Move over, apples—Wenatchee has another crop worth bragging about. Sprouting from downtown sidewalks, peeking through parks, and standing sentry along the riverfront, over 100 sculptures transform the city into an open-air gallery that invites exploration and admiration. From abstract shapes to intricate designs, these works of art seamlessly blend into Wenatchee’s natural beauty, creating a bountiful sculpture walk ripe with artistic expression!
Visionary
Tucked along the Apple Capital Recreational Loop Trail, Visionary by Leo E. Osborne gallops into view with a blend of realism and mystique. Sponsored by the Gibbons Family, this bronze statue depicts a sturdy, lifelike horse carrying an abstract, cloaked figure or a “hooded visionary” Osborne imagined while living among the horse-rich landscapes of Joseph, Oregon and Ellensburg.
The rider’s shrouded form, glowing with a brown patina, seems to channel cosmic energy as it “rides across the galaxies of time,” per Osborne’s poetic ode. Initially carved in wood before its bronze rebirth, the piece—donated to the City of Wenatchee’s public art collection in 2018—feels both ancient and timeless, echoing the region’s rugged spirit while nudging viewers to ponder unseen horizons.
Coyote Reading a Candy Wrapper
127 South Mission Street, Wenatchee
Perched on the steps of the Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center, Richard Beyer’s Coyote with a Candy Wrapper blurs the line between wild and whimsical. The cunning cast aluminum trickster sits hunched over, clad in rumpled human attire, and engrossed in a candy wrapper that seemingly holds life’s secrets. At the same time, viewers are left to wonder about the noose around his neck.
Inspired by Native American Poet Peter Blue Cloud’s Elderberry Flute Song, Beyer’s sculpture captures the resilience of the coyote in Blue Cloud’s prose. This consummate survivor is always narrowly escaping danger yet still perseveres due to his ability to extract wisdom from life’s seemingly insignificant fragments. Acquired in 1995 through the city’s 1% for the Arts Program, the sculpture became an instant icon after winning top honors in that year’s Art on the Avenues competition and has since been adopted as the museum’s unofficial mascot, evening starring as the backdrop for holiday cards from the local police department.
Winter’s Rest
310 Yakima Street, Wenatchee
Outside Wenatchee City Hall, Winter’s Rest by Shirley Thomson-Smith invites visitors to embrace a moment of quiet stillness amid the bustle of city life. The bronze sculpture depicts an Inuit woman seated cross-legged atop a tall stone base, wrapped warmly in traditional winter clothing, while her serene expression exudes calm tranquility.
Sponsored by the Open J Cattle Ranch, this remarkable piece was purchased in 1997 using 1% for the Arts funding and added to Wenatchee’s public art collection, a tribute to both cultural heritage and the endurance of the human spirit.
Apple Blossom Monument
At the heart of Orondo Avenue, near the train tracks, stands the Apple Blossom Monument, a striking steel gateway gracefully connecting Wenatchee’s historic downtown with its scenic riverfront with understated grandeur. After a 2014 call to artists by the Arts Commission, the selection committee chose artists Jean Whitesavage and Nick Lyle to create the work of art, which was finished the following year.
Etched with the words “Downtown” and “Riverfront” to signal the way, the steel column is crowned with two galvanized apple blossoms glimmering like a tribute to Wenatchee’s famous orchards. Funded through grants and arterial street funds at a cost of $25,100, the monument combines functionality with creativity to reflect Wenatchee’s identity. With its harmonious design, the Apple Blossom Monument stands as both a welcoming beacon and a tribute to Wenatchee’s enduring roots.
Ann Louise
820 North Chelan Avenue, Wenatchee
Outside Confluence Health, David Wright’s Ann Louise stands in quiet reverence for life’s humble wonders. The bronze figure, tall, slender and cloaked in a long dress with a blue-green patina, cradles a bundle of beet stems to her chest, holding them close in a gesture of unspoken appreciation. With her eyes closed in deep contemplation, she appears to be savoring the simple pleasure of a modest harvest.
When creating the piece in 1998, Wright sought to elevate the every day, aiming to bring attention to those things in life that, while small and generally unnoticed, deserve our utmost attention and appreciation. Named after his wife and with his favorite root crop in hand, the statue was acquired by Wenatchee’s Art on the Avenues program in 2002 before it was later donated to the city’s public collection in 2018.
Soaring
Soaring by Jeff Tangen rises along Wenatchee Avenue and Kittitas Street as a testament to the spirit of flight and possibility. Created from mixed media, this metal sculpture boasts a blue-gray patina that lends it an air of timeless resilience. A tall, assembled base supports a series of metal pieces that evoke the graceful outline of a bird in mid-flight, while four delicate lines trailing from its rear suggest a dynamic, unseen current.
Purchased in 2005 by Art on the Avenues in honor of William F. Reese—recipient of the 2005 Adele Wolford Founder’s Award—and donated to the City of Wenatchee in 2018, Soaring stands as a symbol of artistic vision and forward momentum.
Pre-Mathematics
Rusted steel meets celestial poetry in Bernard Hosey’s Pre-Mathematics, a sphere that defies simplicity. Nestled along the Apple Capital Trail, the sculpture’s overlapping bands create a see-through orb, its gaps framing glimpses of sky, trees, and passing cyclists. Hosey’s rusted steel bands twist to form V shapes and curved arcs, creating a skeletal sphere that feels both primal and futuristic, as if the piece were a relic from an ancient civilization or a blueprint for interstellar travel.
The title, inspired by an engineer’s awe at its design, nods to the intuitive genius that precedes formulas and equations. Acquired by Art on the Avenues in 2008 and donated to Wenatchee’s collection in 2018, the piece transforms sunlight into art while serving as a meditative homage to fundamental forms.
With an abundance of artistic expression, Wenatchee’s open-air gallery emerges as a creative orchard where art blooms as abundantly as its famed apples. Each piece, whether a soaring vision or a humble figure, adds its own unique taste to the city’s cultural landscape. Combined, they provide a feast for the senses, inviting residents and visitors to relish the unexpected beauty sprouting from every corner and proving that in Wenatchee, beauty grows in every form.
