Fundraiser for United Nations Peacekeeping Memorial on Friday

Benefit being held at the Peterborough Armoury

An event hosted by the Peterborough Chapter of the Canadian Association of Veterans in United Nations Peacekeeping on Friday will raise money for the UN Peacekeepers Memorial slated for the city’s new downtown urban park.

The cocktail party format fundraiser will take place at the Combined Senior Ranks Mess at the Peterborough Armoury on Murray Street from 4 to 7 p.m.

The event represents part of a promise to Mayor Daryl Bennett to organize community fundraising for the project, chapter president Bill Steedman said.

“That’s what this is about. Fulfilling our commitment to the city,” he said, pointing out how the municipality “came to the table, big time” in pledging nearly $100,000 from the arts budget for the memorial to be built by Toronto design firm Studio F Minus.

The federal government will contribute $25,000 for the project and proponents will also be approaching the province, Steedman said.

Physical work on the memorial has been delayed along with construction on the urban park in the former Louis Street parking lot. Work was initially set to begin this fall, but has been delayed until spring over provincial government requirements.

The $6-million project calls for a pond a skating rink in winter, green space, a portable stage and new space for the farmers’ market, as well as a six-storey building to house washrooms, a park attendant and residential and/or commercial space.

That project feeds into the greater Charlotte Street reconstruction and the Bethune Street redevelopment, both scheduled to begin in 2020.

A public unveiling of the design of the monument was unveiled on Canada Day in 2017 after a nation-wide call for proposals drew 24 submissions.

The chosen design calls for a pair of 14-foot-high mirrored sculptures; when you stand between them, there is a hall-ofmirrors effect.

A blue dotted line is embedded in the mirrors and appears to hang in the air. The line represents all the borders that Canadians can move between freely, the city stated.

It’s “wonderful” that the peacekeeping memorial has been slated to become an anchor for the park, Steedman said.

He said he hopes to be able to bring students from local schools to the unveiling, so that they may read aloud the names of fallen peacekeepers and ring a bell in their honour.

The public has been supportive of the project, Steedman said.

Friday’s fundraiser will include a silent auction with more than 50 items and a cash bar. Finger foods will be provided, organizers stated.

Advance tickets are not required as tickets will be available at the door for $25.