Over a Dozen Local Colorado Businesses Destroyed in Nederland Fire

Not many Coloradans have even been to Nederland, in Boulder County, though they know of it. It's know for having started the Frozen Dead Guy Days festival and once having the Caribou Ranch recording studio.

After a large fire within a shopping center within the small Colorado mountain town, several businesses may not recover. Small businesses run on a thin profit margin; things like a fire can bring operations to a standstill that leads to the end of that business.

I live in Downtown Loveland; when I left for work at 8:30 a.m. on October 10, 2025, I really thought I smelled smoke from some sort of fire. Being that Nederland is 50 miles to the south, it was probably just a coincidence, as crews had just about "put down" the fire by that time. Maybe I still get flashbacks of the Cameron Peak Fire of 2020.

According to the Daily Camera, the fire fully engulfed the two-story Caribou Village Shopping Center building, in the heart of town. 18 businesses were destroyed, including an art studio, a Mexican restaurant, and a craft brewer, the Wild Bear Nature Center (which housed 'ambassador' animals (all of which perished.

In what could be deemed "the bright side" of the tragedy, is that Nederland's Carousel of Happiness was spared, though it is temporarily closed while cleanup of the fire continues.