"We want this to be a nice spot where locals and folks visiting the mountains don't have to spend too much money to hang out, be comfortable, and just exist," Allison McKillop told The Flume before she and Alec Crisafulli opened the Boardwalk Tavern.
The tavern sits at 23 Old Stagecoach Road, right next to the 42-foot hot dog. This fall it gives that short stretch of old road something it hasn't had before, a weekly schedule. Glen Isle Resort holds campfire nights on Tuesdays. The tavern runs trivia on Wednesdays and karaoke on Fridays. Through October 18, a small theater company is staging a play about a bar in a 40-seat room down the road. For years, Old Stagecoach Road was mostly where people pulled off 285 for a photo and a chili dog. Now there's a reason to go on a weeknight.
A bar built into the gift shop
The Boardwalk Tavern came together because of a licensing problem. Westword reported in June 2026 that Crisafulli, a friend of Coney Island owner Jay Aigner, rented the space that used to hold the diner's gift shop. That let the compound sell beer without the hot dog stand going through a liquor license process itself. The gift shop moved to another unit in the same building.
The setup is meant to work alongside the diner. Westword described beer, wine, cocktails and nonalcoholic drinks, a Coney Island boardwalk theme, a shared outdoor area and a serving window. Hot dog customers can order a drink at the window without going inside. Crisafulli said the bar is meant to complement the stand, not compete with it.
In The Flume's preview, McKillop pointed out that the hot dog stand runs on a seasonal schedule, so having indoor seating could let the tavern stay open longer and pull in business on rainy days. In other words, the bar gives one of Colorado's best-known summer roadside stops a building that can stay open after the summer traffic is gone.
The schedule has already changed since the launch announcement. The Flume's preview set opening day for Saturday, July 4, with hours of noon to 8 p.m., Thursday through Sunday. At the time, McKillop said they'd "love to incorporate karaoke nights and live music in the future." By September, karaoke was on the calendar. The Flume's community listings for September into October and for October show karaoke on Friday nights from 6 to 11 p.m., which runs three hours past the original 8 p.m. closing time. They also list trivia on Wednesdays from 7 to 9 p.m., a day the launch schedule didn't include.
The week as it's currently listed
Here's the October lineup from The Flume's Park County calendars, Bailey Theatre Company's announcements and Glen Isle's listings:
| Night | What | Where | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday | Campfire nights with Randall McKinnon | Glen Isle Resort, 573 Old Stagecoach Road | 5 to 8 p.m. |
| Wednesday | Trivia | Boardwalk Tavern, 23 Old Stagecoach Road | 7 to 9 p.m. |
| Friday | Karaoke | Boardwalk Tavern, 23 Old Stagecoach Road | 6 to 11 p.m. |
| Through Oct. 18 | Early One Evening at the Rainbow Bar and Grille | Kiva Room, Glen Isle Resort | 7 p.m. evenings, 2 p.m. matinees |
Through October 18, Bailey Theatre Company is staging Bruce Graham's apocalyptic comedy in Glen Isle's 40-seat Kiva Room. It's set in a small-town bar where the regulars try to decide how to spend what might be their last day. The Flume reports that company president Bill Bruner plays Shep the bartender. It's the role that started his professional career at Buckham Alley Theatre in Flint, Michigan, three decades ago. The company's season announcement calls it his first full stage production in 20 years. The cast includes Denver-area actors and Bailey resident Laura Coe.
Tickets are $30, down from $40 in past seasons. The company says it cut the price this year to bring in more Bailey-area residents. There's also a $60 dinner-and-show package with 2 Dad's Eatery and Taproom at 60006 US Highway 285, about five minutes from the theater. For 7 p.m. shows, dinner seatings are at 5, 5:15 and 5:30 p.m. For 2 p.m. matinees, they're at noon, 12:15 and 12:30. Each seating holds 10 people, and drinks aren't included. The opening performance on October 8 was a pay-what-you-can night that collected money and food for LifeBridge Food Pantry. That leaves the final weekend before the run closes on the 18th. Tickets and showtimes are on Bailey Theatre Company's site.
Why all of this is on the old road and not on 285
In a 2002 interview kept by the Park County Local History Archives, longtime Glen Isle owner Barbara Tripp explained that the road is named for a surviving piece of the stagecoach road toward Fairplay. She also said the railroad's path later became the route of the highway past Glen Isle. A separate oral history with Bob and Nancy Woodward calls the stage line the Buckskin Route, mentions a Deer Valley stagecoach stop, and says the coaches stopped running once the railroad reached Bailey around 1878. The Woodwards also date the current US-285 alignment to 1958, built on a separate path that left the old corridor as a local road.
Glen Isle exists because of that railroad. The resort's own history says it was built in 1901 for well-off Denver guests. Its investors were counting on the Denver, South Park and Pacific narrow-gauge line, later the Colorado and Southern, to bring visitors up the canyon. Tripp's oral history gives slightly different dates, with the land bought in 1898 and the lodge built in 1900. The Baldwin family took over in 1923, and the Tripps took over in the 1940s. Mary Ruth and Greg Vincent bought the resort in 2016. Park County lists Glen Isle on the National Register of Historic Places since 1985 and as a local landmark since 2003.
The hot dog got here by a longer route. Westword's 2025 profile traces it to West Colfax Avenue in 1966, then to Aspen Park in 1970. Then-owner Ron Aigner moved it to Bailey in 2006 and sold it in 2016. Jay Aigner later brought it back into the family and added "South Park" to the name after the animated series featured the diner. Its address is 10 Old Stagecoach Road.
So the road holds a 1900s railroad resort and a 1960s roadside diner, both built to catch people passing through. The 2026 calendar is the first time either has been paired with something that runs on a weekly schedule. Glen Isle's homepage already promotes live music, disc golf, campsites and historic cabins. The tavern next to the hot dog adds the indoor, after-dark part.
What still isn't settled
This is the strip's first fall with a bar, and several things are still unknown:
- Tavern winter hours. Before opening, McKillop said they "would love to be open year-round, but we just need to see what the demand is." She also said they'd start at five days a week and expand to seven if it worked. No winter schedule has been announced.
- The hot dog stand's season. Coney Island hasn't published official seasonal hours. The most recent dated reopening we could find was Memorial Day weekend in 2023.
- Campfire nights past October. Glen Isle's pages don't post a November or December calendar.
- More theater. Bailey Theatre Company's 2026 season was two shows, Red, White, and Tuna in July and the current production. Nothing has been announced after October 18.
The most reliable place to check is the tavern's own feed at facebook.com/boardwalktavernco. The second is The Flume's Park County community calendar, which is where the Friday karaoke and Wednesday trivia listings appeared.
If Old Stagecoach Road is already your Wednesday or Friday stop, or you're wondering how a short stretch of Bailey with a bit of history fits into everyday mountain life, Alicia Sexton is always happy to talk about this corner of 285, from the stage road to the hot dog. Let's Connect.
