June 9th, 2023
To celebrate, 25 Never Forget copper roses — each connected to a local fallen service member — will be placed in the park for people to find this weekend
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Monroe County Executive Adam Bello today announced the grand opening of a new playground at Powder Mills Park. To celebrate, 25 copper roses from the Never Forget Rose campaign to honor fallen service members and the Veterans Outreach Center’s 50th Anniversary will be hidden in the park for people to find this weekend.
“The Never Forget Rose Campaign is aimed at honoring the Veterans Outreach Center’s 50 years of serving veterans and ensuring the sacrifice of those who gave their lives protect our freedoms are never forgotten while also encouraging residents to visit and explore Monroe County’s spectacular parks system,” said County Executive Bello. “This new playground is just one of numerous amenities and upgrades our hard-working parks staff have installed throughout the system in recent months. I invite all residents and families to come out to Powder Mills Park this weekend and participate in this pop-up rose hunt.”
Local artist Marc Geiger donated 450 hand-crafted copper roses to the Never Forget Rose campaign, which launched Memorial Day weekend. Each rose has a numbered tag with a URL and QR Code. The number is linked to a local service member who paid the ultimate price for their service. The finder of each rose can enter their rose number at monroecounty.gov/never-forget to locate the name of their fallen service member and which local memorial bears that service member’s name. Fifty of the roses are tinted red and finders of the red roses are invited to carry their rose in the county’s second annual Veteran’s Day Parade on November 12, 2023.
Rose finders are invited to find the name of their fallen service member on their memorial and upload a selfie with the #ROCneverforgetrose hashtag. We will monitor this hashtag and post to Monroe County’s SmugMug page.
The Never Forget Rose Campaign is presented by the West Herr Auto Group and gold sponsor Dale Carnegie of Northeast and New England. Rose hunt events will run through Labor Day.
For more information, including a schedule of rose hunt events, visit monroecounty.gov/never- forget.
The new Powder Mills Park playground is part of the County Executive’s ongoing $16.6 million Go Outside Monroe Parks Revitalization initiative, which seeks to renovate and upgrade facilities and infrastructure throughout the county’s 23 park system. The new playground, in a natural color scheme of greens and browns and featuring animal-themed equipment, replaced 15-year-old equipment at Powder Mills Park. Groundbreaking for the playground was held in April.
The Go Outside Monroe initiative began with a $7.2 million investment in 2021 and expanded by an additional $9.4 million in 2022. Numerous projects have already been completed, including: newly paved roads, roof replacements and repairs at lodges and shelters; renovated bathrooms; lighting upgrades; and structural repairs at facilities including Sandpiper Shelter at Ontario Beach Park, the Robach Community Center and the Colby Pulver House Museum Barn at Northhampton Park in Sweden. A spray park and accessible playground are under construction in Ontario Beach Park.
