At the Confluence of the Uncompahgre and Gunnison Rivers

 The largest community in Delta County, the city of Delta lies at the confluence of the Gunnison and Uncompahgre rivers. Bordered by both rivers, Confluence Park is a 265-acre recreational area featuring a 70-acre lake, which is stocked with fish regularly. You can also enjoy picnicking, swimming, bird watching, and trails, which wind their way along the rivers, through wetlands, and around the lake. An inline skate park and hockey rink are popular attractions for the youth of the community.

Adjacent to Confluence Park are the Horse Country Arena, Fort Uncompahgre Living History Museum, and Bill Heddles Recreation Center. The full-service recreation center is open to the public seven days a week, offering aquatics, fitness, sports and activities for older adults and youth. Bring your racket for a game of tennis on the courts just east of the rec center.

Historic Cleland Park, located between 7^th and 8^th streets on Howard, features majestic shade trees, a covered pavillion, tennis courts, and a playground. Some of the older cottonwood trees have been turned into chainsaw sculptures. Red rock trails wind south from the park to the top of Garnet Mesa, or north toward the top of 4^th Street hill.

DELTA COUNTY MUSEUM

The Delta County Historical Museum at the corner of Meeker and Third streets in Delta offers many items of interest from Delta’s early pioneer days - housewares, toys, clothing, builders’ tools, kitchen utensils, and early farming and ranching items. One intriguing exhibit includes guns used in a failed 1893 bank robbery in Delta. On that fateful day the notorious McCarty Gang rode into town to rob the Farmer’s & Mercantile Bank. The bank cashier yelled to alert others and was shot and killed. A nearby hardware merchant grabbed his Sharps rifle and killed two of the gang during their getaway. The exhibit contains photographs, two outlaw guns, and the .40 caliber Sharps rifle.

“Jones Gallery,” the most fascinating exhibit for youngsters, features the dinosaur bone collection of Ed and Vivian Jones, who began searching for fossils in the rea in the 1950s. Over a 30-year period, they located four major sites, which they turned over to Brigham Young University for excavation. Their first major find, a brachiosaurus humerus, is on display at the Smithsonian.

The museum contains some unusual items, such as a 300-hundred-year-old ornate 8-foot clock from the Versailles Palace of King Louis XIV and the King’s Robe, an 1860 gift from the King of Siam to the father of a Delta pioneer citizen.

Visitors can ring any of nine bells located in the museum courtyard - a 1,000 puond cathedral bell, a train bell, steamship bells, and a bell from Delta’s first school.

The Delta County Museum is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., from May 1 through Sept. 30. Winter hours (Oct. 1 through April 30) are Wednesdays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.. Adult admission is $2, for seniors 65 and older, $1. There is no charge for children under 12 who are accompanied by an adult. The museum phone is (970) 874-8721.

FORT UNCOMPAHGRE

At the east edge of Confluence Park, a replica of Fort Uncompahgre allows visitors to experience an earlier time. The original fort was built near the confluence of the Gunnison and Uncompahgre rivers by Antoine Roubidoux around 1828, There, the Utes and trappers eagerly traded furs and pelts for steel-bladed knives and long-barreled weapons. Camp axes, calico cloth, pots, pans, and other goods from Mexico and the eastern U.S. were also eagerly sought after.

The fort has come alive again as a City of Delta living history museum. The complex consists of several log buildings enclosed by a quadrangle of pickets. Churro sheep, turkeys, and goats graz in nearby enclosures.

EVENTS

Summer of 2007 kicked into high gear with the 72^nd annual celebration of Deltarado Days. The 2007 celebration was scheduled for July 19-22, and included authentic western experiences such as a parde, food and crafts booths, kid’s games, horseshoe content, tractor pull, oldtime fiddle contest, mud volleyball tournament, and more. More information is available by calling the Delta Area Chamber of Commerce at (970) 874-8616.

Council Tree Pow Wow is a colorful and dramatic three-day swirl of Indian regalia, ancient drum beats, and authentic tribal dances. Pow wow is an intertribal celebration, social gathering, dance and drum competition held at Confluence Park on ground originally inhabited by the Ute Indian tribe. Feel your heart pound to the beat of Indian drums as you experience the beauty, the passion, and the pageantry during the weekend in the middle of September (call the phone number below, for more information).

The most colorful and exciting event for all the three days is the grand entry, after which the dancing and drum contests begin. The weekend’s activities also include an outdoor American Indian market, cultural activities for youth and children, tours of the tipi village, and the Celebration of the Ute Nation.

A week later, the Uncompahgre Blues Festival takes place in Confluence Park. This event os coordinated by the Delta Area Chamber of Commerce, (970) 874-8616.

OUTDOOR ART

Emphasis has been placed on preserving many of Delta’s older homes and buildings through local, state, and national historic designation, and enhancing the appearance of Main Street with murals, sculptures, and landscaping. Many visitors comment on the eye-catching displays of flowers, which adorn the medians along Hwy. 50 in the summertime.

As you walk along Main Street, or through Confluence Park, take a close look at the outdoor sculptures. Multihued murals depicting the area’s notable diversity and history can be found along the length of Main Street. On the north end of town, across the highway from City Market, Ginny Allen has apinted a mural of Delta, as seen from Grand Mesa. Going south on Main Street, Virginia Blackstock’s salute to the county’s cattlemen, “High Country Roundup,” appears on the store at the southeast corner of the intersection of Hwy. 92 and Hwy. 50.

Allen has painted elk, geese, and snowcapped mountains in an autumn scene on the north wall of Jeans Westerner at 223 Main Street.

“Colorado Wildflowers” is painted on the north-facing wall at 238 Main Street. Artist, Dennis Reynolds used a trip-tych format to depict three ecosystems - alpine mountain wildflowers, Uncompahgre Plateau wildflowers, and wildflowers in an arid setting.

Across the street at Third and Main streets, Richard Doherty has painted two murals. A mural of the historic E.P. Hunt Hardware Store, as it appeared at the turn of the 20^th Century, appears on the east side of the building. On the north, Doherty has painted a rendition of the turn-of-the-20^th-century Anna Dora Opera House. Rest for a few minutes in the small park, which features a fountain, beautiful flowers, and a sculpture of a bicycle.

On the southwest corner of 4^th and Main streets, Connie Williams has painted “Delta County Labels,” a tribute to the fruit industry, which has flourished in Delta County since its early settlement. William’s “Ute Country” mural can be seen on the north wall of a building in the 500 block of Main Street. On the east side of the Delta Super at 6^th and Main is her “Tribute to Agriculture.”

W. Richard Doherty’s “Delta County Ark” appears on the city’s light and power building at the south end of Main Street. It depicts more than 20 species of area male and female wildlife.

In Cleland Park, six dying cottonwood trees have gained new life as chainsaw sculptures.