After $4.3 million and two years of renovations, Mariposa Plaza in downtown Fresno has reopened. City officials held a ribbon cutting Monday morning and expect big things.

“I anticipate and expect that this plaza will be the busiest outdoor plaza in the city of Fresno,” Fresno City Councilmember Miguel Arias said.

The first event is the Winter Village, featuring a public skating rink opening Friday. The plaza is on Fulton Street, across from the Pacific Southwest Building.

Mariposa Plaza Locator Map

Mayor Jerry Dyer sees the renovated plaza as a place to host events and gather.

“It will be a place of vibrancy, a place of nightlife and, again, a place of entertainment,” Dyer said.

The money comes from a larger $65 million state Transformative Climate Communities grant.

The renovated plaza, closed since November 2023, features two elevated stages; planter boxes that double as seats with mosaic tiles; a power supply for events; and new shade structures.

The public can reserve the stages through the city’s parks department.

Part of Downtown Revitalization

Dyer said the plaza is just one aspect of improving downtown. His mantra since taking office in 2021 has been “great cities have great downtowns.”

The city will break ground on two new parking structures — a 600-space garage at Tuolumne and Fulton streets later this month and a 900-space garage at Inyo and H streets across from Chukchansi Park next year.

Dyer said several businesses have expressed interest in locating downtown.

“The more people you attract to this location, the better it is for businesses. And we want to make sure those businesses have customers, and that’s the purpose of the plaza,” Dyer said.

To keep the plaza free of loitering and the homeless, Dyer said bicycle police units will regularly patrol the area. City ambassadors will also monitor the plaza.

The plaza has long been a place for free speech, and the city expects that legacy to continue. A historical marker notes a labor free-speech fight at the location in 1910.