Slide down a sombrero that became a sleeping giant
Half a million dollars of tactful redesign
Bear Creek Park sits southwest of downtown Denver. In the middle of its playground is an enormous red concrete sombrero you can slide down, with a pair of denim knees and the toe of one boot emerging from the wood chips in front of it.
Why it's unique
The slide was built in the 1970s as a giant Mexican hat. Over the following decades the city became uncomfortable with it on two separate counts: to a lot of adults the shape read as anatomical, and a sombrero as a piece of children's play equipment read as a sleepy-Mexican stereotype.
It was also far too popular with children to demolish. So in the 2009 rebuild the parks department paid a design firm roughly half a million dollars to solve the problem by addition rather than removal. Knees and a boot were built in front of the hat, converting the whole thing into an enormous cowboy asleep and half-buried in the playground, and story panels were added explaining a giant who herded cattle across the plains and lay down beside Bear Creek to rest. The sombrero is now his hat, and it is still a slide.
Before you go
This is a working neighbourhood playground rather than an attraction, so there is no admission, no parking fee and no signage directing you to it. It is free and open whenever the park is.
The story panels are the part adults come for and children ignore. Read them first, because the sculpture is much funnier once you know what it is covering for. There is a splash pad and creek access alongside if you have brought children who want more than one thing.