WASHBURN, Maine — With the help of the Washburn Rotary, three Boy Scout members in Washburn will be working this summer to establish the new Washburn Area Veterans Park at the front of the town’s Story Hill Park.
Three Eagle Scout candidates — Carvor Pendexter, Ryan Cole and Paul Tardie III — will be spending the next several weeks working on planning, fundraising and landscaping to create the Washburn Area Veterans Park at the entrance to the Story Hill Park on Main Street.
The park currently hosts a monument to Washburn military veterans, but several area veterans over the last few years have been talking about adding flags and other features, said Holly Umphrey of the Washburn Rotary.
Local veterans John Churchill and Dale Lavway had a contractor design plans for the expanded veterans memorial.
“They just hadn’t been able to get it off the ground,” Umphrey said.
Now, the Washburn Rotary Club, Boy Scout Troop 177 and Scout master Larry Harrison have taken up the cause and are working with other organizations to garner donations, such as the flag poles donated by Catholic Charities.
Umphrey said the park has been in need of some landscaping work, in addition to the goal of expanding the veterans monument.
The plans call for the addition of three flag poles that will fly the flags of the United States, the state of Maine and the U.S. Armed Forces. The flags will be centered around the monument listing the names of area military veterans. There also will be new benches, walkways and landscaping features.
Umphrey said the town is planning to dedicate the new memorial with a veteran’s parade during the town’s August Festival held Aug. 17-19.
