Pueblo has been many things throughout its history – a fort, a mining hub, Steel City, Home of Heroes, and the site of the annual Colorado State Fair. It is now considered a tourism mecca, offering outdoor activities, a vibrant downtown, world-beating art, and museums to satisfy every kind of curiosity.
PUEBLO IS THE RIVERWALK
Built to pull the city out of an economic slump and attract more visitors, the Riverwalk has been a success story since it opened 25 years ago. Today, it offers 32-acres of dining and entertainment, imaginative landscaping, and public art against the setting of the Arkansas River. It has helped to beautify downtown and become the heartbeat of the city.
Half a million people visit the Riverwalk every year, meeting for morning workouts on the promenade, strolling across Veteran’s Bridge, sipping Pueblo-brewed IPAs and lagers, cocktails and mocktails at bars and restaurants along the waterfront, or attending one of many events on the Riverwalk’s calendar.
A new development phase, launched last year, will bring a two-story boathouse to the Riverwalk, where locals and visitors can buy tickets for waterway excursions or enjoy the view from a rooftop deck. Expected to open in late 2025, the Boathouse will also offer conference facilities with a river view.
PUEBLO IS THE GREAT OUTDOORS
Trails for walkers, cyclists or runners extend for miles along the Arkansas River and Fountain Creek. Beginning in Runyon Lake, it continues past downtown’s Whitewater Park, the Levee Mural Project, the new Waterworks Park and the Nature & Wildlife Discovery Center, which includes a raptor rehabilitation center, and miles of fishing on the river.
The new Waterworks Park, just north of City Park, is a $14 million project led by Pueblo Water. It replaced an old diversion dam with an improved spillway chute and six drop pools, removing the need for river tubers to exit the Arkansas, walk around the old spillway, and re-enter the water downstream. Waterworks Park was designed to improve water safety, make the river navigable from below Pueblo Dam to Runyon Lake, and enhance river health. Even before the upgraded area had formally opened, Puebloans were turning out in force to use it.
Grassroots Gravel’s cycling events have grown exponentially since they were first held in Pueblo in 2023. This year’s rides and races, sponsored by UCHealth and scheduled to set off from downtown Pueblo on Oct. 11, are on target to attract even more than the 850 cyclists who took part in 2024. Riders can choose from four distances between 19 miles and – *gulp* – 113 miles. Last year’s gravel rides and races brought in an estimated $200,000 to the city.
PUEBLO IS BIG, BOLD ART
The Levee Mural Project lost its 21-year world record as the largest outdoor mural gallery when the levee near downtown Pueblo had to be rebuilt in 2016. But since that time, muralists have been on a mission to regain their world-leading status, adding new works of art to the reconstructed levee. The current world record is now held by Seoul, South Korea, at 254,000 sq. ft. Pueblo has roughly 130,000 sq. ft. of levee murals to date and is aiming for 260,000 sq. ft.
The 5th Annual Pueblo Levee Walk, hosted by the Pueblo Downtown Association, is set for June 7. Murals elsewhere in Pueblo–celebrating everything from the Pueblo chile to the city’s strength and indigenous people– are also worth seeing.
PUEBLO IS MUSEUMS
Pueblo is home to many museums, including the Weisbrod Aircraft Museum, next to Pueblo Memorial Airport; the Steelworks Center of the West, Buell Children’s Museum, El Pueblo History Museum, the Pueblo Heritage Museum, Railway Museum and Rosemount Museum.
The city will add a jewel to its museum crown when the first Leonardo Da Vinci Museum in North America opens its doors later this year at the former Pro Bull Riders Sport Performance Center on the Riverwalk. It will feature life-sized replicas of machines based on da Vinci’s sketches, STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) exhibits, and interactive displays. If that’s not enough to draw the crowds, Italian gelato will be available at the museum’s café.
