Have y'all accidentally written 2014 on a piece of paper yet? We just did and we don't really plan on stopping anytime soon. 2014 was a banner year for Denton and 2015 looks as if it will just grab that torch and keep on truckin'. Here's some of the the stuff we're looking forward to in the next 12 months. If there's something we left out that you're looking forward to, let us know in the comments!
The never-ending construction on Hickory St. should come to an inevitable end. Sure, we'll have to say goodbye to the strange pedestrian bridge by Industrial St. but at least we'll be able to grab some Andaman, Weinbergers, or Mellow Mushroom without feeling like an extra in a pre-remake Mad Max movie.
Harvest House will open their doors/gate/fence/whatever, and we'll be able to grab a drink, much on some food, and catch a show at what will surely be a great place.
Free wi-fi throughout the square area. It's kinda already here, but we are seven days in to 2015, afterall. Pretty soon, you'll be able to access wi-fi all around the square and surrounding downtown area for free. Read more about it on Kevin Roden's blog.
Our favorite local festivals will be returning. Oaktopia has already announced plans for a 2015 show, 35 Denton will make their triumphant return this year, and Thin Line is around the corner and still expanding. We'll also see at least a few newbies, too. We already know about the Denton Black Film Festival that will happen at the end of this month, and there's always something a-brewing in the house show scene.
Liquor stores! We've heard a few rumors, but we still don't have any concrete information about a liquor store opening in Denton. That said, we're sure that by year's end, we'll have choices on where we're purchasing our overly-expensive, small batch, single cask, maker-friendly rye whiskey from.
As of yesterday, Denton looks to be in the process of going totally smoke free. Smoke free as in no cigarettes, e-cigs, or vaping indoors in bars. We've been smoke free at restaurants already, but this would be a pretty big change. It would be nice to be able to grab a drink from Paschall's after 6pm (Update: Paschall's is smoke-free until 9pm, der) sometime.
Mentor Denton will get closer and closer to that 10,000 mentors mark in 2015. Last year, more and more people signed up to mentor a child in Denton. We still haven't hit that magic number yet, though. We're hoping to see numbers grow exponentially in the next twelve months. If you haven't signed up yet, you can do so here.
All of the new bars coming to town. Heck, not only bars, but new businesses, too. We highlighted a bunch in last month's Quick Denton Business Update, but we've already learned of a few more that we hope to talk about soon. 2015 will see plenty of new storefronts coming to Denton, and there's lots of recently-emptied spaces that we're excited to learn what will fill them.
Heck, we dunno. Maybe somebody will open up a decent fried chicken place south of Sanger and north of Roanoke. We're hungry.