Rocket takes new flight

by dennis geisinger

A venerable icon of the South Minneapolis park system, the rocket slide in Brackett Park at 28th Street and 36th Avenue South has found new life as an art exhibit to be dedicated in a celebration set for Sept. 29 at 11 a.m.
The 25-foot high rocket was originally installed as a climbing structure and slide for area children in 1962 as a symbol of America’s entry into the space race. Safety and liability concerns led to its removal by the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board in 2004, according to Minneapolis Neighborhood Revitalization Program News.

But a Save the Rocket campaign was initiated by area residents, the Brackett Rocket Boosters, to rejuvenate it as a work of public art. They petitioned the MPRB and set out to raise the $51,000 needed for its comeback. Another $22,350 would have to be raised for maintenance and contingency funds, as well as education and events.

Ideas ranging from special screenings of rocket-themed movies at local theaters to pancake breakfasts at local diners to the sale of rocket-shaped ear rings at local events helped the fund take off. A group of fourteen students from Anne Sullivan Communication Center and Seward Montessori School raised more than $1200 towards the re-installation by staging three outdoor performances of “Star Wars.” Area businesses and individuals also contributed.

Forecast Public Artworks, a St. Paul public arts nonprofit, was commissioned to head the project. Jack Becker, Forecast’s director, is a neighborhood resident and has facilitated more than $2 million in commissioned art projects.
Minneapolis artist Randy Walker’s re-design for the monument was chosen. His design raises the rocket on a 10-foot pedestal, tied down by 84 metal cables forming a cone within an oval path. Centered within an elliptical setting of boulders and fire-colored landscaping, the rocket will no longer be for climbing.
The new look, titled “Return Journey,” shows the rocket at an 80 degree angle lifting off from the southwest corner of the park, a landmark on the new Midtown Greenway.

“The cables give the sense of flight and illustrate the artwork’s theme,” said Walker, “the return of the rocket to the park and the return of childhood memories.”