Downtown Mesa

We've been Mesa residents for over 15 years, but rarely spend any time downtown. The city has made a lot of effort to wake up the downtown area and has made many positive changes in the past ten years. Downtown is now served by light rail and has a growing number of food and art venues. They also have a growing collection of sculptures and murals and an organized tour.

Some of the sculptures were part of a touring sculpture show that used to visit before the city started their own collection.

There are quite a few animals, from pigs to wolves.

Some are whimsical.

Others seem a bit out of place in a desert environment, even if they do have some interesting details if you take the time to look.

There are lots of people represented - some are not specific to a person, like this one of the citrus grower

or the girl reading a book.

Others are donated by families recognizing their lineage. This man was a school teacher, served as the mayor, and then had refrigerated storage for crops which led to him being the first Coors distributor outside of Colorado.

The Wolfswinkel family had a service station and Mrs. W would bring a warm loaf of bread to her husband every day for lunch. I'm not sure what was in the mason jar.

At least one of the sculptures highlights one of the more recent industries in town,

but my favorite is one that combines a people element with animals. This one is located right across the street from the Mesa Arts Center, where they offer all sorts of art related classes in addition to a busy schedule of performing arts.