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Group Attempting To Save Sundial, Plaza In Cranmer Park

DENVER (CBS4) - A group in East Denver is working on a major fundraising goal to preserve an area not only dear to them, but also popular with tourists.

The effort is to save what's known as the "Sundial" in Cranmer Park on Clermont Street between 1st and 3rd avenues. The cracked old sundial has such sentimental value to people in the neighborhood they're willing to try to raise $1 million.

There is always something going on in the park -- from children's camps to traveling tourists.

"Gray Line comes several times a day, it's on their city tour," said Denise Sanderson, an organizer behind the fundraising effort.

On a clear day park visitors can gaze at the mountain peaks with specific identifiers at their feet to help them know what they're seeing.

"We're partnering with the city," Sanderson said.

Sanderson is working to raise $1 million to put with the city's $500,000 to fix the crumbling sundial and eroding plaza.

"It's on a rather unstable foundation," city planner Mark Tabor said. "We're losing many of the flagstone paving pieces, there's unevenness, it's not as safe."

The sundial in Cranmer Park (credit: CBS)
The sundial in Cranmer Park (credit: CBS)

Area teens are holding a concert to raise money.

"We have a cover band playing songs about the sun, Petals of Spain is their name," neighbor Alison Koff said.

Back in the 1960s pranksters used dynamite to blow up the plaza. Organizers now are simply trying to spark an interest in saving Cranmer Park.

LINK: SaveOurSundial.com

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