an organic one. Shops are not open on Sundays in Lyons!

If you check out the town's website (http://www.lyons-colorado.com/) and look at the Events calendar, you'll see there are several festivals there during the year. The two biggest are the Bluegrass Festival in July and the Folk Festival in August. These bring a LOT of people into town and liven things up considerably. This is a good website to get more info about the town and the Town Clerk there is very responsive to emailed questions.

Basically you're looking at a small town with not much infrastructure, altho reading the town's plan for the future they are looking to develop the "downtown" area more. It can be very quiet at the weekends but there's usually something going on at night. People I know who live there already tell me that anyone who moves to Lyons ends up loving it. Lyons people are not particularly outgoing but once they get going they're pretty fun and love to talk about how great Lyons is. I'm told it has the cleanest air in the county, temps in the Winter are 10º lower than elsewhere and 10º higher than in the Summer - probably because of the shelter received from the surrounding cliffs.

It's about 20-25 minutes' drive due north from Boulder and whilst its property is highly desirable as a "Mountain Town" and therefore a little more expensive, it's not as bad as Boulder. It'd probably be a good idea for you to come to Lyons and have a look around during the day, weekend and the evenings to get a proper picture.

[chilaili]

I just realised I got something the wrong way round in my earlier post: Temps in Lyons are supposedly 10 degrees WARMER in the Winter and 10 degrees COOLER in the Summer there - doh!

[IFgirl]

How much snow in Lyons? When is the first snow and when is the last (approximately)?

[chilaili]

About the same as Boulder I believe, but snow here is so impossible to predict. It can snow as early as September or as late as Christmas. The snow could stop in January or keep going thro till April. Being snuggled up against the mountains it probably gets dumped on more than town out on the plains. I think last night's storm delivered about 6" but it's probably already melted. Strong winds are more of an issue in Lyons.

[Neditate]

Originally Posted by IFgirl

How much snow in Lyons? When is the first snow and when is the last (approximately)?

Lyons is approximately the same elevation as Boulder at 5375' so the weather is going to be very similar. It can snow as early as September and it will snow through April. A May snow is not unusual, but is not the norm.