VFW Post 4929’s Veterans Park nearing completion

by John Benson

Four years ago, Twinsburg’s VFW Post 4929 presented the Cost of Freedom Tribute, which included an emotional visit by the traveling Vietnam Memorial Wall. The memorable affair also featured the dedication of Veterans Park, located next to VFW Post 4929 on Ravenna Road.

Since then, Commander Joe Jasany said the outfit has been busy creating a park the entire community can enjoy.

“We’ve had fundraisers throughout the years to improve the park,” Jasany said. “There’s the granite monument in the middle of the park. When the granite company donated the granite, that saved us a considerable amount of money.

“Then we started adding little things like military rocks under the trees and the small statues of different veteran memorabilia. We also have a huge painted mural on the concrete retainer wall done by an artist from Macedonia. Little things like that have been added to the park, and the city has been very helpful in taking care of the park.”

In addition to fencing in the park, one of the most recent additions was a 10-foot by 10-foot patio that include a concrete POW/MIA table, along with benches and a large flagpole.

“Last week Twinsburg’s Architectural Review Board approved the building of a 12-foot by 12-foot pavilion over the concrete patio to shelter the table from weather, because a lot of people do sit and eat lunch there,’’ Jasany said. “That way they’ll be out of the elements.”

Jasany is excited that the pavilion will be using wood from a veteran-owned lumber mill.  

“When we proposed the pavilion in that high-profile area, city officials said they didn’t want it to look out of place and gaudy,” Jasany said. “I said, ‘It’s going to be a practical addition.’ The cost of the pavilion is $1,500. We’re going to wait until the spring to have it installed.”

That means next Memorial Day the new pavilion will be the site of commemorative services. Jasany said the only thing remaining involves the removal of a diseased tree. In its place, the Twinsburg Garden Club will install a full-size Gold-Star Families plaque.

“After that, we’ll have nothing more other than upkeep, flowers and cutting grass,” Jasany said. “We talked about trying to get a piece of military memorabilia somewhere in the park but now the military is mostly scrapping stuff.”

VFW Post 4929 is in its second year of staging monthly drawings at meetings on the second Tuesday of the month to fundraise for the pavilion and other projects. Each ticket costs $10 with the winner receiving $100.

“Last year we had to sell 120 $10 tickets to break even,” Jasany said. “This year, for 2019-2020, we found four sponsors that donated the $1,200 necessary for the payout. So basically, every ticket we sell this year is all profit toward maintaining Veterans Park.”

Because Veterans Day is soon, Jasany said he hopes the community will make its way to the park.

“It’s very important because it’s Veterans Park, not Veterans Memorial,” he said. “This is for all living veterans and families to see. It’s just the right size to walk through and be able to sit for a moment and reflect, especially at the POW table. It seems like when people sit there they’re very conscious about it.”

Featured image photo caption: Twinsburg VFW Post 4929 Commander Joe Jasany sits at a concrete POW/MIA table recently added at Veterans Park. The post is raising money to cover the table and patio area with a shelter. Photo by K. Garred