New Washington Veterans Memorial Park to hold Dedication Ceremony celebrating completion

NEW WASHINGTON, OH (CRAWFORD COUNTY NOW)—The Village of New Washington is set to hold a dedication ceremony on Saturday, May 11, at 1 p.m., celebrating the completion of the New Washington Veterans Memorial Park. The event will take place at the park located at 102 W Mansfield Street. A rain date of Sunday, May 12, has been set.

The ceremony will feature an address by Mayor Ben Lash, keynote remarks from Ohio State Representative Riordan McClain, and performances by the New Washington Town Band and the Buckeye Central High School Band.

The park project, originally conceived in 2022 by New Washington’s American Legion Post 405, aimed to honor local Veterans, remind the community of the cost of freedom and educate future generations about the sacrifices made on their behalf. The project received widespread support throughout Crawford County and beyond.

Dave Riedel, committee chair for the New Washington Veterans Memorial Park project, spoke about the challenges and overwhelming community support the project has received. “The project has definitely had a few challenges, like managing the rising cost of materials and not being able to control the weather,” Riedel said. “But those small struggles are nothing compared to the overwhelming support we’ve had from the New Washington area community.”

The $330,000 project was funded by hundreds of individual donors from across the country, local organizations, and generous grants and corporate donations from area businesses. The first phase of the park project, completed in October 2022, featured a mural painted on the library wall by Whitehouse, Ohio muralist Dean Davis. The second phase, which includes hardscaping and landscaping, installation of granite benches, memorials, fencing, and flagpoles, as well as resurfacing of a rear parking lot, is in the final stages and expected to be completed by the end of April.

Donations to the park may be made with a check made out to Projects, Inc. with New Washington Veterans Memorial Park Fund in the memo line and mailed to The Community Foundation for Crawford County, 254 E Mansfield Street, Bucyrus, OH 44820, or at the Community Foundation website, cfcrawford.org. The New Washington Veterans Memorial Park can be found under the Projects, Inc. Fund.