The Winamac Park Board continues to discuss upgrades to Veterans Memorial Park.
During last week’s meeting, Park Board President Courtney Poor said artist Greg Hildebrandt and welder Bob Rosenbaum have been working on designs for two benches and a decorative archway near the flagpole. “This is all stainless steel, then people cannot actually climb on it, so you don’t have someone breaking a leg on it, something of this nature,” Poor explained. “The benches would basically be the benches that were proposed initially, that would sit underneath this arch.”
The VFW and American Legion would each donate a bench, while the decorative archway would be purchased by the Town of Winamac. While Poor expressed concern that the design would clutter the north end of the park, he said it would leave room for more features to be added in the future. “If you remember, it was also discussed that we may at some time get or have access to the cannon from what used to be the American Legion, now the Moose, that they may want to not have that anymore,” he said. “Perhaps we could consider moving that down, and that could go on the south side of the park, also.”
Poor offered to get cost estimates for the benches and the archway. Board member Jon Chapman said that depending on how much the work will cost, the park board may consider breaking the project into two phases, with the benches installed first and the archway added later.
Meanwhile, benches may also be coming to the Winamac Parkway. Park board member and town manager Brad Zellers reported that one bench is ready to be installed, while two more people have expressed interest in donating benches for the parkway. Chapman suggested that the town create a map specifying available bench locations for potential donors.
