Master Gardners Landscape Veteran's Memorial
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Work at the river front Veteran's memorial illustrates what citizens can accomplish when they get together. What started as a request for a little help turned into a well funded collaboration of numerous groups, foundations and local citizens.
According to Dennis Curtis, President of the Bay Area Master Gardner Association, it all started in early September of 2006 when Shirley Roberts, Executive Director of the Bay Area Convention and Visitors Bureau contacted Master Gardener Judy Brunner to see if the Master Gardeners might be interested in helping the Veterans landscape the monument on the river.
The following day Brunner approached Curtis with the idea. There was immediate interest from the membership and within two weeks a committee was formed. Meetings were held with Mike Burke, President of the Vietnam Veterans Monument Committee and members of the Veterans Council and plans were underway.
By mid October fellow Master Gardener and Bay City Garden Club member Shelley Patterson had heard about the project plans and approached the Bay City Garden Club's Garden Walk Committee about the possibility of collaborating by pledging the 2007 Garden Walk proceeds to the project. The Garden Club immediately embraced the idea and asked the Master Gardener committee to make a presentation. In early December the Garden Club agreed unanimously to donate the Garden Walk proceeds to the project.
During the planning stages in January and February Jack Gustafson of Bay Landscaping heard about the project and got involved by donating his time and design assistance to the project. Darwin Baranski and Kevin Rice from the Bay City Parks Dept. helped choose planting materials and make other decisions as the plans were finalized.
In late March the Veterans had the heavy clay soil removed from the planting areas and replaced with a mixture of compost and topsoil. On April 25 Phase One of the project officially began with the planting of 39 Variegated Red Twig Dogwoods under the existing Austrian Pines, our work officially began on Phase 1 of the Veterans Monuments Project.
Things moved fast after that. On May 8 and 9 Royal Burgundy and six Snow Goose cherry trees were planted. On May 17 some 750 Karley Rose ornamental grasses and Lipstick Strawberry ground covers were planted. On May 23 the group will plant another 200 plus ground covers and do final prep work for the dedication which will be Saturday, May 26th at 1:00 PM.
The May 26th dedication coincides with the Veterans dedication of "Project Freedom Walk" at this same site. Project Freedom Walk is a walking history of the major US conflicts from the Revolutionary War to the present day Iran/Iraq Conflict explaining the struggles of our Veterans to maintain and protect our freedom, democracy and way of life.
Dedication of the river front memorial is just Phase 1 of the project. Phase 2 will include new landscaping and possibly some hardscape at the Vietnam Veterans Monument (Helicopter). Again the community is supporting the effort. A grant from the Kantzler Foundation and donations from Veterans groups and private citizens have made it possible to begin Phase 2 of the project later this Summer or early Fall.
Volunteers working on this project include members of the Bay Area Master Gardener Association, MSUE Master Gardeners, Bay City Garden Club members, Bay City in Bloom members, Bay Area Women's Center staff, Bay County Veterans, and several private citizens.
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Stephen Kent |
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