Harahan to dedicate Park of Heroes next Friday; memorial funded largely by state and private donations

Harahan officials announced a formal dedication for the Park of Heroes next Friday at 11 a.m. and urged residents to attend the ceremony and a reception at the gym afterwards.

The memorial project was described at the Harahan City Council meeting by Brian Wallace, chief of staff, who said the park is complete and open to the public. Wallace said the installation includes a 16-foot water wall, nine commemorative columns and other elements honoring 16 residents who died in military service. "The water wall is 16 feet tall," he said, and described flags and interpretive panels that identify where several of the fallen are memorialized.

Wallace told the council the project cost was mostly covered by outside funding: an award of $205,000 from the state plus private and corporate donations and matching funds. He said Canadian corporate donors contributed about $35,000 and named other corporate contributors, including Delta Air Lines, Boeing, DuPont and ADM. Wallace said the city raised most of the remainder through corporate and private gifts so the project carried "very little cost to the city, other than our matching fund from the state."

The council discussed logistics for the ceremony. Mayor Timothy Baudier and city staff told residents that Colonial Avenue will be closed and converted to a one-way on the eastbound approach from Hickory to Ninth Street for security and crowd control during the event. Council members and the chief of police said they expect up to several hundred attendees and arranged handicap and VIP parking, on-site medical support and officer stations at Hickory and Tenth to facilitate pedestrian crossings.

Wallace also described site improvements completed as part of the project: a walking track, landscaping with Japanese magnolias and Kwanzan cherry trees, an ADA-compliant restroom and picnic access improvements. He said the park area has been made ADA-compliant "and it's really kind of the start" of further accessibility work in the city.

The Park of Heroes site, Wallace said, includes displays assembled in cooperation with the American Battle Monuments Commission and an interpretation of Camp Harahan's World War II history. He described the memorial as a local history resource and said several relatives of those memorialized have visited the site.

City officials encouraged the public to walk through the memorial ahead of the dedication and noted that the site has already drawn unannounced visits by local school groups. "It's important to know your history," Wallace said. The council asked staff to finalize parking and public-safety plans for the dedication and to publish guidance about road closures and accessible parking.

The dedication will include remarks by state and local officials; the transcript records a list of invited dignitaries but does not provide a full attendee roster. The council requested patience from attendees for street closures and suggested walking or biking to the event where possible.