There’s a moment that happens in August that’s hard to describe if you haven’t experienced it. The ballroom at Lakewood Country Club fills up, and it always fills up, with the people who have spent years steering the future of West Colfax. 

“The West Colfax Lately Luncheon is always a highlight of the year because you can feel the genuine joy, energy, and shared purpose in the room. Bringing together neighborhood, business, and civic leaders to celebrate our LEGEND and MOMENTUM award winners reminds us how far we’ve come,” said William Marino, Executive Director of the Lakewood-West Colfax Business Improvement District. “While we are clear-eyed about the challenges we still face and the hard work ahead, the human connection and camaraderie at this event prove that West Colfax’s resilient spirit is driving tangible progress. Our August 27 gathering shows that our momentum is real, West Colfax is moving forward, and our future is bright.”

This year’s edition sold out before the doors opened; a testament to how much this event means to the people and organizations who help lead this corridor.

A legacy built one honoree at a time

The LEGEND and MOMENTUM Awards represent something much deeper than a simple thank-you. Together, they tell the story of this corridor’s changing trajectory, honoring both the foundational leaders and the modern changemakers driving us forward.

From Nina Rockley of Rockley Music in 2015 to former Mayor Bob Murphy in 2025. From the founding of the 40 West ArtLine to the transformation of the Wadsworth and Colfax corner with award-winning public art. From the arrival of WestFax Brewing to the stunning reinvention of Casa Bonita. Each year, the luncheon pauses to say: this mattered, and so did the people behind it. 

This year’s LEGEND: FirstBank, now PNC Bank

This year’s LEGEND Award honored FirstBank, now PNC Bank, for its longstanding partnership with the West Colfax community. 

This June, PNC completed its acquisition of FirstBank, bringing 780,000 customers and nearly $27 billion in assets into its network. Navigating the transition of a beloved, 63-year-old independent bank is no small thing, and PNC has prioritized over-communicating with customers to manage the milestone with care.

The award honored the legacy FirstBank passes on: a deep culture of civic leadership and community service, and millions of dollars driven into local philanthropy. That legacy is personal for this corridor. 

FirstBank’s senior staff helped the district secure the favorable financing that made it possible to purchase the HUB building, now a genuine community cornerstone. A 20+ year FirstBank veteran (now with PNC), Patrick Riley, accepted the award on behalf of PNC. We welcome PNC to the neighborhood.

A Special Honor: Michael Coughlin, a Lakewood Legend

The luncheon also presented a special LEGEND award to Michael Coughlin, founder of 240 Union, in recognition of more than 35 years as Lakewood’s finest dining destination and a genuine civic square for the West Metro. 

Anyone with something to celebrate knew where to go, and Coughlin’s impact reaches well past the dining room, from board service with the West Chamber and the Red Rocks Community College Foundation to holiday parties for foster children. 

His peers recently inducted him into the Colorado Foodservice Hall of Fame, presenting him with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Thank you, Michael, for being the steady heartbeat of this business community.

The 2026 MOMENTUM Award winners

The MOMENTUM Award goes each year to those who have helped advance the corridor’s revitalization, and this year’s honorees embody exactly the creative, community-first spirit that defines West Colfax.

Ian Greenleaf, Anachronism Art Supplies. A true mainstay of the district, Ian carried the torch forward from the shop’s Red Herring days, working out a transition plan with 2016 MOMENTUM winner Kris Autobee to take ownership. 

He’s the kind of neighbor who pitches in at the HUB and at 40 West Arts and WCCA events, and who’ll pour you a fresh cup of tea, with his mascot cat Georgia O’Kitty never far off. Thank you for keeping the best little art supply store in Colorado going strong.

Leanne and Corey Silverman, The Furnace Glassworks. In 2022, this husband-and-wife team made a major investment in the corridor, relocating their hot shop studio and gallery to West Colfax Avenue. 

They built a public-access space where the community can watch the craft of glassblowing up close and share it through classes that run from introductory torchwork to advanced furnace techniques. They invite neighbors to pull up a front-row seat and light their own creative fires.

Melissa Leach, The Three Leaches Theatre. For nearly fifteen years, Melissa and her team have believed the arts belong to everyone. 

From critically acclaimed productions like Talley’s Folly to gallery shows, kids’ summer camps, and writers’ clubs, the theater is an engine of creativity, and its pay-what-you-can model breaks down the financial barriers to live performing arts, making it available to all. 

As Melissa frames it, the question isn’t “Can you afford a ticket?” It’s simply, “Would you like a seat?”

Joe Barnholt brought the show

This year’s entertainment came from Denver-based comedian, actor, and writer Joe Barnholt, who blends traditional stand-up and musical comedy with a genuine warmth that makes every performance feel made for the room. 

Already a legend in Denver comedy circles thanks to his Bo Nix tribute song “I BOlieve,” Barnholt brought his guitar, his Buddy Holly glasses, and his gift for comedic storytelling to West Colfax, community spirit fitting right in.

What the day was really about

Eleven editions in, the thread running through every luncheon remains the same: West Colfax is a community that cares. It showed up when this corridor needed believers. It showed up when it needed builders. And every August, it shows up to celebrate the people and organizations who are working to make it better.

For more than a decade, that has been the whole mission: to inform, inspire, and activate this community, and to showcase the voices and iconic places that make it what it is. The honorees on this year’s stage – an art store owner, owners of a glassworks and gallery, a theater founder, a bank, and a restaurateur – are that mission made real.

What we experienced at Lakewood Country Club on August 27 wasn’t just a recap of our progress—it was a launchpad for everything still ahead. This is an open invitation that outlasts any single luncheon: claim your stake in our future. Get involved, support your neighbors, and volunteer with a local nonprofit. The defining chapters of West Colfax are being written right now. Let’s build what’s next, together.