"Everybody said that Lafayette was too sleepy of a place." That's Peter Wanberg, recalling what he heard when he and his wife, Margo, asked why their new hometown had no farmers market. The couple had started the City Park Farmers Market in Denver in 2021. They opened the Lafayette Farmers Market in 2025, and Boulder Reporting Lab says the Sunday crowds in its second season have proved the doubters wrong.
The 2026 season ends Sunday, Oct. 25. The market runs from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Public Road between Cleveland and Geneseo streets. The north end of that stretch, where Public Road meets Geneseo, is the busiest corner in Lafayette's fall news. It has the market, the city arts center's Día de los Muertos exhibit, a new Cajun restaurant, and an empty bank building that may become the new home of a beloved local bookstore. None of that clustering is an accident. It goes back to a purchase the city made last year.
The parking lot the city kept public
Lafayette bought two properties from JPMorgan Chase in 2025. One was the former Chase Bank building at 200 N. Public Road. The other was 108 N. Public Road, a 35-space surface parking lot next to it. The price tag for both was roughly $2.6 million. The lot was the long-running piece of the story. The Lafayette Urban Renewal Authority had leased it since 2016 and had wanted it for years. As part of the deal, the authority paid the city $1 million for it.
The city's stated plan for that lot reads like a description of this October. The lot stays a city asset, open for public use and community activities such as the Lafayette Farmers Market and seasonal pop-ups. A space that held parked cars for a bank now has a written civic purpose, right at the end of the market's run.
The market itself is a big part of why that matters. The Wanbergs run it as a producer-focused market, meaning vendors sell what they grow or make. Peter Wanberg sums up the rule this way: "You can't resell Cuties from the grocery store." Boulder Reporting Lab's John Lehndorff walked the market this season. He named Lafayette's Three Leaf Farm, which also supplies Chautauqua Dining Hall and the Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse, along with Unsung Farm, Switch Gears Farm and Speedwell Farm. He also found pistachio baklava from Lafayette's Kismet Cafe, hummus from Adam Bratter of Falafayette, Susan's Samosas, De Los Andes Empanadas and the Freshly Laid Food Truck. The bakeries had long lines, he wrote, at Get Right's Bakery, Cherry Eyes native frybread and Jenerous, a gluten-free bakery. Penny's Pie Shop, run by Jocelyn Su out of a commissary kitchen, makes a cherry frangipane pie he singled out.
The bank across the street, and the three pitches for it
The bank building has been empty since 2024. When the city bought it, staff called it a "strategic purchase," meant to bring in a business that generates sales tax. They also pointed to options for adaptive reuse, including more parking and a street patio. This summer the city put the nearly 9,000-square-foot building up for proposals at an asking price of $1.6 million and received three.
- Teocalli Cocina's Grant Hopfenspirger pitched a community restaurant and beer garden. His first Teocalli opened at 103 N. Public Road in 2019.
- The Arts Hub and Urban West Group proposed splitting the building into four uses: a restaurant and bar, two local retail spaces, and an underground black box theater and gallery for the Arts Hub.
- The Read Queen Bookstore & Cafe proposed moving over from its current home at 129 N. Harrison Ave.
All three pitches would have kept the corner a gathering place. The public picked the bookstore. About 1,800 people answered the city's Lafayette Listens survey, and The Read Queen drew the most support. Owners Barbra Huntting and Deirdre Appelhans opened the shop during the pandemic. They told council the business has outgrown its space. "We try to hold these events, these gatherings, these book clubs and programming, but we just don't have the space for it right now," Huntting said. Earlier this year the store won the Lafayette Chamber of Commerce's Community Impact Award.
On Aug. 4, City Council authorized staff to negotiate a sale with The Read Queen. Economic Development Director Brigid Keating explained the city's reasoning in one line.
"Small business support and retention is key."
The deal isn't done. No purchase and sale agreement appeared on council's Sept. 1 or Sept. 15 agendas. The city's project page still says staff expect to bring one back "this fall," and the page hasn't been updated since early August. The $1.6 million figure is the asking price, not a negotiated one, and the city's page gives no move or opening timeline. For now, the store's own website still lists it at 129 N. Harrison Avenue. Its landlord there, Kurt Munding, backed the move at the August meeting. He called the owners "our favorite tenant we've ever had."
How the corner works on Oct. 25
The last market Sunday is the best day to see the whole corner in use. The Collective Community Arts Center is at 201 N. Public Road. That weekend it hosts a picture-frame decorating drop-in on both Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 24 and 25, while supplies last. You decorate a frame, add a photo of a loved one who has died, and take it home as the start of an ofrenda. Remi's Cajun Creole Cafe, at 211 N. Public Road, is open 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Thursday through Monday, so it's open that Sunday. Here's one way to fit it all into a morning:
- Start at the market at 9 a.m. The bakery lines are the reason to come early. Ends N Odds is on the music schedule for the final day.
- Walk to The Collective for the frame drop-in. While you're there, see the exhibit, "Arcos y Portales." It features work by Arlette Lucero, Jesus Salas, Michelle Sepulveda and Lida Penkova, along with students from Justice High School and Centaurus High School. Visitors can also add to the community ofrendas.
- Have lunch at Remi's after it opens at 11. Owner Dara Sanchez-Mack has 15 years in hospitality, and Colorado native Napoleon Lewis runs the kitchen. The 60-seat menu covers gumbo, jambalaya, crawfish étouffée, po'boys, muffulettas and New Orleans BBQ shrimp. Axios Boulder's reviewer recommended the catfish Pontchartrain.
If you'd rather walk farther, Lehndorff describes South Public Road as a mile of food and drink, from the new Remi's to the long-running Efrain's Mexican Restaurant.
The rest of the month, near and around the corner
The Collective has more on the calendar before and after market day. On Friday, Oct. 9, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., local crafter Martha Ramirez leads a Paper Catrina workshop. It will be taught mostly in Spanish, and you can request interpretation at [email protected]. The exhibit's closing celebration is Friday, Oct. 30, with face painting from 3 to 5 p.m., then music and light Mexican food from 5 to 7. "Arcos y Portales" stays up through Nov. 8.
A few other October dates are close enough to plan around:
- Oct. 9, 6–9 p.m. pARTiculars 2nd Friday, with art demos and workshops at 401 S. Public Road, Unit 1.
- Oct. 10, 9–11 a.m. Lafayette Fire Department's Halloween Touch-A-Truck at Fire Station #1, 401 N. 111th St., with fire and police vehicles and trick-or-treating.
- Oct. 22, 5:30–9:30 p.m. Dueling & Ghouling at Nissi's, 1455 Coal Creek Dr., Unit T, a fundraiser for the Autism Society of Boulder County.
- Oct. 23, 6–8 p.m. Lafayette After Dark Star Party at Flagg Park Trailhead.
What stays on the corner after the tents come down
The market's website lists no winter or holiday market. After Oct. 25, Boulder Reporting Lab points Sunday shoppers to the Lyons Farmers Market. It also lists Louisville on Saturdays and Erie on Thursdays.
The corner itself stays busy. Remi's keeps its Thursday-through-Monday hours. The Collective's exhibit runs into November. Daily Grains, a longtime favorite cottage bakery, expects to open a brick-and-mortar bakery on South Public Road soon, according to Boulder Reporting Lab. Across the street from the arts center, the old bank sits waiting for a purchase agreement to come back to City Council. If that agreement passes, Lafayette's bookstore will move onto the same corner as its market lot and its arts center.
If you live near Old Town, you know how quickly a block like this changes once one anchor opens or moves. At Jennifer Stuckey, we're following the 200 N. Public Road decision as it moves through council, and we're glad to share what we learn about the corner and what it could mean for the streets around it. Let's connect.
