Late Summer On The Canal: What's Actually New Along Cherry Hills Village's Quincy Avenue Corridor

For most of its life, the stretch of High Line Canal running past Quincy Avenue was a pass-through. You walked it, you biked it, you nodded at the horses on the shoulder, and you kept going toward Three Pond Park or south into Greenwood Village. The Canal was scenery, not a destination.

That has quietly shifted this year. Between the reopened Big Barn at Quincy Farm, a pond finally deep enough to hold water through August, and a fresh line of young trees planted north of Belleview, the Quincy corridor is turning into something closer to a civic spine. If you live in the Village and your default summer walk still ends at the same bend it did in 2023, this is your cue to update the route.

The Big Barn Is Open Again, And It Is Actually Programmed

Quincy Farm is a 17.5-acre property along the High Line Canal, donated to the City of Cherry Hills Village by Catherine "Cat" Anderson under a conservation easement that permanently preserves its natural and rural character. The farm sits on the National Register of Historic Places and includes a 1930s barn and a 19th-century farmhouse, and until recently the historic buildings were mostly things you looked at from the trail rather than went into.

The Big Barn renovation changed that. The thoughtful Big Barn renovation project was completed in 2025, and the pond rehabilitation to improve wildlife habitat began the same year. Cherry Hills Land Preserve, the nonprofit that partners with the City to run programming, has been putting the interior to work. Recent and upcoming sessions inside the renovated Big Barn have included a flower arranging workshop with floral designer Cindy Overhardt and Caroline Rassenfoss, held in the evening for adults with wine served, plus a potted herb garden class and returning appearances by naturalist Kate Hogan.

The programming pattern is the tell. This is not a barn that opens for two hours on a Saturday in October. It is a working community room with a calendar.

The Pond, The Trees, And Why Both Matter For Your Walk

Two infrastructure projects on the corridor are worth understanding, because they will change what you see from the trail for the next several summers.

The first is the pond next to the Canal on the south side of Quincy. The 1930s irrigation pond at Quincy Farm had filled with sediment over the years and become very shallow, suffering from extreme algae blooms due to the shallow depth and lack of aeration. The City is dredging the pond to make it smaller and deeper to improve water quality and create better wildlife habitat. The City was awarded a $241,000 grant from Arapahoe County Open Space toward the work, on a pond that draws many birds and other wildlife but has suffered from poor water quality. Construction was anticipated Fall 2025 through Spring 2026, which lines up with what walkers have been seeing this summer: a smaller, deeper water surface that actually holds a reflection in July.

The second is easier to miss unless you know to look for it. Cherry Hills Village has been installing an irrigation line along the Canal to support permanent irrigation of newly planted trees, and in 2026 is extending that irrigation line north of Belleview Avenue and planting additional trees in partnership with the High Line Canal Conservancy. The reason this matters: the shade canopy on the CHV stretch has been thin enough that residents have literally told the City so. In feedback collected by the Parks, Trails and Recreation Commission, one comment noted that the CHV section doesn't seem as maintained, without unique bench ideas or many new trees being planted, and that riding along the High Line in Greenwood Village is more enjoyable. The 2026 planting is the direct response.

If you have been walking the same segment for a decade and wondering when the young trees on the Belleview-side shoulder appeared, that is the project. Give them a few summers.

A Few House Rules That Trip Up Even Longtime Residents

Because Quincy Farm sits under a conservation easement rather than functioning as a standard city park, the rules are stricter than what you would expect from a public open space of similar size. Worth committing to memory before you invite the neighbors:

• The east and west sides are open every day from sunrise to sunset, accessible from the High Line Canal trail at Quincy Avenue, with only one accessible parking space on site.
• Dogs are not permitted at Quincy Farm. This one catches people every weekend.
• Buildings are not open to the public except for scheduled programming, bicycles may not be ridden on the Farm, and visitors must stay on trail at all times.
• No amplified music is allowed inside or outside at Quincy Farm.

The no-parking piece is the practical one. The Farm is designed to be walked or biked to from the Canal, which is exactly the point. Park at home, walk in.

Late-Summer Dates To Block Off

A few things worth putting on the calendar between now and leaf-turn:

Summer Movie Night at John Meade Park. The City runs an outdoor movie at 120 Meade Lane, with snacks, popcorn, and ice cream provided. Bounce castles and face painting start at 6:30pm, the movie starts at dusk, and attendees are asked to bring lawn chairs and blankets for seating.

The 2026 Barn Party at Quincy Farm. Mark your calendars for Friday, September 18, 2026 for a classic country gathering with live music, barbecue, cocktails and spirits. This is the flagship Cherry Hills Land Preserve fundraiser and the single best excuse of the year to walk into the Big Barn dressed up.

Birding at the Farm with Denver Audubon. Bring your binoculars (or borrow theirs) for a morning of birding at Quincy Farm with Denver Audubon, searching for who lives in the trees and which fowl frequent the pond. These are led by longtime volunteer Barbara Masoner and fill up in small groups.

Young at Art workshops. Julie Bennett, the art teacher at Cherry Hills Village Elementary, has been running family workshops at John Meade Park and inside the Big Barn, with recent sessions running $20 per family.

Watch the City's calendar at cherryhillsvillage.com and the Quincy Farm programs page for exact times.

A Saturday Loop That Uses All Of It

If you want a single walk that puts the new pieces in sequence, start at your own front door and aim for the Canal crossing at Quincy Avenue. From there:

1. Pick up the High Line Canal Trail heading south. This is Segment 13, which winds past open grasslands and under towering leafy canopies as it heads toward Three Pond Park, on a crusher-fine gravel surface that works for a casual walk or ride, exploring the natural habitat of Blackmer Common.
2. Cross the bridge to the east side of Quincy Farm. Walk the pasture loop and check on the pond. If the water is holding late in the season, the dredge worked.
3. Come back over the bridge and pick up the ¼-mile walking loop on the west side. This trail lets you enjoy the natural landscape and the vistas uniquely located on the west side of Quincy Farm, and is open from dawn to dusk.
4. Loop back north on the Canal toward Belleview. Look for the newly irrigated young trees on the shoulder. This is the part of the corridor most obviously in transition.
5. If you timed it for a movie night, cut east to 120 Meade Lane and grab a spot on the grass before dusk.

Total: roughly an afternoon, no car required, no parking negotiations.

The Argument Under All Of It

Here is what has actually changed, and why it matters if you own a home here.

For years, Cherry Hills Village has traded on lot size and equestrian rights. The trade-off residents have quietly accepted is that most of the civic infrastructure that makes a place feel like a neighborhood happens somewhere else. Coffee, movies, farmers markets, live music. Those live in Cherry Creek or on South Gaylord or down at the Streets at SouthGlenn.

The Quincy Farm buildout is a small counter-argument. A renovated barn that hosts workshops, a rehabilitated pond that supports birding groups, a summer movie at John Meade Park, and a September barn party are not a downtown, but they are civic anchors that exist inside the Village, accessible on foot from the Canal, and programmed by residents' own nonprofit. The 2026 tree planting north of Belleview is the same story in slower form: a direct, funded response to a specific complaint about the CHV stretch of the trail.

If you are the kind of homeowner who bought here for the quiet and worried you were also buying decades of the same passive lawn, the shift is worth noticing. The Village is still quiet. It is also, incrementally, becoming a place where the walk out your back gate lands you somewhere.

Want to talk about what any of this means for your block, your resale strategy, or a move within the Village? Makin' Moves with Georgia is always up for a walk on the Canal. Book a consultation when you're ready.