The Gillette News Record published a wonderful article about this project
(get details at http://www.fencebook.com/node/8) and interviewed the driving force behind this project, award-winning local artist Edie Reno.
As stated in the article, “most fences are designed to separate things, but the Memory Fence is designed to bring people together." Bronze figures, brazed to a wrought iron fence at the AVA building, will uniquely tell the stories of how people came to Campbell County. By telling their stories, they will tell the history of the area. The actual stories will be available in a book inside the AVA building, which will also be available in Braille and audio format. Each of the 36 iron panels, created by local welder Joe Liffert, will feature a map of Campbell County and the many roads that lead to and from it. The idea is to braze the bronze symbols to the roads so that every person who submits their story to AVA will be immortalized on the Memory Fence.
We need your help to prepare the Memory Fence for an official ribbon cutting ceremony scheduled for July 31. Installation of the first six panels will take place at 1 p.m. on Sunday July 27. Landscaping will be conducted on Tuesday and Wednesday, July 29-30 at 5:30 pm.
The following items will be need on these days:
- Two strong people to lift and move fence panels and operate power auger
- Three bags Quickcrete to cement fence posts
- Landscape materials including drought resistant plants/ shrubs, large decorative scoria rocks and other natural landscape items
- Shovels, buckets and work gloves
The ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Memory Fence will take place on July 31, 5:30 pm at the AVA parking lot. There will be live music provided by the Gillette Guitar Guild and an Old Fashioned Pie Social. All proceeds from the social will benefit the ongoing Memory Fence Project. If you are interested in helping with the installation and/or landscaping of the fence or would be interested in contributing homemade pies or other goodies for the pie social, please contact me at 307-660-1820.
Deepest thanks to all those who have volunteered their time and services thus far to make the Memory Fence possible. The Memory Fence will serve as a living legacy for past present and future generations. It will commemorate the people and places that make this area such a beautiful place to live.
