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Bob Seams and Sheldon Emery Riverside Park (North bank of Colorado River, west of Highway 50) -Lost Baby Brontosaurus Sculpture -Victorian Welcome Gardens -Time Pinnacle River Overlook -Grand River Pedestrian Bridge -Play Fields -Picnic Areas -Parking Related Elements -Riverside Drive -Research and Development Facilities -Streetscape Improvements -Trail Linkages - Viewscape Preservation The Grand Vista Promontory Directly accessible from Highway 50, the Grand Vista Promontory sits on a high cliff, overlooking the confluence of the Colorado and Gunnison Rivers. Plans for the Grand Vista Promontory emphasize overlooks and entry features that reflect the unique character of the Grand Junction area. The Orchard Mesa Farmers Market, an attractively trellised outdoor market, is easily visible from Highway 50. Here, farmers sell local orchard produce. Baked goods, souvenirs, and arts and crafts are also available. At the northern end of the market trellis, the elegant Grand Vista Restaurant overlooks the confluence, downtown Grand Junction, and the distant Bookcliffs. Outdoor patio dining is provided. Extending from the patio dining area towards the tip of the promontory, the Garden of the West sweeps around the steep slope of the promontory with large boulders indigenous to the area. Native wild flowers and woody plants, both common and rare, weave a richly textured mantle that enshrines the explorer's rendezvous. The overlook plaza at the terminus of the Garden of the West serves as an outdoor gazetteer of exploration about this gateway to the new world. Overlooking 12 the confluence of two great rivers, only nine hundred miles from the Pacific, the plaza commemorates Native American leaders, explorers, mountain men, pioneers, and other colorful figures of Western Colorado history. Some figures, captured forever in bronze, stand conversing among the boulders. The overlook also features geological information and displays about the surrounding cliffs, mesas and other interesting landforms. An over-the-street bridge connects the features on the west and east sides of Highway 50. On the east side of the highway, the "Orchard Mesa Inn" provides family accommodations in a superbly scenic setting. Also on the east side of the highway, the Hanging Gardens Promenade provides pedestrian, bicycle and equestrian access to the bluffs on the south bank of the Colorado River. The views across the river are spectacular. Ornamental plantings and overlooks further accentuate the beauty along the cliffs, creating a peaceful, pedestrian environ- ment, although a gently curving drive, Grand Vista Drive, provides vehicular access to the Hanging Gardens Promenade. The Hanging Gardens Promenade helps to unite Orchard Mesa residential neighborhoods with riverfront amenities. A bridge crosses the Gunnison River upstream of the Grand River Promontory, allowing for hikelbike access to the Canal Trail. Parking is provided separately for each amenity area. Total parking spaces available at the Grand River Promontory is approximately 150. The Grand River Cultural Center Located on the north bank of the Colorado River, just east of 5th Street, the Grand River Cultural Center offers an expanded facility for the Museum of Western Colorado, an outdoor amphitheater and a dinosaur sculpture garden. The museum functions as a visual anchor for the 7th Street connection to downtown. It displays works of historical and cultural significance to the American West. The Museum Cafe and Gift Shop services visitors to the Amphitheater and Brontosaurus Play land as well as the Museum. The amphi- theater responds to a need for outdoor performing arts space in the Grand Junction area. It provides an opportunity for summer arts festivals and interpretive events to be held in Grand Junction. Facing the river, but nestled between projecting museum galleries, spectators are comfortably shielded from the elements while actors perform against a backdrop of river and cliffs. A pedestrian bridge connects Lewis (formerly Watson) Island to the mainland. A new channel actually separates the original island into two smaller islands. The western island, "Bronto- saurus Playland," is inhabited with life-size dinosaur sculptures, portraying the creatures that roamed the Grand Valley in prehistoric times. Children and adults climb and play on these simply constructed, flood tolerant structures. One dinosaur sculpture stands knee deep in the channel, as if pursuing a lost baby dinosaur sculpture on the mainland. One hundred fifty parking spaces service the Grand River Cultural Center.