Driving down Gulf-to-Bay in Clearwater, you may have noticed fencing around Crest Lake Park. Wondering what is going on?
Well, the city of Clearwater, along with the Tampa Bay Veterans Alliance has decided to add a veteran’s memorial area to the park. Crest Lake Park was chosen given its visibility and access to Gulf-to-Bay.
Even though the memorial will be new, it already has historic significance.
“The
Tampa Bay Veterans Alliance, established as Clearwater Veterans Alliance, developed the Florida Veterans’ Memorial concept to establish the first cross-generational veteran’s memorial in the State of Florida,” says Jason Beisel with the
city of Clearwater. “There exists no other memorial park or plaza that honors the commitments of veterans from so many eras, spanning World War II through present day.”
The estimated $1 million project will feature a brick circular plaza with a gold design in the middle along a paved pathway. An American flag displayed along with POW flags, as well as flags representing each branch of the United States military will be represented. Bronze sculptures representing periods of conflict from World War II to the present will be included. The plaza will be surrounded by walls on which those wanting to honor a veteran can have the veteran's name engraved for a small donation.
“There is a longstanding tradition of honoring veterans in the United States of America,” Beisel says. “The Florida Veterans Memorial serves this tradition by continuing the city of Clearwater’s history of incorporating veteran’s memorials, started at the base of the Clearwater Memorial Causeway in the 1920s with the placement of E.M. Viquesney’s Spirit of the American Navy and Spirit of the American Doughboy into city infrastructure.”
There will be no fee to visit the memorial once it opens. A portion of the memorial will open Memorial Day with a ribbon cutting.
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