(BLAINE) – Steve Guider is a man with a rather ambitious plan.
“It’s really ambitious,” he says with a big smile. “A million dollars this day and age isn’t a whole lot of money, until you’re trying to raise it. Then it seems like a lot.”
The Veterans Memorial Park he and his committee want to build on the existing Town Square Park at Blaine City Hall would actually cost as much as $1.25 million. But he’s asking anyone and everyone to help make it a reality.
“We want this to be the best community park in Minnesota,” he said on a sunny day at the park, where he’s constantly taking pictures and measurements as he fine-tunes his plans and conceptual drawings. “Everybody knows someone who has served. It might be a grandpa or an uncle or a son or daughter. Anybody who makes a donation to this park is doing it in honor of a family member or some close friend (who) served.”
He hopes that connection alone is enough to elicit support. For as little as a $200 donation, families can have their names printed on bricks that will line the center of the planned park. He has ideas for ways to thank and honor those who donate any price point.
“There’s some big businesses here,” he said. “We’ve tried finding out who you contact about this. That’s been the most difficult thing.”
The plan was an easy sell to Blaine City Council. At a meeting in February, Guider presented the plans on behalf of the Veteran’s Memorial Park of Blaine Committee. The council vowed to work on support in conjunction with the multi-city Beyond the Yellow Ribbon campaign.
“We don’t want this to be just a single ‘Boy, that’s a nice statue over there’ (park.),” said Guider. “We want everything to be an experience, so when you’re there, there’s something to read about.”
Guider presented plans that include markers for every conflict and branch of military in U.S. history, and POW/MIA, Purple Heart, and a Women’s Memorial. He wants to work with different groups in the community to make sure each component is impactful and unique.
“We’re hoping we can get this done a lot sooner than later,” said Guider. “I know there are a lot of veterans eager to see it. We just need the community to help us with it.”
