The Spinning Tops
First the Chattanooga Green featured a seesaw display. Next, it will be over-sized, interactive spinning tops.
The Spinning Tops ('Los Trompos') is a larger than life art installation slated for a month's stay next Spring.
These tops do not light up like the seesaws, but you can go for a spin as long as you have a willing spinner handy.
Pending completion of the contract, the Spinning Tops will be a Riverfront draw from March 17 to April 16.
They have already been enjoyed in a number of large cities, including outside the High Museum in Atlanta.
The Spinning Tops is a creation of Mexican designers Héctor Esrawe and Ignacio Cadena.
Emily Mack, River City Company president and CEO, said it's all part of animating the riverfront. She said, "People want more to do at our riverfront. They want something going on every day. They want reasons to go to the riverfront."
She called the seesaws "a massive hit," and the Spinning Tops are "beautiful and wonderful," she said.
The exhibit will be free and open to the community. River City is working with La Paz to encourage those in the city's growing Hispanic population to take part.
It will be available during park hours (up to 11 p.m.).
Darrin Ledford, City Council chairman, said there is a feeling that "the waterfront is for tourists and visitors, and it's lost to us."
He said, "It's really important that we have activities that lead people back to the waterfront."
,
Emily Mack of River City tells members of the Chattanooga Downtown Redevelopment Corporation about The Spinning Tops