WildLife Prairie Park - 2003
Location: Peoria, Illinois
Sculptor: Erin Mallon
Dedicated: 05/01/2003
My
wife and I live in Pekin, Illinois which is a suburb of Peoria,
Illinois and we were honored to have been asked to attend the Dedication
Ceremony on 05/01/2003, by William Rutherford, the owner of Wild Life
Prairie Park at that time. Bill asked Erin Mallon to design the
sculpture and he paid 100% for it out of his own pocket.
We were
fortunate to learn of the proposed sculpture a year before it was ever
dedicated so we got to see a lot of behind the scenes events that I'd
like to share with you at these 2 links:
http://www.pbase.com/635thk9/wildlife http://www.pbase.com/vdha/wild_life&page=all
NOTE: The park was originally farmland owned by William Rutherford.
He negotiated a deal with the State of Illinois to take it over from
him. Unfortunately, 2 years later, William Rutherford passed on. It
continued to be a STATE Park for several years until the state of
Illinois cut way back and closed a lot of state parks and state owned
property. Fortunately, before it could be shut down, private citizens
arranged to take it back over and it no longer is a "STATE" Park. BUT,
the park has not changed and the War Dog Memorial is still standing
proudly.
Dave Broeker
VDHA Webmaster
