201811.21
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Military monuments standing tall at Lake Forest’s Veterans Park

by in News

Lake Forest again honored its heroes this week with a ribbon cutting for monuments dedicated to the five branches of the United States military.

The completed monuments cap months of work to renovate the park, which also has shed its original Village Pond Park name for Veterans Park.

  • The five branches of the military are represented with monuments and a mosaic folded flag atop, at Lake Forest’s renovated and renamed Veterans Park. Workers prepare for Tuesday’s dedication ceremony on Tuesday, November 20, 2018. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

  • The five branches of the military are represented with monuments and a mosaic folded flag atop, at Lake Forest’s renovated and renamed Veterans Park. Workers prepare for Tuesday’s dedication ceremony on Tuesday, November 20, 2018. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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  • Plastic coyotes are placed around Lake Forest’s renovated Veterans Park. Jonathan Vozke, with the city said the ominous-looking creatures have been successfully keeping away unwanted creatures like Canadian geese that damage the park. The dedication ceremony is on Tuesday, November 20, 2018. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

  • Plastic coyotes and bright orange beach balls with falcon-like eyes, successfully keep away unwanted guests of Lake Forest’s renovated Veterans Park. Canadian geese make a flyover but don’f land on Tuesday, November 20, 2018. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

  • Scott Wasserman Lake Forest’s director of community services, photographs the five military monuments at the renovated Veterans Park. Workers were preparing for the dedication ceremony on Tuesday, November 20, 2018. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

  • Mike Mollis with United Engineering, rakes the decomposed granite in preparation for Lake Forest’s Veterans Park dedication ceremony onTuesday, November 20, 2018. Metal benches in the butterfly garden were designed to look like hummingbirds, the city’s bird. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

  • A duck glides past a fountain at renovated Veterans Park in Lake Forest on Tuesday, November 20, 2018. The park now has a new filtration system, upgraded irrigation, two fountains to aerate the water, and a wildlife biologist that monitors the pond and wildlife weekly, Scott Wasserman, director of community services, said. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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The monuments are pillars about chest high that have the seal of one of the military branches along with the date it was founded.

A mosaic in blue with white stars depicting a folded American flag tops each monument.

The dedication ceremony on Tuesday, Nov. 20, also introduced residents to the new features of the park, which has gone through a $2 million transformation. Winding sidewalks and a butterfly garden are among the amenities.

Not invited back are the waterfowl that had rendered the park nearly unusable with their feces. 

The park’s pond was drained and rebuilt with fountains and an aeration system that city spokesman Jonathan Volzke said will improve the water’s quality. Newly added fences will also keep birds away from the pond, Volzke said.

Reflective devices hanging from the park’s trees will move with the wind and, along with snarling fake coyotes, discourage birds from nesting, Volzke said.

The city has increased the fine for feeding animals in the park to $100 and installed cameras to patrol the park. The city has hired a wildlife mitigation specialist who will visit the park once a week.

“We’re making sure everything we do is humane, but at the same time, effective,” Volzke said. “It’s not our goal to be heavy handed.”

The lake project’s final cost has yet to be tallied, Volzke said.