Lyons, Colorado sculpture trail delights all ages and is worth the drive.

“I Feel Gooder Than Anything Right Now, For Some Reason”

By Mollie Fager, 6-08-06

	My son enjoying one of the interactive sculptures on the trail

“I feel gooder than anything right now, for some reason” was what my 7 year old son said to me as we finished at sculpture number 57 of the second annual Lyons sculpture trail. The moment was too special to bother with correcting his grammar, instead I echoed back, “I feel great too.”

It began for us with Tuesday night, “kids eat free”, at the local pub, Oskar Blues. Anyone familiar with Lyons knows that kids eat free night means you are guaranteed to see close to the entire elementary school in the restaurant at some point. Those town folk wanting to enjoy their meal and some peace and quiet usually wait till later in the evening to stop by, or else they avoid Tuesdays all together. Not for me though, it’s one of the things I love about living in Lyons. Children wave at their friends and impatiently ask to be excused so they can visit each other. I couldn’t hide my amusement as a threesome of pigtailed girls stood in line by our booth to say hi to my son who slid red-faced under the table with embarrassment. Parents relax, enjoy a beer and say hello to their fellow neighbor. The concept of “stranger” just doesn’t apply.

But enough of my “Our Town” moment, on to the sculpture trail. We grabbed ice cream cones at the historic Lyons Soda Fountain on Main Street (yes the Lyons chamber of commerce has commissioned this blog), bought the $2 guidebook, available at practically every store, and headed to the start of the trail. The trail is brilliantly done, working as a sort of treasure hunt where each stop leads you to another. The entire trail, with children, took about an hour and 30 minutes. However had I been by myself I’m sure it would have taken closer to 2 hours as many of the sculptures along the trail invited thoughtful moments and quiet introspection which isn’t as easy to do with a 5 and 7 year old in tow.

Some of the highlights for us were:
#7 & #8—“The Ancient City” and “The Egg Cage and the Guardian”. This is about the coolest use of a back alley parking space I’ve ever seen. A group of artists created minature kivas, cliff dwellings, altars and animals using just a crumbling building wall, a tree and the ground below. You feel as if you stumbled onto the hiding place of the little people. In the crevice of a cottonwood tree a bright green lizard guards a large, shiny, wire brass egg. The egg has a hinged door that each trail walker opens, reaches in and takes a “treasure” for the rest of the walk.

#9--- Brightly colored Kaleidoscopes hanging from a tree was a favorite for my five year old daughter who couldn’t get enough of spinning them around, watching all the many colors.

#18 & #19—“The Touchstone, Awaken the Stone” and “Bone Warrior” invite an intimate Harry Potter meets Goddess worship experience coupled with physics. That’s all I’ll say—it was very fun and interactive. “Bone Warrior” looks playful yet menacing at first and then upon closer examination you see that it is made entirely of brightly painted bones creatively placed.

The Library Circle (#25-36)—This entire group of sculptures is a show stopper. Of particular note are #26 The Four Passageways—doors of ever decreasing size you must pass through all with insightful paintings and messages on them about the stages of life and then #34 The Circling Whale Grotto. This sculpture invites you into a hidden world literally by the side of the road and asks you to look to the sky and see the dancing whales above. It’s dark, mysterious, interactive and magical.

Last but not least; “The River Trail: Going to the Source (#40-48). This group follows a tiny, hand crafted bark trail along the river and meanders in and out of the wooded bank. Various contemplative, fairyland stops greet you along the way. At one point you are invited to lie down in fetal position into a fired clay depression of the bank.

There are many more standouts I don’t have time to mention. This sculpture trail enchants with its nooks, crannies and lovely surprises. It juxtaposes small town USA with the serendipitous experience of finding nodding bluebells by the side of a busy highway or hearing a meadowlark’s call through the clang of emptying trashcans and basketballs bouncing on courts. There is always a discovery to be made and a new way to see the world and ourselves. The drive time to Lyons (20 minutes from Boulder) is well worth it and I guarantee that at the end you’ll feel just like my son and I, “gooder than anything, for some reason.”

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