A crowd of well over 100 veterans, elected officials, contractors, volunteers and community members gathered Friday morning to celebrate the groundbreaking of the long-awaited Montrose Veterans Memorial, a project that has been years in the making and shaped by community involvement.
Held at the future memorial site adjacent to the Montrose Botanic Gardens, the ceremony was the next step for a project that began taking shape roughly four years ago and has evolved significantly since its early planning stages.
“This is our largest groundbreaking we’ve done,” City of Montrose Public Works Director Jim Scheid said during the ceremony. “We’ve been working hard on this project for a long time.”
The memorial, which speakers in attendance said is expected to be completed by Veterans Day this year, will honor veterans from World War I through the Global War on Terror, as well as active-duty service members. Plans for the site include commemorative brick installations, gathering areas and a retired UH-1 Huey helicopter that will serve as a centerpiece honoring former Montrose County Sheriff and Commissioner Rick Dunlap.
The project was originally planned for Cerise Park before shifting to its current location near the Montrose Pavilion and botanic gardens. In the early stages, plans for the memorial were smaller in scale but have grown significantly.
Speakers throughout Friday’s ceremony repeatedly recognized the large coalition of veterans, local governments, contractors, businesses and community members who helped move the project forward.
“The project has evolved. The project has grown,” Montrose City Council member Dave Frank said. “The project has become greater than the sum of its parts because of the hard work and dedication of our Veterans Coalition.”
Mayor Michael Badagliacco said the memorial carries plenty of meaning for the community and the city’s large veteran population.
“Growing up in Montrose, this is something that is very very important to the community,” Badagliacco said. “All of the bricks that were purchased and that will continue to be purchased are very important to those families and the people that have sacrificed.”
Scheid credited the Montrose Veterans Memorial Coalition as the driving force behind the effort, while also praising local contractors and government partnerships that helped bring the project to construction.
“This is an excellent example of our governments working together, city and county,” Scheid said. “It took a lot of partners to bring this together.”
The City of Montrose and Montrose County have combined to commit $600,000 toward the project, while local contractor Stryker and Company helped secure approximately $125,000 in donated labor, services and materials. Those contributions came on top of hundreds of thousands of dollars the coalition raised to acquire a retired UH-1 Huey helicopter that will become part of the memorial.
The total project budget has been estimated at approximately $730,000.
In recent months, members of the Montrose Veterans Memorial Coalition and Stryker and Company worked throughout the community to secure additional financial commitments and in-kind support from vendors, suppliers and subcontractors in an effort to reduce project costs and allow construction to proceed within the available city and county funding.
Scott Stryker, president of the contracting company, reflected Friday on the years-long process that led to the groundbreaking.
“It was three or four years ago that we sat down with them to try and get the site together over at Cerise Park and that didn’t work out,” Stryker said. “Thankfully through a lot of hard work and effort, we’re here today to celebrate this momentous occasion.”
Scheid said the city “wouldn’t be here today doing this project” without Stryker and his team, while County Commissioner Sue Hansen called the company “the community-minded contracting company that we will always serve as a benchmark for.”
Stryker said the company viewed the memorial as an opportunity to give back to the community and honor veterans’ service.
“When the opportunity presents itself, we need to give back to our community,” he said. “This is our way of being able to be humbled by what the veterans are doing and have done for us for years.”
Hansen said the memorial will serve as more than a physical monument.
“This memorial isn’t just about monuments and granite panels,” Hansen said. “It’s about creating a space for reflection, healing and remembering the Montrose veterans who have given everything.”
County Commissioner Kirstin Copeland also reflected on the contributions veterans continue to make in communities after their military service.
“I have in my profession and currently served with many people who have come from the military and they come back as veterans and they provide amazing contributions to our communities,” Copeland said. “Oftentimes in leadership roles in different kinds of private industry as well as in public safety.”
Copeland also spoke emotionally about her own family’s military connection.
“I am picking up my active Marine son tonight from the airport,” she said. “I could not be prouder of him.”
Les Williams of the Montrose Veterans Memorial Coalition told attendees the groundbreaking represented the culmination of years of effort by veterans and supporters throughout the region.
“Today we’re standing on what is currently just dirt,” Williams said. “But by Veterans Day, this will be hallowed ground.”
Williams said the memorial will permanently honor veterans and their families for generations to come.
“As we turn this earth, we are not just breaking ground for construction,” he said. “We’re breaking ground for a legacy.”
Justin Tubbs is the Montrose Business Times editor. He can be reached by email at justin@montrosebusinesstimes.com or by phone at 970-765-0915 or mobile at 254-246-2260.
