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Another Ed Sadowski creation
Parks & Recreation
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Downtown
Denver
PARKS & RECREATION
Confluence Park Kayak Chutes
Denver Skatepark
Elitch Gardens Theme and Water Park
Confluence Park Kayak Chutes ////////////////////
In the 1970s public and private entities joined forces to turn a neglected and blighted river into a centerpiece of environmental and recreational improvements to enhance urban living in the area. One of the results of the revival of the South Platte has been America’s first urban whitewater experience, one of the great urban whitewater runs in the country. Now kayakers, rafters, boarders and tubers can shoot the rapids in the Central Platte Valley, in the only city with four rafting chutes.
These waterway adventures are accessible from the banks of the South Platte at the north end of Confluence Park, from 15th Street near the flagship REI store. A nearby kayak shop provides equipment rentals, sales, lessons and tours for those who want to re-discover the joys of this great river.
Denver Skatepark //////////////////////
20th and Little Raven Street
You normally wouldn't think of skateboarding and architecture together, but skatepark design is a relatively new area of architecture.
Skateboarders approached the City and County of Denver with an idea to fill a need. The result: a million-dollar facility, finished in 2003, at that time the largest outdoor free public skatepark in North America. Designed with consultation of skateboarders, the skatepark became rated no. 1 in the US and no. 3 in the world.
The 60,000 sq. feet of concrete terrain at the north end of Confluence Park challenges boarders, bladers and bikers of all skill levels as well as future competitors training for stardom. The south side is the street course area, with bowls on the north side, and to the east huge banked hips surrounded by ledges and rails. A promenade matches the sandstone walls, trees and site furniture found at Commons Park along Little Raven Street, extending from 19th to 20th Street in front of the Skatepark.
Elitch Gardens Theme and Water Park ///////////
Central Platte Valley
Elitch Gardens is America’s only downtown area theme and water park. Located, since 1995, in the Central Platte River Valley, it is 65 acres in size, consisting of 53 rides (six roller coasters, two water rides).
Elitch Gardens was founded by John and Mary Elitch in 1890 in North Denver’s West Highland neighborhood, and became nationally-known as a family-owned amusement park, theater, symphony orchestra and botanic garden. The Elitch Theatre, modeled after Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London, became the state’s first cinema, and, from 1893 to its closing in 1991, became known as the country’s first and oldest summer stock theatre, later attracting Hollywood stars.
The great Trocadero Ballroom was the ultimate date-night destination for dancing and famous big bands, with weekly national radio broadcasts, but was torn down in 1975. Elitch’s also had the third-oldest zoo west of Chicago, operating until the 1930s, many of the animals initially donated by P.T. Barnum.
After her husband’s death in 1891, Mary Elitch became known as the first woman in the world to manage a summer resort and zoo. Elitch’s first carousel, added in 1906, is the second-oldest operating carousel west of Chicago, now located in the town of Burlington. Elitch’s Mister Twister wooden roller coaster, operating from 1964 to 1994, was regularly rated as one of the top ten rides in the country.
A long-standing slogan of the amusement park had been, “Not to see Elitch’s is not to see Denver.”
