WATER OF LIFE:
The Millennium Plaza of Yakima

This plaza celebrates the importance of water for the people of Yakima. The Yakima River brings life to the valley with vegetation, game, and fruit. Irrigation from the mountains gives abundance to the orchards and fields. People from many places and far away come for the labor and livelihood the land offers.

On the plaza, the four basalt rocks represent the stratum of earth out of which the water flows.

The tank represents the human ability to transform nature into resource.

The bronze sculpture of the mountain is the Nelson Ridge in the Cascade Range, almost exactly 40 miles in line to the west. The plaza is oriented so that the last rays of summer solstice sunset would shine straight through the tank.

The bronze objects on stone columns in the middle of the plaza are casts of tools used for work by people through the ages.

On the ground is inset a representation of the Yakima River as it flows to the Columbia east of the city.

The bronze apple orchard with 110 trees, on the fountain in front along the axis, represents the fruitfulness of the irrigated land. The base of the sculpture replicates the dimensions of the bins commonly used to collect harvested fruit for transportation.

The walls on two sides, like enfolding arms, contain objects and ideas made or offered by area’s artists, members of communities, elders, and teens to help the community navigate through the millennia. These objects and ideas tap into the power and ability among us to redeem the past, to reconcile the present, and to imagine a good future.

The ring of colored light above, inspired by the rhythm and movement of the friendship dance at the powwows of the Yakama people, represents the continuous and ever-changing cycle of connections between people.

In celebrating water, this plaza is the manifest gathering spot that celebrates the coming together of all people.

Wen-ti Tsen, artist