During the Rifle City Council’s work session before their regularly scheduled meeting on March 5, a discussion of possibly implementing a special events district was presented to the council. 

The special events district would be a part of Rifle that is “activated” for when there are fun events happening in Rifle, like which part of the street would close down for people to walk around in, said City Manager Patrick Waller.

“We wanted to get council familiar with the proposal and ultimately, they’ll look at and review an ordinance to enact the ability to apply,” Waller said. “It would be restricted to events in downtown. We’re not looking to become New Orleans, as interesting as that would be for Rifle.”

The city was inspired by Carbondale’s First Friday events, and are planning on having Third Thursdays on Third (Street). 

“It would be from June to October, every third Thursday of the month and we’re discussing and finalizing the portion of Third Street and which parts of Railroad Avenue will be closed,” Waller said. “They’re also working on a theme for each Thursday.”

The special events district would also allow businesses to partner with the city of Rifle to use their liquor licenses and sell to people walking around without having to keep them confined to the business if there’s an event downtown. 

“They’d have to go through a process with the city, which would be reviewed by council and they’d set the framework for how people would apply,” Waller said. “We’re working on that.”

If everything goes to plan, the first Third Thursday on Third Street is scheduled for June 19.

“We had to do Third Thursdays, it flows better than Third Tuesdays,” Waller joked. “We’re pretty excited about them.”