ARVADA, Colo. — On the coldest night of the season, Olde Town Arvada celebrated. It was the annual tree lighting in the square.

But then, briefly, the music stopped.

And Kristin Chayer, president of the Board of Directors for the Olde Town Business Improvement District (BID), asked the crowd to remember Joe Hengstler with a moment of silence.

Joe, 42, died from cancer in September. He leaves his wife Meg and 6-year-old daughter June.

Joe was not only the executive director for BID, but also the glue between the Olde Town board, the businesses, and the political landscape. He had lived there for about a decade after moving to Colorado from Chicago. He told Denver7 in July that he was amazed by how many people in Arvada deeply care about the place they call home and have worked to ma

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