Fourth of July festivities at the Boulder Reservoir and along the Boulder Creek on Thursday drew throngs of people eager to picnic, socialize and play in the sun.
The reservoir, long a favorite Independence Day party spot for college students, saw its biggest Fourth of July turnout this year since at least the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, if not earlier, workers said.
Stacy Cole, the facility manager for the reservoir, said Fourth of July attendance at the reservoir dropped off during the pandemic but has been steadily growing over the past few years. She estimated that about 2,500 people came to the reservoir last year, but by noon on Thursday, about 2,800 people had already arrived this year.
By 1 p.m., there were lines of cars waiting to enter the reservoir. The wait time to enter was about an hour and a half, according to a reservoir staff member. A spokesperson for Boulder Parks and Recreation said about 3,500 people were expected to head to the reservoir for this year’s holiday.
Along the southern shore of the reservoir, dozens of tents provided shade from the sun while boats glided across the water and crowds of people splashed around in the water. The smells of sunscreen and picnic food hung in the air as voices murmured and music played on a faraway stereo system.
Mikki Hebl and her family are from Houston, but they spend their summers in Boulder. They’ve been enjoying the Boulder Reservoir in the summers — and not only on the Fourth of July — since Hebl’s daughter, Lily Harvey, was young (she’s now about to start her freshman year in college).
“It’s nice to see people return,” Hebl said. “I know a lot of times, when we didn’t come on July 4, … there’d be more birds here than people.”
This year’s turnout at Boulder Reservoir may have been one of the biggest since before 2013, when then-City Manager Jane Brautigam signed off on a new rule barring would-be partiers from bringing their own alcohol to the reservoir on the Fourth of July. The previous year, a record-breaking 9,738 people came to enjoy the festivities, but in 2013, and for a few years afterward, Fourth of July attendance at the reservoir dropped off dramatically, although there were more children who started attending.
The BYOB ban, which came along with steep increases in Fourth of July entrance fees, was recommended by the city’s Parks and Recreation Advisory Board as a way to make the event more “family friendly.” However, the city didn’t ban all booze at the reservoir — visitors could still buy beer from a vendor on site.
The board said there had been problems with crowd control and excessive drinking at the reservoir on the Fourth of July in 2012. That year, two men were arrested after they spent all day drinking at the reservoir and sprayed a woman and some fraternity members with bear repellent.
The unofficial Fourth of July gathering at Eben G. Fine Park, another time-honored tradition, became more popular after the city instituted the BYOB ban at Boulder Reservoir. This year, under the shade of trees, hundreds of people set up tents, laid out blankets and ate barbecue in their lawn chairs at the park. Children played ball and blew bubbles. Swimsuit-clad revelers filed along the pathways with their inner tubes to ride the rapids on Boulder Creek.
The crowds at the park this year seemed relatively calm, but in previous years the festivities have come with their share of problem behaviors. Crowds in years past have left trash strewn across the park for city staffers to clean up. Commander Darren Fladung of the Boulder Police Department said that in the past there have also been reports of parking complaints, problematic driving behaviors, illegal fireworks and excessive alcohol consumption in the park.
“Eben G. Fine has been a hot spot for gathering, I think because of the proximity to the creek and then the wide open park that’s out there,” he said. “It’s also a little bit more secluded from some of the other other places throughout the city that are along the creek.”
But in the last few years, Fladung said, police have partnered with urban park rangers and parking enforcement to establish a “visual presence” at the park, and he believes that has helped curb some of the unwanted behaviors.
“I feel like we’ve gotten to a pretty good place of limiting a lot of those issues,” Fladung said.
Urban Ranger Supervisor Aaren Morell also said in an emailed statement that parks crews were planning for a “mass cleanup” in the park on Friday.
