National Velvet red bean statue

The method was unusual. McEnroe's original idea, a work of retro-reflective tape under the bridge, was dropped when engineers raised concerns about the bridge. He turned instead to an industrial-grade nylon, of the kind used over limbs before prosthetics are made, filled it with sand and stacked the bags in sections to build a tapered obelisk. After each section reached about four feet, resin was brushed on to form a hard shell. He then cut the nylon open, let the sand out and burned off the excess nylon, and the hulk was painted at a hot-rod paint shop. The work took about nine months with a team and, because the shell is light, could be carried a section at a time. Denver Public Art adds that it is lit from inside by compact fluorescent lights.

McEnroe took the name from the 1944 film National Velvet, which was on television while he worked. In spring 2026 Denver Public Art repaired broken sections of fibreglass and resin, did electrical work and cleaned the sculpture, noting that its internal lights give it a signature glow.