Diana Wilson, director of communications and events, presented the proposed 2026 event schedule to Northglenn City Council on Oct. 20 and recommended maintaining a program similar to the current year while making smaller operational changes such as extending Pirate Fest hours to 8 p.m.

Wilson told council that staff’s recommendation was to “pretty much keep it the same as this year,” citing strong attendance and steady sponsorship and noting that Food Truck Carnival “is the 1 that actually brings in the significant amount of revenue.” She explained that soil remediation and demolition timelines around the old recreation parking lot remain uncertain, and that staff will monitor whether Food Truck Carnival can remain at its current site for 2026 or will need a new location for future years.

The presentation included attendance tracking data provided by an economic-development vendor that uses aggregated cell-phone movement metrics. Wilson said some privately owned event sites could not be tracked in the same way and were therefore left as “no place or AI” in the attendance table because the available data was not specific to city-owned parks.

Staff proposed adjusting Pirate Fest hours from an earlier end time to 8 p.m. to capture a larger evening audience while limiting cleanup and staffing impacts. “Instead of stopping at 6, we go to 8, but we probably don't need to go till 10,” Wilson said.

Neighborhood Nights—small, ward-level series of concerts, movies and food trucks—were a focus of council discussion. Wilson described the program’s coupon model (previously $5 per family, now $7) as a means to promote vendor engagement and in-person interaction between residents and council members; she noted coupons and postcard mailings come from council discretionary budgets. Council members debated coupon size, the number of food trucks, and whether to combine ward nights with larger Festival Lawn programming to increase turnout and create efficiencies.

Council member Goff said he supported the plan and suggested adding a food truck at Ward 3’s combined Festival Lawn night to reduce long lines; Kondo recommended ensuring outside agencies and partners are aware of event timing so their outreach would reach the same crowd. Several council members emphasized neighborhood nights’ value for resident engagement and suggested avoiding dates that conflict with back-to-school nights.

Wilson noted that Food Truck Carnival is revenue-generating for the city and that the city expects to host it again in 2026 unless remediation or redevelopment prevents use of the old rec parking lot. She said staff will return with a proposed schedule that avoids school-start conflicts and asked council to approve the proposed framework so staff could finalize contracts.

Nut graf: Staff recommended keeping the 2026 events calendar substantially the same as 2025, with modest hour adjustments and continued neighborhood-night programming, while flagging the Food Truck Carnival location and advising the council on coupon funding and vendor capacity.

Ending: Council signaled general support for the proposal, requested staff provide final dates that avoid school-start conflicts, and asked for follow-up if site remediation forces a future venue change for Food Truck Carnival.