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Blue Springs, MO —
Organizers behind the Veterans Way Memorial in Blue Springs are hoping to make the next two weeks count.
After all, they’re hoping to break ground at Pink Hill Park the first week in August.
Eleanor Frasier, director of the city’s art commission, said the group has raised about 60 percent of the $120,000 needed to build the memorial. It will be located at Pink Hill Park between the two parking lots on Veterans Way.
A large bench in front of the memorial will accommodate as many as 30 people, and an art piece from the city’s “Time In Place” will be the focal point at the memorial.
The memorial will offer people a place of sanctuary, Frasier said, and a place to reflect. It will also serve as a place where lectures can be given, as well as performances.
Access to the site will be mainly from winding paths accessed from the parking lots.
Preliminary drawings of the memorial show space shaped almost like an amphitheater, with trees lining its edge and Burr Oak Woods Nature Center in the background – an attraction that helped planners decide where to put the memorial, Howell said. Walkways will lead to the memorial, winding through the landscape.
Since the concept was unveiled earlier this year, donors have stepped up, Frasier said, including two groups that contacted organizers and pledged their support: the United States Submarine Veterans Inc., who plan on purchasing one of the several redbud trees available and placing a granite plaque at the site.
“There are only a few submarine veterans still alive,” Frasier said. “I didn’t even know such a group existed.”
The second group is made up of submarine veterans from World War II. That differs from the first group because this group is comprised of only World War II submarine veterans, Frasier said.
They, too, will purchase a redbud tree and install a plaque with the names of the approximate 60 submariners lost during World War II.
“No one knows how many were lost for sure,” Frasier said.
What’s unique about the latter group is that once the plaque is installed, the group plans to disband.
Rick Howell, a landscape architect who has worked on several projects at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, has been hired to design the memorial.
“This will be something very special for the city, located in a great location,” Howell said when he spoke to the City Council earlier this year.
During its four-day visit to the city in September and October of 2010, the traveling exhibit “The Wall That Heals,” a smaller version of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall in Washington, D.C., attracted thousands of people. The attendance was reportedly the highest ever among those communities that sponsored it.
The memorial, scheduled for a grand opening on Oct. 2, will honor all veterans, Frasier said.
For information about the memorial or instructions about how to donate, call Blue Springs Parks and Recreation at 816-228-0137.
Organizers behind the Veterans Way Memorial in Blue Springs are hoping to make the next two weeks count.
After all, they’re hoping to break ground at Pink Hill Park the first week in August.
Eleanor Frasier, director of the city’s art commission, said the group has raised about 60 percent of the $120,000 needed to build the memorial. It will be located at Pink Hill Park between the two parking lots on Veterans Way.
A large bench in front of the memorial will accommodate as many as 30 people, and an art piece from the city’s “Time In Place” will be the focal point at the memorial.
The memorial will offer people a place of sanctuary, Frasier said, and a place to reflect. It will also serve as a place where lectures can be given, as well as performances.
Access to the site will be mainly from winding paths accessed from the parking lots.
Preliminary drawings of the memorial show space shaped almost like an amphitheater, with trees lining its edge and Burr Oak Woods Nature Center in the background – an attraction that helped planners decide where to put the memorial, Howell said. Walkways will lead to the memorial, winding through the landscape.
Since the concept was unveiled earlier this year, donors have stepped up, Frasier said, including two groups that contacted organizers and pledged their support: the United States Submarine Veterans Inc., who plan on purchasing one of the several redbud trees available and placing a granite plaque at the site.
“There are only a few submarine veterans still alive,” Frasier said. “I didn’t even know such a group existed.”
The second group is made up of submarine veterans from World War II. That differs from the first group because this group is comprised of only World War II submarine veterans, Frasier said.
They, too, will purchase a redbud tree and install a plaque with the names of the approximate 60 submariners lost during World War II.
“No one knows how many were lost for sure,” Frasier said.
What’s unique about the latter group is that once the plaque is installed, the group plans to disband.
Rick Howell, a landscape architect who has worked on several projects at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, has been hired to design the memorial.
“This will be something very special for the city, located in a great location,” Howell said when he spoke to the City Council earlier this year.
During its four-day visit to the city in September and October of 2010, the traveling exhibit “The Wall That Heals,” a smaller version of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall in Washington, D.C., attracted thousands of people. The attendance was reportedly the highest ever among those communities that sponsored it.
The memorial, scheduled for a grand opening on Oct. 2, will honor all veterans, Frasier said.
For information about the memorial or instructions about how to donate, call Blue Springs Parks and Recreation at 816-228-0137.
