Spring in Windsor: A Perfect Afternoon

Tim Van Schmidt

Seeking family-friendly adventure recently, my wife and I took our 3-year-old grandson to downtown Windsor for some fun — and were rewarded with a delightful surprise.

It was a perfectly beautiful Colorado spring day — the sun was high and puffy white clouds were scooting across the blue sky. Our first destination was the playground at Boardwalk Park, located at 100 N. 5th Street in Windsor.

Boardwalk Park is nestled in between downtown Windsor and Windsor Lake — and it was busy that day thanks to the gorgeous weather. Birds were feeding out on the lake, runners and walkers streamed by as they traced the 2.25-mile trail, the playground was getting a healthy workout, and people were just generally soaking up the afternoon.

I noticed that to the west of the park was the Town of Windsor Museum, which was closed at the time — they open on weekends starting on May 28 — and a number of historic buildings helping tell the story of Windsor’s past. After exploring these, we headed to check out the caboose on the western side of the building and ran across a very cool museum that was open — and perfect for our three-year-old charge.

It was the Windsor Severance Fire Rescue — WSFR — Fire Museum, located at 121 N 6th Street. It’s a very clean, smartly organized collection of vintage firefighting gear — from old, man-powered carts to shiny vintage trucks. It’s all there, from hoses to protective gear to communication devices to uniform patches and more.

We got to meet Fireman Dan, a gregarious host at the museum, who showed us around. And even better — we got to ride around the neighborhood and right down Main Street in an antique fire truck. It was a hoot — certainly not something we were expecting to do that day.

To cap off the afternoon, we went to the old-fashioned “soda fountain” in town — Windsor Lake Coffee, at 430 Main Street — where we thoroughly enjoyed the Little Man Ice Cream. They were busy — it’s right on the corner of 5th and Main and the whole town seemed to be buzzing from such a fine day.

The above activities were all within a very short walking distance in total — only a few blocks. But the adventure was big. On an excellent spring day, downtown Windsor had it going on for full family fun.

Tim Van Schmidt is a writer and photographer based in Fort Collins. Find his YouTube channel at “Time Capsules by Tim Van Schmidt.