ICY BURNING RIVER - PROVIDENCE, R.I.

Here is a winter shot of where the Providence RI burning river fest takes place every summer. Firewood is stored under the arched stone bridge (like billy goat gruff would do) which you can just see the top of at the end of the sidewalk in the photo.  In the summer, firepots are moored floating in a line down the center of the river and are tended by boat persons who toss in more wood to keep them burning.  There’s very little current in the river even when it isn’t all iced over.  The old buildings along the river are generally set back 50 to 100’  - not like Wolstein proposes in Cleveland (to do by eminent domain on the east bank – his plans show barely a narrow sidewalk – the public river walk space is privatized for the developer’s profit).   Opening up our urban river corridors for pedestrian enjoyment and recreation is  the new urbanization plan that is taking hold  around the country.   In Providence this waterway – the Blackstone River – was in the past covered and used as a parking lot in downtown.  Now it has been day-lighted and made into pedestrian promenades to pick up the energy of the riparian forces.   Much of Providence is still down and out like downtown Cleveland, but there are 3 or 4 new high rises being erected on the west side of down town.

The Old Town center and most of the RISD campus  is behind the brick buildings on the left hand bank, and Brown University and other RISD buildings are off the picture to the right.  The stainless steel sculpture had no info plaque that I could find – as I would have liked to mention the piece’s name and its artist.