Damage to Erickson Equatorial Sundial in Cranmer Park, Denver, CO. Photo Credit: Save Our Sundial
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In 1941 George Cranmer undertook to place a sundial of Chinese tradition in Mountain View Park (now Cranmer Park) in the area of Hillside, Denver. Dan Babcock and Stephen Ionides of Erickson Monument Company translate the Chinese characters into Arabic. Unfortunately the dial was dynamited by vandals in 1966, and through the Erickson Monument Company, a large 6-foot disk equatorial dial of pink granitie was erected on a terrazzo plaza.
Climate and a sinking foundation led to the deteriation of the dial and plaza. In June 2014 the CIty of Denver committed 545,000 dollars to restore the Cranmer sundial and plaza through the Parks and Recreation and the Arts and Venues departments with the proviso that the citizens raise another million dollars.
A group local group of neighbors orgainized as The Park People started "Save Our Sundial" and began fundraising. By April 2017 they raised 680,000 dollars that will augment the city's set aside of 870,000 dollars for the project.
See: https://www.denverite.com/looks-like-cranmer-park-sundial-will-saved-33833/
The Denver Patch reports that a total of $2 million is available for the project. Denise Sanderson, "a local advocate and organizer for the park restoration" created the "Save Our Sundial" project which is run by The Park People with Executive Director Kim Yuan-Farrel. City coordinator is Lauri Dannemiller, Executive Director of Parks & Recreation City & County of Denver. The restoration would not be possible without the financial support and community activism of the residence of Hilltop community. Neighbors met Monday, Dec. 18 to celebrate the beginning of the reconstruction at Cranmer Park which will begin in early 2018 and completed by late fall 2018 if seasonal weather permits.
See: https://patch.com/colorado/denver/sundial-repair-denvers-cranmer-park-begin