Waukesha is still well short of its fundraising goal for the Christmas parade memorials

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Thrive Architects' plan for a memorial at Grede Park, one of two memorials honoring the six victims killed in the November 2021 attack during the Waukesha Christmas Parade, includes a heart noting the community unity that subsequently emerged. The design, which is still evolving to incorporate ideas presented by Carmen De La Paz, is expected to be finalized in 2023 or early 2024, with completion planned for the third anniversary of the attack. The park is located off Wisconsin and St. Paul avenues near Main Street.

WAUKESHA - One aspect of "Waukesha Strong," the slogan tied to the community's ability to regroup following the 2021 Waukesha Christmas Parade tragedy, still has some heavily lifting to do to meet a memorable goal.

Now more than a year since the parade tragedy shocked everyone, plans for the two memorials are mostly set, but how to pay for them is not. According to city officials, donations are needed to keep the memorials on pace for construction in 2023 and 2024, respectively.

"So far, the Parade Memorial Fund has received donations from over 330 donors representing 33 different states and Canada," said Rebecca Pederson, an administration and communications manager at Waukesha City Hall. "Numerous individuals are stepping up to make contributions to the fund, which is wonderful to see."

Donations have already topped $100,000. But the goal, to cover all costs if they were paid and not donated in kind, is $1.5 million, most of which would have to be secured if construction will begin on the smaller memorial in the spring, as planned.

"I still feel comfortable that we will hit (the financial benchmarks) where we need to be," said Mayor Shawn Reilly. "It will take some time, though."

At this point in the year, businesses are planning large donations for various causes, with some considering the parade memorials, Reilly said. While those donations help the total leap ahead greatly, the smaller donations can't be overlooked.

"For me, what's important is to make sure that the people who can make the $20, $50 and $100 donations to keep it in mind," he said. "We want to be able to keep moving forward on this."

The memorials will be at the Five Points intersection and Grede Park

In September, the Waukesha Parade Memorial Commission, the city panel assigned the task of working through the details of the memorials, selected Thrive Architects to design and erect both memorials, incorporating design elements also proposed by Waukesha resident and renowned artist Carmen De La Paz.

The memorials will be at or near the Five Points intersection and another larger gathering place at Grede Park on Wisconsin and St. Paul avenues off the west end of Main Street.

Commission members continue to meet regularly, including a Jan. 12 meeting in which two additional large donations, from ProHealth Care and We Energies, were expected to be presented.

The obvious purpose is to remember those killed, as well as the dozens of others who were injured, when Darrell Brooks drove through the crowd on Nov. 21, 2021. (Brooks was convicted in October on 76 criminal counts and sentenced to life imprisonment in November.)

Thrive's plans include six metal ribbons, meant to represent the six people killed, while at the same time trying to deliver a message of "healing and caring," Thrive's principal owner Jeremy Bartlett previously said.

"This isn't about being unhappy forever," Bartlett said. "This is about taking something that was terrible and turn(ing) it into something positive."

Thrive Architect's second and smaller memorial, planned for the downtown Waukesha's Five Points intersection, includes six strands noting the deaths of six parade victims in the 2021 Waukesha Christmas Parade. This memorials is expected to be completed in time to be dedicated on Nov. 21, 2023, the second anniversary of the attack.
(Photo: Thrive Architects)

The parade memorial commission's chairman, early in the process, also noted the memorials have another purpose.

"It's about what we can do to help avoid this anytime in the future, not just for Waukesha, but for any community," said Jerry Couri, whose business, Couri Insurance Agency, is a Main Street mainstay.

The plan was initially to have both memorials in place late this year. Reilly said he never took that aggressive timeline seriously, however, with the design of the Grede Park memorial still evolving.

Given the circumstances, the revised goal now envisions having only the Five Points memorial ready for dedication on Nov. 21, the two-year anniversary of the parade tragedy. The Grede Park memorial is expected to be dedicated exactly one year later.

Donations for the memorials, collected in a fund administered by the Waukesha County Community Foundation, can be made via a page set aside for that purpose on the foundation's website.

Contact Jim Riccioli at (262) 446-6635 or james.riccioli@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @jariccioli.