Business

Three Denver firefighters who spent a total of 100 years protecting their community have decided to take on an entirely different challenge — running a sports bar.

Bobby Mares, Dean Hastings and Mike Parker have opened Finish Line Sports Pub on West Bowles Avenue just east of C-470. And as the name implies, one sport in particular inspired the theme of their establishment: auto racing.

Bacchus, the Roman god of wine, now has a South Jeffco namesake.

Bacco Trattoria, a new Italian eatery on South Kipling Street just north of C-470, opened Jan. 26 with an eye toward bringing fine wine and authentic Italian cooking to South Jeffco — as well as an actual Italian chef.

People will be bouncing off the walls inside the old Albertson's building at South Kipling Street and West Bowles Avenue this spring.

Tim Crawford, a businessman from Golden, is opening an indoor trampoline fun center called Jump Street in the building, hoping to give South Jeffco a new way to play.

"It's something the whole family can do," Crawford said while taking a break from removing old steel from the building Dec. 31. "Some parents have more fun than their kids."

Mark Foster didn't realize how good he had it.

"Growing up here, maybe I didn't appreciate how great a place this is," Foster said, sitting in the living room of his Ken-Caryl Ranch home.

Foster has lived all over the world since graduating from Chatfield High School in 1992, but he returned home two months ago to start a family medical practice in South Jeffco. Foster and Dr. Lisa Walker, who had been practicing in Aurora, will open the practice Jan. 7. It is affiliated with Littleton Adventist Hospital.