Editor’s note: This is part of The Know’s series, Staff Favorites. Each week, we offer our opinions on the best that Colorado has to offer for dining, shopping, entertainment, outdoor activities and more. (We’ll also let you in on some hidden gems).
I grew up in Denver, and over the decades I’ve visited at least half of the city’s 240 or so parks, from Rocky Mountain Lake to Bible Park and from Harvey Park to First Creek.
I’ve played soccer and horseshoes and watched my kids play baseball and softball. I’ve gone birdwatching, biking and beer-drinking in the parks. I’ve swam, picnicked and cried in them. I’ve watched a solar eclipse, oohed at fireworks and walked in a protest; listened to jazz, played football in the snow and taken photos of my family. As a teenager, I ordered a pizza delivered to a picnic table. As an adult, I got engaged in one park and then married in another.
But in all that time, I’ve never seen a park quite like Inspiration Point Park.
High up on a bluff — at 5,415 feet — and jutting out over the Clear Creek Valley where interstates 70 and 76 merge, Inspiration Point can be accessed from a nearly hidden road at Sheridan Boulevard and West 49th Avenue. Shaped like a hand with a finger pointing west, the park is long and skinny, stretching from the parking lot to a stunning western overlook.
And it lives up to its name.
Walk about a quarter of a mile from the lot, along a path through the trees to the edge of the 25-acre park, where you’ll be greeted by sweepingly unobstructed 270-degree (or more) views of the Front Range, from Pikes Peak in the south to Longs Peak up north. You can also make out plenty of local landmarks — like Jefferson County’s government center (dubbed the “Taj Mahal”), Arvada’s Olde Town water tower, the Denver skyline, and points in Wheat Ridge, Golden and Lakewood.
“The park’s beginnings were the vision” of Charles Mulford Robinson, according to Denver’s Arts & Venues department. Mumford was a journalist and urban planning theorist who help popularize the City Beautiful Movement across the U.S., which in turn helped inspire many of Denver’s early parks and open spaces. The site for Inspiration Point Park was picked because of its sweeping vistas; it was completed in 1910 and became a popular tourist attraction.
More recently, the city of Denver finished adding a new playground, building up the picnic sites, and restoring the historic 700-foot concrete wall at the western overlook.
Now, it is looking for an artist or artists to design a new piece of public art at Inspiration Point Park, something that is inclusive, accessible and interactive, “with the ability to be enjoyed by multiple generations,” according to the city. And, “given the name of the park, artists should explore the idea of ‘inspiration’ by creating artworks that spark wonder, delight and joy.”
The artwork should enhance the natural beauty of the park and invite visitors to “take their time.” In addition, “it should allow for a moment of physical, mental and emotional respite to appreciate and respect the surrounding natural world,” the city’s call for artists continues. (The deadline for applications is Monday, March 13; go to denverpublicart.org for more information and to apply.)
That will be a tough task. While City Park, which boasts the postcard-iconic view of the Denver skyline and the mountains, has its gorgeous pavilion and the Ferril Lake fountain, whoever wins the job at Inspiration Point will have some serious competition from the landscape itself.
