Staff Writer for the Wind River News
Plans for the new Northern Arapaho Veteran's Park and Museum were discussed March 12 during an informational meeting at the Wind River Casino.
A resolution that was recently approved by the Northern Arapaho Business Council allowed the Northern Arapaho Tribal Engineering Department to initiate the early stages of planning for a park and museum. The facility, to be located off of Wyoming Highway 789, will honor Northern Arapaho veterans.
"It's taken so long to establish a site," NATED senior planner Sandy Ross Whitehair said.
She said it took two years exactly and the department is glad to finally begin planning and gather ideas from locals. The site was originally supposed to be on the west side of the casino; now it will be farther south and will share the casino's entrance off of the highway.
The approved resolution stated that NATED will "provide program planning, site planning, pre-development, preliminary design and surveying to plan, develop and design," the park/museum. The group will collaborate with the Northern Arapaho Economic Development Commission. The NABC has approved five acres of their land for the use of the park, and once plans progress funding will be sought through fundraisers, donations and grants.
Design
"I want (everyone) to be aware of all the ideas and time that has been put into this," Whitehair told attendees at the meeting about the plans already sketched.
Whitehair updated the design to include center points connected by walkways, with one center point to be used for events or gatherings for veterans and their families. She also sketched light posts along the walkways and an entrance sign bearing the Arapaho flag colors.
Whitehair encouraged all guests to sketch their own ideas on a large sheet of the site she handed out. She asked participants to explain their ideas to everyone else.
"We're not trying to leave anybody out... from the youngest to the oldest," planning group participant Stephen Seminole said. "We still need more support from everybody to help us."
Whitehair encouraged attendees to get specific with their ideas like how they'd like the statute to look like and if there should be restrooms.
One group suggested a fountain and benches and a large plaque listing veterans' names. Others recommended planting native plants and installing a gazebo at the property. Another group suggested a feather-shaped plaque to list all the veteran's names.
They also explained changing a section of the Wyoming Highway 789 to be named the Northern Arapaho Veterans Road.
"We're going to take all of your ideas, previous ideas and design a new site," Whitehair said. "We'll present final ideas back to the community."
Veterans Recognized
Whitehair added that NATED is also accepting for inclusion more names of veterans they may not yet have collected. The engineering department hopes to honor all U.S. military branches and genders.
Before ideas were brainstormed, NATED took a moment to honor a few Northern Arapaho veterans. Alberta Goggles, was a U.S. Army nurse, Darlene Conrad was a U.S. Navy Hospital Corpsman Second Class Petty Officer, Burton Hutchinson was a Sergeant first class in the Korean War and John A. Warren was a paratrooper in World War II.
"They called me chief," Warren said as he told a quick story on what it was like to be in WWII and the desire of soldiers to go home soon.
"He tells some good stories," his daughter Angela Warren said. "I'm just real proud of my dad."
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