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Wildlife Prairie Park

WildLife Prairie Park - 2003
Location: Peoria, Illinois
Sculptor: Erin Mallon
Dedicated: 05/01/2003

 

My wife and I live in Pekin, Illinois which is a suburb of Peoria, Illinois and we were honored to have been asked to attend the Dedication Ceremony on 05/01/2003, by William Rutherford, the owner of Wild Life Prairie Park at that time. Bill asked Erin Mallon to design the sculpture and he paid 100% for it out of his own pocket.

We were fortunate to learn of the proposed sculpture a year before it was ever dedicated so we got to see a lot of behind the scenes events that I'd like to share with you at these 2 links:
http://www.pbase.com/635thk9/wildlife
http://www.pbase.com/vdha/wild_life&page=all

NOTE: The park was originally farmland owned by William Rutherford. He negotiated a deal with the State of Illinois to take it over from him. Unfortunately, 2 years later, William Rutherford passed on. It continued to be a STATE Park for several years until the state of Illinois cut way back and closed a lot of state parks and state owned property. Fortunately, before it could be shut down, private citizens arranged to take it back over and it no longer is a "STATE" Park. BUT, the park has not changed and the War Dog Memorial is still standing proudly.

 

Dave Broeker

VDHA Webmaster