Area residents wil have a chance Saturday to listen to some local bands and raise funds to expand the Veterans Memorial Park in Columbus at the same time.
A fundraiser has been organized at the Celtic Tavern on Hwy. 176 in Landrum from 3 to 8 p.m. Funds raised will be used to help The Town of Columbus purchase a vacant lot that adjoins the park.
Four local bands, Soap and Whiskey, Country Spirit Band, Brickyard Sally and Red Dog and Winkie have volunteered their time and talent to perform and entertain during the fundraiser.
Great music, good food and drinks as well as raffle and auction items supplied by Columbus merchants, as well as several courthouse prints donated by Gary Page, will be available to help raise funds.
The adjacent lot is listed for sale and appraised for $96,000. The town has collected approximately $50,000 in grants, donations and pledges. Tax deductible donations may be made to the Town of Columbus for the event.
The town has a goal to enhance Veterans Park. In order to secure the adjacent lot and ensure the block remains a park to remember our veterans and to support our community events, Columbus has been actively working to raise the necessary funds to purchase it.
Veterans Memorial Park in Columbus is synonymous with honor. The park honors the memory of those men and women who have gone before us making sacrifices to keep our country free so that we may continue to enjoy the rights established in the the Constitution. Soldiers have made countless sacrifices on behalf of our country even to the point of giving their lives.
The park also honors soldiers currently engaged in the wars in the middle east as well as other conflict areas and other duty assignments.
Polk County is home to 2,688 veterans, according to fiscal year 2008 data. For a county of approximately 19,000 people, the county has a veteran population of 14 percent.
The 2000 US census reported the NC veterans population was 13.2 percent and the total US veterans population was 12.7 percent.
The VFW post 10349 in Mill Spring, the VFW post 9116 in Columbus and the American Legion in Tryon are in full support of the purchase of the lot to expand Veterans Park.