A dedication ceremony will be held this weekend for a recently completed addition to the Arnold Veterans Memorial.
The ceremony will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Arnold Recreation Center, 1695 Missouri State Road.
Arnold Parks and Recreation Department Director Dave Crutchley said a 10-minute ceremony will be held, and the celebration will include a 21-gun salute. Military vehicles will be on hand for people to explore.
Crutchley said the addition was expected to be completed on Tuesday.
That addition includes a steel silhouette of military soldiers in front of a brick wall. The silhouette is highlighted by backlighting and a concrete path. New landscaping was added.
The memorial was built in November 2023 near the gazebo outside the rec center. It was designed by Crutchley’s daughter, Kennady, who also designed the addition.
“It is fantastic,” Crutchley said of the addition. “There has been a lot of traffic up there with veterans stopping by after hearing about it. We are excited about it.”
Crutchley said Antonia Fabricators of Imperial donated the silhouette to the Arnold Veterans Commission.
He said the city and Arnold Jaycees split the cost to have the silhouette sandblasted and painted by Simpson Sandblasting of Pevely and for Green Operations of St. Louis to build the wall, install the silhouette and complete the landscaping.
Crutchley said the total cost of the addition was $19,700. Because the city’s portion of the addition was $9,850, City Administrator Bryan Richison was allowed to approve the expenditure without City Council members voting to approve it. The city administrator may approve projects that cost less than $10,000, according to Arnold city ordinances.
“I think it is a great addition,” Crutchley said. “The committee is very active. They procured the metal silhouette. They worked hard to get that done and donated.”
The Veterans Memorial features a large star made out of paving bricks in the center of a circle with one of the star points made of colored bricks that give the appearance of a waving American flag. Five benches are placed around the circle with the insignia of each military branch on one of the benches.
The city used a flagpole that previously was in the center of a police memorial outside City Hall and placed in in the veterans memorial. The flagpole was removed from the City Hall display when Arnold replaced it with three poles in November 2022.
City officials said the original memorial cost about $40,000 to construct. The Veterans Commission held various fundraising events to help cover the construction cost.
Crutchley said the commission collected about $26,000 in donations, and the city covered the rest of the cost.