New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Broad Street Park vols, donors honored
SEYMOUR — A celebration to thank all the volunteers who helped build a town park dedicated to veterans will take center stage this weekend.
Al Yagovane, commander of VFW Post 12084, is inviting the community to help dedicate a newly installed, 3-foot-by-4-foot aluminum sign listing the names of the volunteers and area businesses and donors who had a hand in bringing Broad Street Park to life. The sign also bears the town seal and the words, “We would like to express our gratitude to our volunteers and donors.”
The ceremony is scheduled to take place at 11 a.m. Saturday at the park, at the corner of Broad and River streets. The public is invited, and coffee and pastries will be served.
“This is a ‘thank you’ to all those volunteers and businesses who helped complete the park,” said Yagovane. “We are very grateful to
all of them for everything they did, and without their help and 100 percent, allvolunteer effort, this never would have been possible.”
Yagovane, an aArmy veteran, began building the park in 1984 as a way to pay homage to veterans of all wars. Yagovane himself got the call to duty in the 1990s to serve in Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm, and had to put the park on the back burner.
Over the years, however, Yagovane rallied the troops on the local home front, and thanks to the efforts of more than 80 volunteers and local businesses, Broad Street Park was completed in 2013.
A dedication ceremony was held in 2013 to showcase the expanded park, which features a circular brick walkway, bearing the names of those who served in the various wars, along with several benches, new lightposts and landscaping. The new features were built to complement the refurbished gazebo and war memorial monument sitting before a large flagpole, flying high over the park, overlooking the waterfalls on the Naugatuck River.
Yagovane said the park is a wonderful tribute and reflective place to honor those who served the country.
And now, the latest feature to grace the park will be the large sign recently installed by the Public Works Department, containing the names of those who helped make the park a reality.
Yagovane said getting the $5,000 sign commissioned and completed was a joint effort by the town and the Broad Street Park Committee.
“I can’t tell you how much the help and dedication of these volunteers means to me, and they did it to keep the memory alive of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice and cannot be with us today,” said Yagovane.