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| Soon...all will be revealed |
A Good News Story
A frequent question asked of both Judy and me is “what is happening with the Heroes Fountain at Hawley’s Pond?” I thought the best way to address this good news story is to tell you the tale of the year 2000 construction of the Robert Moses statue that stands in front of the Village Hall.
The most confounding decision that took over a year and a half to come to agreement on was what should the statue would look like? It took months of public query, involving our diligent community committee members, to finally agree on his look. I remember the night we discussed the cut of his pants. But you know what? I think everyone would agree ..we got it right. That statue is Robert Moses, a community member that changed our world forever.
We tell this story for one reason: creating a world class fountain is an historic undertaking. To properly salute our everyday heroes, to say thank you to our nurses, Fire Department, our EMTs, our teachers, our morticians, our grocery workers, health care providers, and so many others, it must be done right. This is an extremely ambitious project honoring our everyday heroes in the world, and it has taken some time.
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| The time has come! |
We are proud to announce that this time has been put to good use and that the fountain has been fully designed and will soon be ready to be viewed. You will be so proud of this Fountain!
A scaled working model and maquette (model) of the nurse that will stand proudly atop of the fountain has been completed. The nurse was received last week, and we expect the fountain shortly. Special thanks to resident artists Shawn and Allison Uttendorfer who have been working with the renowned sculptor, Jose Fernandez, in creating the fountain. The nurse maquette will ‘knock your socks off’.
For this important project, funding is dependent solely on grants and donations. Plan to join us in September when we will sponsor a ‘Grand Reveal’ fundraiser as we roll out these two extraordinary works of art. Certainly, the Heroes Fountain will have a positive and dramatic effect for both entering Babylon Village or West Islip. Picture traveling along Montauk Highway at night and approaching a beautifully lit fountain. Although it is not going to be easy, we are already nearly halfway to our goal. Stay tuned for more information about the September fundraiser.
To visualize the project, the Heroes Fountain will stand at seventeen feet
tall and twenty feet wide. This week we met with our Village engineer and
Highway Superintendent to scope out an engineering plan. This phase would
include soil testing, load bearing and such matters. This process of creating a
plan should take us several months. During those months we are going to
assemble the best and brightest team to erect our ‘Heroes Fountain’. We already
have several builders who have volunteered their expertise.
Returning to the often-asked question, when will the Heroes
Fountain be built? Our goal is to break ground next Spring. When I once asked
sculptor Jose Fernandez, how’s it going? He responded...’it will be epic’.
Epic: honoring the deeds of heroic or legendary figures
Wayne Horsley
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