As evening fell Tuesday night, the Raccoon River Valley Trail’s long-awaited Waukee trailhead pergola was given its inaugural lighting, marking the completion of the $1.12 million public art project.
Five years in the making, In the Shadow of the Rails — the artwork’s title — was sponsored by the city of Waukee, the Waukee Betterment Foundation, the Waukee Trailhead Public Art Committee, the Raccoon River Valley Trail Association and many cyclists and community benefactors.
The trailhead artwork was designed and built by the RDG Dahlquist Art Studio, famous for its dramatic illumination of the High Trestle Trail Bridge in Boone County.
A daylight ribbon cutting preceded Tuesday’s twilight pergola lighting, and the the event was commemorated with speeches by Waukee Mayor Bill Peard, Waukee Betterment Foundation President Jim Miller, RDG Dahlquist Art Studio Artist and Creative Director David Dahlquist and Waukee Betterment Foundation Vice President Don Blum.
The pergola involves 32 columns wrapped in ceramic tile. The 13-foot-tall columns are topped by stylized ties and rails, producing a 350-foot-long structure towering over the trail. An additional 16 streetside bollards, 7 feet tall and covered in tiles, complement the pergola. All are illuminated with white or multicolored LED lights.
Phase two of the RRVT public art project will see smaller repetitions of the pergola’s motifs placed along with trail, with bollards planned for Dallas Center, Minburn, Perry, the Winkleman Switch, Cooper and Jefferson.
