After a one-year delay, the city of Grand Junction hosted an official ribbon-cutting ceremony on May 27 at Las Colonias Park on the Colorado River, just south of downtown Grand Junction. The river park section of Las Colonias opened in May 2020 but, due to the pandemic, an official ribbon-cutting was postponed.
The event included speakers from the local, state, and federal agencies who partnered in creating the vision for the riverfront park, followed by a traditional ribbon-cutting as well as a river float parade and reception.
City of Grand Junction Parks and Recreation Director Ken Sherbenou described the area as being transformed from “junkyard to community hub."
Sara Woods, site manager for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Legacy Management (LM), was one of the featured speakers. She spoke of DOE’s history and the redevelopment of Las Colonias.
Woods pointed out the old brick building just north of the park, which was a sugar beet mill in the early 1900s and later became the Climax Uranium Company mill in the 1950s. The mill operated for 19 years and generated 2.2 million tons of uranium mill tailings. When the mill closed in 1970, residual uranium contamination was left behind from the milling process.
In the mid-1980s, DOE took on the clean-up duties. In accordance with the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act of 1978, the DOE Office of Environmental Management completed soil remediation in 1999. Beginning in 2003, LM took on the responsibility of managing the legacy of this site by performing environmental monitoring and overseeing activities that took place within the old processing site boundary.
“What has taken place here at Las Colonias Park is because of a great community, partnerships, communication, and effort by folks from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, the Grand Junction Economic Partnership, the city of Grand Junction, and many others," Woods said.
As the ceremony progressed, families with tubes marched behind the speakers, en route to the river, taking advantage of the cool water on a warm, spring afternoon.
Brian Mahoney, a Lion’s Club member and one of the visionaries responsible for starting the redevelopment of the Las Colonias area 30 years ago, noted “that the park was built for the citizens of Mesa County."
“This area is built by local people for local people to use, not just for tourists," said Mahoney.
The Las Colonias redeveloped area boasts a 140-acre mixed-use park, which includes a 15-acre business park, 5,000-seat amphitheater, and the river park with two standing waves, a boat ramp, trails, ponds, and more. A zipline across the river, designed and installed by Bonsai Design, is scheduled to open to the public in fall 2021. A retail plaza and restaurant are also under development.
The redevelopment of Las Colonias is a part of the broader riverfront restoration of the Colorado River, which began in the late 1980s with the establishment of a network of parks and trails - commonly referred to as a “string of pearls" - stretching from DeBeque Canyon to the city of Fruita.
Other speakers at the ceremony included Grand Junction Mayor Chuck McDaniel, Grand Junction Economic Partnership Board Chair Mike Sneddon, Bonsai Design owner Sarah Shrader, Great Outdoors Colorado Executive Director Chris Castilian, and Colorado Mesa University President Tim Foster. All participants observed COVID-19 approved protocols as prescribed by local, state, and federal guidelines.
