My name is Lee Russell and I'm the person who designed and oversaw the construction of this concrete labyrinth. A lot of people think of it maybe as like a maze. I think of a labyrinth more is like a 3D maze in a sense. Most most of the labyrinths are like real life mazes. You can't always see the path, you know, in or out of it. It's a winding path, but you follow a path to the center of it. And you also have to follow that path to to leave the labyrinth as well. The saying, what I've heard is is that it's supposed to help maybe calm you or help you think about life and maybe meditate when you get to the center of it, relax, you know. So, I I tend to lean towards more challenging styles because I if you're going to go out all this work and you're going to build a labyrinth, I want it to stand out and be something that people like look at and say, "Wow, that looks I really like that." It starts out as just any type of concrete you familiar with, you know, uncolored, let's say, a broom finished concrete slab. Everybody knows. So the so the truck arrives the concrete is already integrally colored. So the like the tannanish colors and things that you see that that is what you would consider the base color. We finish that when we pour, but we also use like a powdered release agent over it. It's like a dark colored release and basically turns the whole thing like a dark gray before you stamp it. And the stamping itself is texture mats. It's called uh California blue stone is the type of texture we used. Then after that it's it gets cured. So you put poly down. Once you peel that back then you then you do the saw cuts which is like the control joints like any type of concrete slab. You have joints that are in it and that kind of controls where it cracks. Then we start to lay out the design. Now I had a design on paper that I wanted to use. I have to scale that up to this size. figure out calculate all the measurements that are required and then we have to like start drawing lines. Every every line has to be drawn by hand. All the pass you see in the in the grooves and the lines those are acid stains. Once that's completely dried and clean, that's when you start putting coats of sealer down. And then you finally come back two weeks later and you do something called final seal. But what it does is provide like the concrete with a protective layer that protects it from from the weather really. That's that's when there's no turning back at that point cuz you now you're like cutting lines into it. So it's you know that's when it really starts starts to like take shape. It's all by hand with the grinder bending over. You know, our our saw cuts, some of them have been grouted. This is a chemical stain that's put on here to create that dark color. Starts to like take shape really and start to look like maybe art actually cuz it even starts looking it even looks cool at that point before you've done any of the staining or any of that. Once you start cutting the lines in, then it really starts to starts to look interesting. I mean, it's it's very involved and it it took about 2 weeks from start to finish to do. This is in a studio, right? So, I have to deal with the weather and people around and I have I had to fence it off and make sure people don't like get in there on it. But I I really enjoy it. Yes, my knees hurt, you know, and they did. I mean, it was hard work building this, you know, but it's it was definitely rewarding and it was worth the effort, you know. I was just like right out of high school. I'm just right into concrete and been doing it ever since. I've traveled around the country learning firsthand from the artisans and the best people in the business. I've been doing concrete all my life and my father taught me what I know, you know, and it's it's a family business. So many people are going to be able to come here and enjoy this for a long time. It's been a really special project and I'm I'm I thank everyone that's involved. the involvement of the city of Edina, you know, the garden council, Kiloale Foundation, you know, everybody that that that helped bring this together. I I feel privileged to be able to work here and do this.