Highland Park seeks relocation of downtown memorials to July Fourth mass shooting victims
Two informal memorials created to remember victims of the Fourth of July mass shootings in Highland Park could soon be moved from their prominent downtown locations if City Council members agree with a staff recommendation.
One memorial, consisting of stuffed animals, flowers and written remembrances, grew at the base of the veterans’ monument at the corner of St. Johns and Central avenues. The other, a vibrant, crowd-built art installation meant to spur action to prevent gun violence, took shape at the pavilion across the street.
Though they have drawn sizable crowds and been praised as centers of comfort and unity, they have also proven controversial.
A city memo says some veterans have asked that the items left at the veterans’ memorial to honor the shooting victims be cleared away so the curved stone slab can be restored to its original purpose.
As for the art installation, the memo says some victims, business owners and residents want it removed because it’s a “constant reminder of the physical tragedy from (July 4) due to the use of bright colors, vibrant iconography and extensive disruption of the space.”
The memo recommends both memorials be relocated by Oct. 19. City manager Ghida Neukirch said council members will offer guidance at Tuesday’s committee of the whole meeting but a formal vote won’t be taken.
Artist Jacqueline von Edelberg has made a counterproposal regarding the installation, which builds on other projects she has done to protest gun violence and remember its victims. Residents and visitors have wrapped the pavilion pillars and numerous stones in orange yarn — the color adopted by anti-gun violence activists — and left thousands of messages on luggage tags.
In a lengthy rejoinder posted online, von Edelberg has suggested weatherproofing the project, softening the portraits of those killed by turning them into photo mosaics and toning down the color scheme by adding new hues — green for renewal, rust for the earth and blue for the sky — into the orange yarn that dominates the site.
“It would be my sincere hope that they would allow this powerful community expression to continue to evolve at its current location until a permanent memorial is established,” she told the Tribune.
Residents interviewed by the Tribune for an earlier story about the installation came down on both sides of the issue. Most said they found it to be a comfort, but others said its do-it-yourself nature made it an inappropriate memorial.
Highland Park aims to build a permanent memorial to the victims of the violence carried out at the city’s Independence Day parade, but it’s in the early planning stages.
City staffers suggest two possibilities for relocating the informal memorials. Both are on land owned by the Park District of Highland Park: One is the rose garden between city hall and the library; the other is the park off Park Avenue near Highland Park Hospital.
The memo says some have suggested moving the memorial at the veterans’ monument to the spot now occupied by the art installation, but city staffers are recommending against that.
Neukirch emphasized, though, that the city wants to continue to have a temporary memorial until the permanent one is finished.
“We want to have a place where people can go, but go if they want to,” she said. “We don’t want to traumatize people who want to go somewhere and can’t without this physical reminder.”
The committee of the whole proceedings will follow the council’s regular meeting, which begins at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
Twitter @JohnKeilman
