Well, folks, it’s summer, and that means we’re officially two years closer to the 50th Anniversary of the Pearl Street Mall. Downtown Boulder Partnership is working closely with the City in the initial phase of planning programs, celebrations, and a few improvements to take place in 2027. As we look to the future, I’ve had the great pleasure of looking back at photos from the archives with renewed respect for the visionary people who created one of the most venerable outdoor pedestrian malls in the country. I’ve been re-reading Silvia Pettem’s wonderful book Positively Pearl Street, published in honor of the 30th anniversary of the Mall, and looking at photos of the Mall’s construction.
I’m lucky; I live downtown, I work downtown, and I enjoy the Mall every day. But recently, I took a pause, and instead of my usual rushing back to my office from a meeting, I decided to sit down on a bench, put my phone away, and simply sit and observe this place.
A lot of things have changed over the last five decades, but our need for human connection has never disappeared. I’ve also been thinking quite a bit about the epidemic of loneliness, and how public space can be a place to keep us connected and build community. I recently reread Ray Oldenburg's seminal work, The Great Good Place (1989), where he defined the concept of the “third place.” The third place is an informal public gathering space that isn’t home (the "first place") and isn’t work/school (the "second place"). Some key examples include a pub, a library, a park, a community center, or a coffee house.
The Pearl Street Mall is Boulder’s quintessential third place. With its well-tended flower beds and shady trees, benches, play structures, and plentiful street performers, it’s a place where people linger, not just pass through. It’s walkable, relaxed, and full of life.
Oldenburg also says that third places are “levelers.” In this 21st-century world that feels so very politically divided, when we have access to technology that can connect us across the globe, but also make us feel more isolated than ever, we need levelers. They can serve as a powerful antidote to the poisonous feeling that we are somehow not connected to each other. In a third space, anyone, no matter their background, can show up and belong. Every day, out my office window and as I’m walking, I see a tech worker sitting next to a retiree, a college student giving directions to a traveler.
During festivals, protests, or even on a regular Saturday, people from all walks of life mix and mingle. Whether it’s Bands on the Bricks or the Pearl Street Arts Fest, events on the Mall create space for connection and shared experience.
And in the center of the Mall is the Boulder County Courthouse, designated on May 30, 2025 as a National Historic Landmark, honoring the brave role Clela Rorex played in the fight for marriage equality. It was an honor to raise the Pride flag with Rocky Mountain Equality and City leadership last week. This all serves as a reminder that Pearl Street isn’t just a place for play and lingering; it’s also a space where people come to be heard, to stand up for what matters, and to celebrate who they are. That’s powerful.
And let’s not forget the small businesses that call Pearl Street home. Oldenburg didn’t write much about economics, but he’d surely acknowledge to how this third space supports the local economy and the connections between neighbors, workers, and customers that are built there. Folks come down for a cup of coffee or to browse the shelves of a funky bookstore, and in doing so, they support their neighbors. That makes for a stronger community in every way: socially, emotionally, and financially.
Next time you’re downtown, I invite you to sit down, look around, take three deep breaths and appreciate this “Third Place” – and almost fifty years of its evolution.
-Bettina Swigger, CEO of Downtown Boulder Partnership, is deeply interested in public space and the intersection of creativity, commerce, and community
This article was originally published in the Daily Camera on Sunday, June 1, 2025.
Tagged: Downtown Boulder CEO Update