10-02-2025
Veteran's memorial to be revamped thanks to Loves Park Super Bowl fundraiser
LOVES PARK, Ill. (WTVO) — Super Bowl Sunday is all about the food, the drinks and the game, but one local bar is using it as a way to raise money for a popular memorial.
Finnegan's Cottage held a fundraiser Sunday to raise funds for the Field of Honor, a memorial dedicated to veterans in the area.
Bartender and Event Planner Theresa Heppler said the bar was expecting people to come for the game, and she figured it was a good chance to help raise money.
'If we're going to have a party, we need to do something,' Heppler said. Said 'We need to do something that's going to go towards something.'
Heppler said the fundraiser was brought to the bar from people expressing their wants for the upkeeping of the park.
'The whole park itself was actually created based on citizens who came forward and wanted to honor veterans,' Executive Director for the Rockford Park District Foundation Lori Berkes-Nelson said. 'The fact that it was created with the donations of citizens and now we have a group that just comes forward and tells us they want to have this event and give the money for the care and maintenance of it is really amazing. It's just very heartening.'
Berkes-Nelson said the upkeep will include normal lawn maintenance. She said it needs to be kept clean and tailored to for those who fought for our freedom.
'It's 30 years old now, and so it also is requiring a lot of maintenance for the for the base, the brick base and things,' Berkes-Nelson said. 'It does take a lot of upkeep, and we never want it to fall below a standard that that that would honor the those that served our country.'
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