Sits a youthful bronze art piece created by Javier Rivas. The piece, which was completed in 2004, depicts 5 children playing near a pond and catching frogs. “Friends and Frogs” also has an active water component in the form of a small pond which is fed by the hose one of the children holds in their hand.

After moving back to Garden City, Kansas from Loveland, Colorado, Rivas agreed to create a sculpture highlighting the diversity in Garden City in partnership with Garden City Arts. Javier Rivas not only lived in Garden City at the time, but was a Garden City High School graduate. His talents were discovered after he created a table top piece of a buffalo as a part of his senior project. The Friends and Frogs project was a huge undertaking, especially for someone so young, and he was offered a job at (check interview with vivian fankhauser) while he worked on the sculpture. Unfortunately after the completion of the mural, Rivas moved away and has not been heard from since.

The 5 children shown catching frogs are white, black, Hispanic, Native American, and South East Asian. At the time of construction, these were the most prominent ethnicities in Garden City. Not only this, but one of the children sculpted was even modeled after Rivas’ little brother. The sculpture was first modeled out of clay, which was then used to create a cast for the bronze. The bronzes were poured in Loveland, Colorado, before being brought back out to Garden City to be mounted. The project ended up costing around $32,000 in total, and is a testament not only to the talent of young artists, but the perseverance of culture and heritage throughout Garden City.