Berthoud's Odd Fellows Building Sits Out This Year's Holiday Parade. Its Next Restaurant Gets Picked Weeks Later.

When Bradford's Grub & Grog renovated the ground floor at 335 Mountain Ave., it uncovered exposed brick from the original building and built a salad bar from beetle-kill wood. Bradford's served BBQ, chicken fried steak, filet mignon and ribeyes, and the wings and clam chowder had their own following. On February 19, 2026, the restaurant said February 21 would be its last day because of the "upcoming sale of the building," according to Retro 102.5.

Upstairs is busy again. Downstairs is waiting. So when A Very Merry Berthoud fills downtown on Saturday, December 5, one of Mountain Avenue's oldest gathering spots will be sitting it out. The owner has said it will choose the next restaurant within weeks of the parade.

A Room That Has Hosted Downtown for 125 Years

The Odd Fellows building went up in 1901 as a one-story brick commercial building. By November of that year it had a second floor, built as a meeting place for the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In 1917 the front façade was extended to line up with the buildings next door.

Local historian Mark French told the Berthoud Weekly Surveyor that the building has housed hardware stores, mercantile businesses, furniture stores, cafés and barber shops. The upstairs lodge hosted dances, banquets, theatrical performances and civic gatherings. At various times the first floor held roller skating and pool halls.

Long-time residents probably know the street level best for its taverns and restaurants. The Surveyor names these:

• Ott's Tavern
• Western Pastime Tavern
• Tuffy's Tavern
• Main Street Bar & Restaurant
• Abeyta's Restaurant
• Nonna Bella's
• Bradford's, most recently, which closed in February

Nonna Bella's was there for about six years. When Bradford's announced its closing, it said the new owners had "exciting plans" for the building. The new owner moved in upstairs that summer.

A Berthoud Firm Bought It and Moved In Upstairs

The new owner is Asher Architects + Engineers, a local design firm founded in 2020 by David Stranathan. The firm closed on the building in May 2026 and was fully up and running in its new second-floor headquarters by June. The building had been on the market for several years, and Stranathan had been thinking about buying it for a long time.

Asher has nine full-time staff and puts architecture, structural engineering, civil engineering, landscape architecture and land planning under one roof. You've probably driven past some of its local work. The firm designed the new B-Town Automotive Building and the Caretakers of Tradition Showroom at Berthoud Fire Station No. 1. It also did concept planning for the town-owned property at Second Street and Welch Avenue, and it's working with Habitat for Humanity on redevelopment concepts for the former Town Hall property on Massachusetts Avenue.

Asher could have leased the ground floor to the first business that asked. Stranathan told the Surveyor the firm went a different way:

"We've received interest from a variety of potential tenants, and we're grateful for that. But because this is such an important historic building in the heart of downtown Berthoud, we want to find the right long-term fit."

According to the Surveyor, the firm wants a locally focused restaurant. It is accepting proposals through the end of 2026 and plans to choose a tenant in early 2027. That timeline puts the empty storefront right in the middle of the holiday season. If you've ever thought about running a downtown restaurant, the Asher Architects team has invited people to tour the space and share their ideas.

December 5 Is Only the Second Very Merry Berthoud

A Very Merry Berthoud is new. The town launched it in 2025 to bring a set of long-running holiday traditions together into one day. Town Community Engagement Manager Stephanie Horvath described the idea to the Loveland Reporter-Herald last December: "We've done a Parade of Lights for years with one-off little events. This is the cohesive holiday glue that brings everyone downtown and gives it a name."

The second year keeps that same all-day format. Here's what Berthoud Main Street has posted for 2026, followed by how last year ran.

Confirmed for Saturday, December 5, 2026

• An all-day festival around town, with photos with Santa, holiday carolers and festive markets. Everyone then gathers downtown for the Parade of Lights and Tree Lighting Ceremony.
• The Market on Massachusetts runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Massachusetts Avenue between Third and Fourth Streets.
• The Berthoud Historical Society museum is open to visitors during the festival.
• SouthState Bank presents the festival, and Berthoud Main Street, the Town of Berthoud and the Berthoud Chamber put it on, with individual events run by local businesses and organizations.

How the first year ran in 2025

• Things started at 9 a.m. and went into the evening.
• There was ice skating on Third Street, hot cocoa and free books at the library, and blacksmithing and carriage rides on Massachusetts Avenue.
• The Berthoud Recreation Center hosted a winter craft fair. The Rancher's Wife held Cowboy Christmas, with Santa photos, carolers, an artisan market and a petting zoo.
• The Parade of Lights stepped off around dusk. Santa's sleigh led the floats along Mountain Avenue to Fickel Park, where Santa switched on an 80-foot Colorado blue spruce wrapped in 4,000 feet of lights.

The tree got a lot of attention last year. Westminster claims the tallest living Christmas tree in the state at over 64 feet, and Horvath said the town's forestry department had measured Fickel Park's spruce at 80.

The 2025 details describe last year's format. This year's parade and tree lighting times will be on the event page.

Where to Sit Down Before the Parade

The 300 block of Mountain Avenue won't have its usual tavern this year, but there are plenty of independent places close by. City Star Brewing at 321 Mountain Ave. is next door to the Odd Fellows building. The Surveyor profiled it in May as an independently owned brewery, and it celebrated an anniversary on May 2. RISE, the artisan bread bakery and café at 403 Fifth St., marked ten years as a Berthoud storefront this spring, according to the Surveyor.

These spots are also on Berthoud Main Street's downtown dining directory, listed here by address along Mountain Avenue, with two on the side streets:

1. Cornerstone Cafe and Joyful Brews, 250 Mountain Ave.
2. Brick Oven Pizza, 269 Mountain Ave.
3. Cocina & Cantina and Glass of Art, 316 Mountain Ave.
4. Kofe House, 434 Mountain Ave.
5. Aussie's Poke Pitstop, 441 Mountain Ave.
6. Grandpa's Cafe, 903 Mountain Ave.
7. Off Mountain: Benny's Tacos at 535 Third St. and Berthoud Brewing at 450 Eighth St.

Two Holiday Saturdays, Then the Proposal Deadline

The holiday stretch downtown starts a week before the festival. The Berthoud Historical Society lists its museum as open on Saturday, November 28, for Small Business Saturday. The next Saturday is December 5, with the market on Massachusetts Avenue during the day and the parade and tree lighting after dark. Asher is taking restaurant proposals through December 31, and the firm has said it will choose a tenant in early 2027.

We're following the Odd Fellows search closely because downtown storefronts like this one shape how Berthoud feels block by block. If you've wondered what owning or leasing an older building on Mountain Avenue actually takes, from holding out for the right tenant to working around a 1901 brick shell, Paul & Kam Real Estate is happy to talk it through over coffee. Work With Us.