Have you noticed that most of the fountains in Downtown are working again these days? Many were unwisely turned off during the drought of 2004 and suffered damage as a result, while others were just overdue for maintenance and repair anyway. Nevertheless, a lot of effort recently has gone into getting them back in working order, and I greatly appreciate it. Particularly in Denver’s hot, dry summer climate, a fountain can be both physically and psychologically refreshing.

One of the fountains I’m happiest to see working are the Lawrence Halprin fountains in Skyline Park. When I first moved to Denver, one of my favorite places to go when I would venture Downtown was to Skyline Park and to climb up and sit at the top of one of the Halprin fountains. When friends or relatives would visit me from out of state, the fountains at Skyline were a must-stop on my grand tour of Downtown. Then, over the years, they were neglected and turned off. Sad. Anyway, here’s a shot of one of Skyline’s newly-working fountains:

Other Downtown fountains that are now functioning include the Pioneer Monument fountain at Colfax and Broadway and the Creekside Plaza fountain at Larimer and Cherry Creek.

Historically, fountains have served as a critical component of a city’s public spaces. We’re fortunate here in Denver to have a decent inventory of Downtown public fountains and we could always use more. But from now on, let’s not wait until we host some big event like the DNC to spruce everything up to impress our visitors. Let’s just take good care on a regular basis of things like fountains and the rest of our public realm too, OK?