Bear Creek Lake Park is on pace to shatter its attendance record

A busy summer bloomed this year at Bear Creek Lake Park, where parking spaces filled to capacity and park visitors toting paddle boards, tents, grills and coolers flocked to the park in nearrecord numbers.

The Lakewood park, located just off Morrison Road and C470, has been a hot spot for water and outdoor enthusiasts to beat the heat this summer. It’s attendance numbers are sizzling at a recordsetting pace.

The number of visitors to the park has increased steadily over the past couple of years, said Allison Scheck, a Lakewood spokeswoman.

In 2016, the park attracted 484,141 visitors and brought in $933,950 in revenue. Last year, park visitors numbered 496,782 with just under $1,229,000 in revenue.

Park visitors are counted by vehicles entering the park, with 3.5 visitors factored per vehicle. Revenues included gate receipts and money spent on park facilities and rentals, including nonmotorized boats, kayaks and paddle boards. Camping at the park also brings in revenue.

Through August this year, park attendance was at 447,974 with revenue of $1,287,461.

“There’s simply not enough water or equipment to go around,” Scheck said.

On some days at the park this year, especially holidays and hot weekends, parking lots filled up and vehicles were turned around at the gate.

On July 4, hundreds of cars were parked along Morrison Road and hundreds of people who arrived in the cars chose to hike into the park. People who walk, skate or ride bikes into the park are not counted in the attendance figures.

August is typically a robust month at the park, and blistering September weather likely drove attendance and revenue even higher as visitors flocked to the swim beach and cool waters of the park.

The park, which operates on a $970,000 annual budget, allows motorized boats and fishing in Bear Creek Lake. Soda West Reservoir No. 1 operates a water ski school, and Soda East Reservoir No. 2 hosts the popular swim beach and nonmotorized water conveyances.

The Soda lakes can be seen from busy, nearby C470. This year’s attendance at the Bear Creek park was boosted, in part, by construction work at Chatfield State Park, a few miles southeast on C470, which closed the popular Chatfield beaches this season.

Residential growth in Lakewood, including at nearby Solterra and Belmar as well as dense projects on Union Boulevard and West Colfax Avenue likely contributed to record numbers at the park.

“The numbers are really inspiring,” Scheck said. “A lot of it, really, is still about the great outdoors. It’s beautiful and lots of folk are having a great experience.”