On any given day, visitors to Acacia Park in Colorado Springs, Colo., can wander toward the merry sounds of children playing among 52 vertical jets of squirting water. If those visitors stop to watch the fun for awhile, they will witness a musical metamorphosis.

"Uncle Wilber" the tuba player rises from a centrally-located fountain pedestal and springs to life among the dancing waters. Wilber's tuba squirts H20 while his monkey-like companion dances to the original music flowing from the fountain's state-of-the-art sound system.

The Uncle Wilber Fountain was a gift to the people of Colorado Springs from The Smokebrush Foundation, a local, privately-funded organization dedicated to promoting the arts in the area. Uncle Wilber started as the brainchild of two local artists, Smokebrush founders Bob and Kat Tudor.

Uncle Wilber rises out of his "hiding place" in the fountain pedestal to the accompanying strains of original music, while children frolic among 52 vertical water jets set in a 36-foot diameter play area. Instead of actual music, his Tuba blasts out more water while the fountain's score plays from surrounding elevated speakers.

"The idea for a special fountain for our city came [first] from our mayor, Mary Lou Makepeace," said Smokebrush Foundation Creative Director Holly Parker. "She gave a speech about three years ago on her vision for enhancing the downtown Colorado Springs area, which included more fountains. Bob and Kat Tudor heard that speech and felt they could come up with some funds through the Smokebrush Foundation and create a fountain for the city."

Building Wilber

The central pedestal features a continuous waterfall along its rim that attracts children to walk through and behind it. Wilber's "umbrella" serves as a cap to the pedestal in its dormant state.

The Tudors immersed themselves in studying natural water flows, including oceans, waterfalls, streams, and rainstorms. They created nearly 50 paintings depicting various themes, and let the public decide on their favorite.

"The Smokebrush Foundation owns a center for arts," said Parker. "Through nearly a whole theatre season people came into the building and voted on various fountains during play intermissions. So [Bob and Kat] took some of the most popular fountains and started incorporating them into the Uncle Wilber [design]."

The 5.5-feet high central pedestal sports an original mosaic of hand-made tiles designed by artist Steve Wood to represent local geological strata. Inside, Uncle Wilber awaits his next performance.

The Tudors wanted a fountain that would create a unique and inviting experience for children. They decided to bring in the experts. "We had a fountain-building company come in, Hydro Dramatics out of St. Louis, and they were really good about making us feel confident that our ideas could be carried out," said Bob Tudor. "They provided practical guidance and technical expertise. Scenic Technologies of Las Vegas took our ideas and engineered the project, [in coordination] with Hydro Dramatics. Scenic built the Uncle Wilber sculpture, while Hydro Dramatics supplied the controls, pumps, and other technical aspects, which were all fabricated in St. Louis."

While sculpting features on a small model of the fountain, Tudor noticed that the tuba player started to look a lot like his actual Uncle Wilber, who was a tuba player in high school band, a principal for the Colorado Springs School for the Deaf and Blind, and is also an inventor and mechanic. "So it naturally worked into the theme that they could make this sculpture look even more like [the real] Uncle Wilber," said Parker. "He was a great inspiration."

Parker also points out that at least 11 different companies were involved in fabricating the fountain, from the fountain design company to the sculptural engineers, the structural engineers to the architectural firm who designed the concrete play area and the fountain's rising pedestal. She cites coordinating all of these companies' involvement, along with the demands of the beuraucratic process, as the project's biggest challenge.

Two-and-a-half years of hard work paid off when the Uncle Wilber Fountain officially opened on May 12, 2001. It has already won the regional Partnership for Community Design Award.

Features of the Uncle Wilber Fountain

The fountain opened officially at a ceremony held on May 12, 2001.

• Play Area - The 52 water jets occupying this 36-foot diameter area run from 8 am to 11 pm, shooting vertical sprays from individually controllable electric valves. Originally designed as a concrete area, the builders recently added non-slip surfacing that features a multi-colored spiral design radiating outward from the central pedestal.

• The Umbrella - In its "dormant" position, the pedestal is capped by a fiberglass semisphere. At the top of each hour (more frequently on busy days) the semisphere raises up gradually to become an "umbrella" for Wilber, revealing a monkey-like creature prancing beneath it. The umbrella is divided into quadrants and encircled by nozzles, one set that shoots water upward from the rim, and another that sprays downward.

• The "Monkey" - Linked to the pole that supports the raised umbrella is a monkey-like creature. ("We enjoy the fact that people can't make up their minds exactly what type of animal it is," said Tudor.) The creature has a water turbine associated with it that spins him around the pole. Low-placed jets of water shoot up at him from below, spinning his arms and legs around in a playful, wooden puppet fashion.

Over 200 water nozzles in the sculpture itself add to the watery fun. Uncle Wilber's repertoire will continue to grow as composer and fountain designer/composer Bob Tudor adds new original music to the feature in the coming months. Uncle Wilber has already won the regional Partnership for Community Design Award.

• Uncle Wilber & His Tuba - After the "monkey" capers for awhile, the fiberglass sculpture of Wilber rises in a spray of water to join the music pumping from the speakers around the play area. The top of the tuba features a ring of nozzles shooting out water in a basket-weave pattern. The tuba itself fills up with water and overflows, and has many different "leaks" that shoot out water. Wilber's hand and fingers are made to move by the force of shooting water, creating the illusion that he is actually playing the instrument.

Over 11 companies were involved in creating the fountain, which included the fiberglass sculpture of Wilber himself and the water turbines that create an illusion of motion when activated.

• Wilber's Seat - Wilber sits on a cafe-type stool driven by a water turbine. Shooting water hits the turbine and causes legs to spin. While the upper torso remains still, his legs go traveling around his body, 360 degrees in either direction, creating a "silly cartoon-like effect."

• Sound System - Four speakers surmount 15-foot poles set immediately outside the play area, with two sub-woofers on either side. The water jets spray in time to the seven-and-half-minute composition written by Bob Tudor. Two new pieces of music will be added soon, with corresponding programmed water choreography.

Fountain creators Bob and Kat Tudor studied natural water patterns and created a series of paintings during the initial design stages. The fountain ended up as a homage to Bob's actual Uncle Wilber, who was known to play a mean tuba himself.

• Programming & Controls - The fountain's choreography is controlled with a MIDI (musical instrument digital interface), so any valve can be assigned to a note on a musical keyboard. Tudor synchronizes the music and water this way by hooking up his keyboard to a computerized controller.