Giant dragon is taking shape on wall in Gunnison riverwalk

GUNNISON — In a drought year like this, the Sanpitch isn't much of a river. Even by the middle of May all that's left of the spring runoff is an occasional puddle in the middle of a dried-up wash.

So, the new asphalt path along the banks of the Sanpitch is a "riverwalk," if by riverwalk you mean something that doesn't require an actual river flowing alongside. In the desert it helps to have an imagination.

The Sanpitch runs through town east-west, and U.S. 89 runs through town north-south. Where they intersect, the 1.5 mile riverwalk runs under the highway. In addition to being a pleasant place to stroll on a spring afternoon, the path provides a safe passage across the busy road.

"We have a coal truck every minute. That's 1,600 trucks a day on that four-lane highway," says town Councilwoman Lori Nay.

If you stand on the riverwalk under the highway, the sound of all those trucks and other traffic — moving closer and then farther away — is a giant roar. That's either the Doppler effect or a dragon, depending on how much imagination you have.

"Dragon," said most of the 300 children who took turns inaugurating the riverwalk during a ribbon cutting ceremony last fall.

That's the impetus for a whimsical piece of public art being created this week on the walls of the underpass. With the help of Salt Lake artists Elise Lazar and Kinde Nebeker, the town is creating a fire-breathing mosaic dragon. The dragon itself will be 100 feet long and the entire mural, every inch of it covered with tiny pieces of tile and mirror, will stretch 218 feet.

"Caution, dragon in process," said a sign at the entrance to the underpass earlier this week. Farther along the walkway, volunteers glued chips of tile to the wall. The townspeople worked in shifts: adults in the mornings, students in the afternoon and evening. When they ran out of the ceramic fragments, Lazar — by then sporting a couple of bandages — took a hammer to another pile of donated tiles.

The project is both carefully planned out and delightfully haphazard. Many of the tiles happen to be pastel leftovers from bathroom and kitchen projects around Gunnison, while others are imports from Morocco, and some are creations of Salt Lake glass artist Jodi McRaney Rusho. Three hundred of the tiles were handmade by Lazar, including a red heart emblazoned with the word "Mom," which was glued to one of the dragon's arms as a sort of tattoo.

The project also received donated tiles from Daltile and other Salt Lake stores, and mirrors from Beehive Glass and Sugar House Glass.