Bradenton Riverwalk (known locally as the Riverwalk) is a public green space located along the

Manatee River The Manatee River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 18, 2011 river in Manatee County, Florida, Manatee County, Florida. The river forms in the northeastern co ...

Bradenton, Florida Bradenton ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Manatee County, Florida, Manatee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city's population is 55,698, up from 49,546 at the 2010 census. It is a pri ...

, between Business US 41 and South

Tamiami Trail The Tamiami Trail () is the southernmost of U.S. Highway 41 (US 41) from State Road 60 (SR 60) in Tampa to US 1 in Miami. A portion of the road also has the hidden designation of State Road 90 (SR 90). The north� ...

( US 301 /

US 41 U.S. Route 41, also U.S. Highway 41 (US 41), is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway System, United States Numbered Highway that runs from Miami, Florida, to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Until 1949, the part i ...

concurrently). The park opened to the public on October 18, 2012 and features a

skatepark A skatepark, or skate park, is a purpose-built recreational environment made for skateboarding, BMX, Freestyle scootering, scootering, and aggressive inline skating. A skatepark may contain half-pipes, handrails, funboxes, vert ramps, stairw ...

, 400-seat amphitheater, playgrounds, and a

splash pad A splash pad or spray pool is a recreation area, often in a public park, for water play that has little or no standing water. This is said to eliminate the need for lifeguards or other supervision, as there is little risk of drowning. Typically ...

. The area is maintained by the city of Bradenton and the

nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

Realize Bradenton.

History

In the 1960s Bradenton dredged the

for silt, to add of land adjacent to its downtown area. The area was dubbed "The Sand Pile" due to the river dredging projects. The park, Anthony T. Rossi Waterfront Park (or known simply as Waterfront Park or Rossi Park), was originally developed in the 1980s with the help of a federal grant. The boundaries of Rossi Park were from the Green Bridge ( Business US 41 / 9th Street West) to the Hernando de Soto Bridge ( US 301 /

/ 1st Street). The Bradenton Downtown Development Authority (BDDA) hired Kimley-Horn in June 2010 to design a substantial improvement to Rossi Park and the surrounding waterfront area. The construction of the Riverwalk broke ground in September 2011 and opened to the public on October 18, 2012.

Features

The Bradenton Riverwalk spans from slightly west of the Green Bridge, near Bishop Museum of Science and Nature, to 2nd Street East, adjacent to

Manatee Memorial Hospital Manatee Memorial Hospital (MMH) is a private 319-bed health care facility located in Bradenton, Florida. History Manatee Memorial Hospital was first proposed in 1939 by the Bradenton Women's Club and other prominent members of the community. Its ...

. The Riverwalk includes playgrounds,

, a lawn for picnics, a day dock for boaters, a

, a botanical walk, sand volleyball courts, and a 400-seat

Mosaic A mosaic () is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/Mortar (masonry), mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and ...

Amphitheater.

Public art Public art is art in any Media (arts), media whose form, function and meaning are created for the general public through a public process. It is a specific art genre with its own professional and critical discourse. Public art is visually and phy ...

is displayed throughout the Riverwalk area. One of the permanent art collections displayed is ''Postcards from the Friendly City''. The collection consists of various large-scale art panel "postcards" depicting the history of the Manatee River and the Bradenton area. Several weekly, monthly, and annual events are held at the Riverwalk. These events range from a weekly

farmers' market A farmers' market (or farmers market according to the AP stylebook, also farmer's market in the Cambridge Dictionary) is a physical retail marketplace intended to sell foods directly by farmers to consumers. Farmers' markets may be indoors or ...

, a seasonal "Music in the Park" family-friendly live music series, to annual events such as Bradenton Blues Festival and ArtSlam. The events attract approximately 110,000 people annually to the downtown Bradenton area.

Eastern extension

In April 2017, the city of Bradenton contracted Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc. again to create a master plan for an eastern extension of the Bradenton Riverwalk. The eastern extension will extend the Riverwalk east to Manatee Mineral Springs Park and Manatee Village Historical Park. The city also bought of land north of Manatee Mineral Springs Park for $700,000 to expand the existing park and to ensure

interconnectivity In telecommunications, interconnection is the physical linking of a carrier's network with equipment or facilities not belonging to that network. The term may refer to a connection between a carrier's facilities and the equipment belonging to its ...

with the eastern expansion of the Riverwalk. The first phase of the extension opened in September 2022.

Gallery

Image:Bradenton Riverwalk.jpg Image:Bradenton Riverwalk 2.png

References

External links

Bradenton Riverwalk website
at Realize Bradenton
Bradenton Area CVB
a 360-degree view of the Riverwalk done in 2015 for the area's tourism board, Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau
Walk Bradenton
a website by Realize Bradenton that is a guide to various points of interest in Downtown Bradenton {{Bradenton, Florida Parks in Florida Parks in Manatee County, Florida 2012 establishments in Florida Buildings and structures in Bradenton, Florida Urban public parks