Member Spotlight

The Springwood Retirement Campus opened in 1987 with independent living apartments, before expanding to assisted living suites, cottages and a memory care center across a 15-acre community. When the locally-owned retirement community started, Arvada didn’t have too many assisted living facilities like it. With 284 units and over 300 residents, the same can still be said today.

We talked to Springwood’s Executive Director, Pat Gallinger, and Marketing Director, Jill Ross, about curating a space to belong, innovating through a pandemic, and some favorite memories in the community’s 33 years.

At Lane Academy, Matt Lane offers yoga classes, Tai Chi classes and Taekwondo martial art classes for three-year-olds all the way to seniors. We talked to Matt about shaping his passion into a business and how he gave his school a fighting chance to survive opening at the start of a pandemic.

Namiko’s Sushi and Japanese Restaurant opened in 1988, nearly 33 years ago, in Arvada. The founder, Yuri Chandonnet, worked for multiple restaurants in Japan before moving to the United States and deciding to start a business she could leave to her daughter. Yuri gathered money from her friends, borrowed money from her mother, and started Namiko’s in a 1,500 square foot space.

We talked to owner Namiko Eshima about her mother’s legacy, navigating a challenging business year, and how the restaurant became a beloved staple of the Arvada community.

We talked to Dariya Arman-Mann about what makes her practice unique, surprising factors of skin health, and the challenges of working with people’s faces during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Arvada Soccer Association (Real Colorado EDGE Soccer Club) has been a pivotal part of the Arvada community since 1969, serving boys and girls from ages four through adulthood.  Annually, the club has 2,500 registered players playing at various levels, from Recreational to Competitive to a TOPSoccer program for kids with special needs. The Arvada Soccer Association is a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization.

We talked to the Arvada Soccer Association’s General Manager, Todd Gette, about the origins of the soccer club, the impact of COVID-19, and celebrating 50 years in Arvada.

This summer, entrepreneur Scott Spears quietly celebrated ten years of unique, family-friendly stores in Olde Town Arvada. We talked to Spears about the origins of his two retail shops, Sock and Super Zoom Bang Bang, and the challenges of running five small businesses in 2020.