FY22 Veterans Memorial Grant
Since the 1980s, our Veteran's Park has had very limited displays consisting of one short flag pole, one veteran's monument display, and one kneeling solder. Our plan would include:
1. Parking for visitors
2. Increased sidewalk for accessibility
3. A 35ft. flagpole for the American flag and POW flag centrally located
4. Five 25 ft. flagpoles for each branch of service
5. A concrete statue for each branch of service (Army, Navy, Marine Corp, Air Force, Coast Guard), that would represent the Minnesota legacy of service in the Armed Forces.
6. Additional concrete and footings for the placement of flagpoles and corresponding concrete statues
7. New trees and plantings to fill in around the displays.
Martin Howes, Veteran; Ashley Laganiere, Veteran; Lul Osman, OGM; Sarah Hernandez, OGM; Greg Peterson, Veteran; Jenna Schmidtke, Veteran; Kenneth Voigt, Veteran
$72,750 in Fiscal Year 2022 and $72,750 in Fiscal Year 2023 are for a competitive grants program to provide grants to local units of government for veterans memorials to preserve the culture and heritage of Minnesota. The local unit of government must provide a nonstate cash match equal to the amount of the grant received under this paragraph.?
After these improvement, we anticipate than more than 100 people will begin visiting the park on an annual basis. The City mows the area, weeds it, trim trees, but beyond that little to no attempt has been made to improve the decades old memorial. It has been a long-held goal of the City to find, collect, and implement funding and improvements to this park. Starting the Veteran's Park Improvement Fund was first and then sending out letters to various groups.
The new design and improvements will make a much more positive effect on the visitors, local veterans, and our Wabasha residents. Since the Veterans Park Improvement Fund was started, the feedback from the City has been extremely positive. After the improvement is completed, the memorial will up lift the hearts and minds of all who see it and visit the site. Once we start this spark of investment, it will lead to more donations, ideas, and pieces of equipment to pursue and display that educate the public on the contributions of veterans and contribute to Minnesota's culture and heritage.
One other great outcome to this project is that we would be purchasing the concrete statues from SVJ Creative Designs located in nearby Kellogg, MN. This is a female owned small business whom provides memorial displays and statues all over the United States.