And the Rhino's Name Is...

Readers commenting on our recent article about RiNo's new rhino sculpture, which the public would get to christen, had many name ideas: Ryan o'ceros, Daryl and Gentry (short for Gentrification) among them.

Denargo Market, the massive project slated for the RiNo Art District that brought the thirty-foot-tall, climbable sculpture to the area off 29th Street and Arkins Court, gave residents two weeks to submit their name ideas, resulting in over 1,000 suggestions that Formativ director of development and marketing Alison Nestel-Patt says "varied from historical to personal or cultural, to some that are unfortunately already used by mascots/key figures. We also did get several that are inappropriate to share."

The teams from Formativ and Golub & Company, its joint venture partner, reviewed the submissions and narrowed them down to a shortlist of names that aren't quite in the same vein as many of those suggested to Westword: Rosey, Roxy, Spike, Rhingo and Rusty.

The rhino's name was unveiled this morning, June 12, at an event for project partners and city officials, announcing that after over 400 votes on the short list, the city picked the name "Rhingo."
The Denargo Market project resurrects a name from Denver history — in the first half of the twentieth century, this was Denver's largest food market, housing more than 500 grower stands before much of the area succumbed to a large fire in 1971. Today's project is meant to "transform what was essentially a doughnut hole in the urban fabric" into a walkable neighborhood, according to Laura Newman, vice president of investment and development at Golub.

The project is zoned for over three million square feet of vertical development and will feature office, retail, housing and community spaces...and one rhino. Rhingo was designed by Sasaki and fabricated by metal design company JunoWorks and climbing wall company Eldorado Walls, both based in Colorado.

"Juno did the top half of the steel and Eldorado did the legs and the belly, the climbing wall portion," explains Eldorado Walls director of design Abe Rifkin. "They all have to meet up around the rhino, so any time one of us made a change, we’d exchange 3D models."

Rifkin says the rhino is designed to be climbed by people of all ages and skill levels. Some parts of the sculpture, like the belly, provide a steep climbing terrain, while other areas are beginner-friendly, putting the climber's weight more on the feet than the hands.
"I can’t wait to climb it," Rifkin says. "That belly will be pretty challenging. ...There’s a lot of talented climbers around here, and I think people will enjoy it."

According to Eldorado Walls public manager Derek Slone, Rhingo is more colossal than he was expecting. "It's such a grand-scale art piece, same thing as the bear downtown," he says. "It's one of those things where seeing a picture doesn't really do it justice, but standing in front of it, it's massive."

The scale of the entire rhino sculpture project is what impressed JunoWorks technical manager Duncan Parks. "This project is on a scale that would be impossible for a single person or even a small team," he says. "It’s amazing to see something like this with so many different, but incredibly interconnected parts, all come together finally."

While the rhino has been unveiled and named, it will not be accessible to climbers until construction on the area around it is complete, with a target of early September.

"We are all so proud to be celebrating the rhino’s completion this week and can’t wait for Denverites to experience it later this year, alongside all the incredible amenities Denargo Market will offer," Nestel-Patt says. "Stay tuned!