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City Park Project Updates |
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CITY PARK'S ELECTRIC FOUNTAIN RETURNS AS A DENVER SHOWPIECE
Cooperation and collaboration key to resurrecting a Denver treasure
On Tuesday, August 19 Mayor John Hickenlooper joined City Officials unveiled the newly re-constructed, fully-functional City Park Electric Fountain. The Electric Fountain is now capable of producing the incredible light and water shows that made it a Denver destination years ago.
The Electric Fountain, which was originally constructed in 1908 for the Democratic National Convention, has not been fully operational for decades. The Fountain was a centerpiece of Denver life, drawing literally thousands of visitors to watch its amazing water and light shows while listening to concerts in City Park. Current City and community leaders wanted to restore the glory days of the Electric Fountain for all to once again enjoy. The recent Montclair Storm Drainage Project taking place in City Park made initial work on the Fountain's structure and infrastructure possible.
"This is a wonderful case of history repeating itself to our great benefit," Mayor Hickenlooper said. "This fountain will amaze and delight City Park visitors for years and years, just as Frederic Darlington's original fountain did. The dedication of the fountain links the vision of Darlington and Mayor Speer with that of the Denver Landmark Preservation Commission, the Colorado Historical Society, Denver Parks and Recreation, Denver Public Works, Denver Water and other partners who realized the value of recreating this remarkable community landmark."
"During the process of evaluating the condition of the original 1908 fountain, it was determined that restoration of the fountain would not be a financially advisable," said Scott Robson, Acting Manager for Denver Parks and Recreation. "Instead, plans were developed to demolish the original fountain and construct a completely new Electric Fountain, duplicating the appearance of the fountain structure in the lake, the famous water features and the colored lighting effects."
With permission from the Landmark Preservation Commission, Denver Public Works demolished the old concrete fountain vault in order to construct a sound, fully-functional replacement utilizing current technology and materials that will sustain the Fountain into the future. The portion of the Fountain visible above the water is virtually identical to the original structure. After the vault and deck of the Fountain were completely restored in April of 2007, the final piece of the project was to add the working labyrinth of plumbing and nozzles, complete with multi-hue colored lights for fountain show performances.
This remaining work demanded the installation of an enormous amount of complex plumbing, electrical, mechanical and computer features to create numerous geysers and light displays in a synchronized fashion. The majority of the work was done thanks to the tremendous synergy between Denver Public Works and Parks & Recreation, with Parks supplying the knowledge and Public Works providing the facilities to complete the project and bring the Electric Fountain back to life. The Colorado Historical Society, Denver Water and other independent contractors also contributed to the completion of this historically significant Denver landmark.
The Electric Fountain proudly uses modern technology, including energy-saving LED lights, and will be around for future generations to enjoy. After its initial illumination on Aug. 19, 2008, the fountain will be on every evening with performances scheduled at the top of each hour between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m.
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Denver Parks & Rec responds to inquiry on the use of the Pavilion
As you may know, the City Park Pavilion has undergone some changes. In hopes of having input into that change, the letter below was sent to the Denver Department of Parks and Recreation. The response to our letter also follows. We would like any and all feedback to these changes.
The links below lead to PDFs of the letters.
Thanks in advance,
Jim Slotta, for SCPNA
Letter from SCPNA to Denver Parks & Rec | Response from Denver Parks & Rec to SCPNA
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