City Considers Renaming Fairbury City Park

By Gordon HopkinsSome citizens are looking to give City Park in downtown Fairbury a new moniker: Veterans Park.The idea for the change came from Mickey Suey of the Fairbury Museum Board, who presented it to the Fairbury Public Works Committee at a meeting on Tuesday, August 15, 2023.Suey was one of the driving forces behind the recent installed veterans memorial in the park, which he said was what motivated him to make the suggestion of a name change.Members of the committee were enthusiastic about the suggested change. They were less so about another suggestion, to rename the baseball park, Quinn Field, to Legion Field.Committee member Brian Schmidt, who also serves on the Fairbury City Council, said, “I got to say, Mick, I'm really leery about renaming Quinn Field. It's been Quinn Field for a long time.”Committee member and city councilperson Phil Rogge concurred, “Every town you go to, there's a Legion Ballpark here and a Legion Ballpark there.”Suey said he knew there would be opposition, “You, mayor and city council, you've been very supportive of everything we've done. So I'm not going to be disappointed.”Suey also discussed an addition to the Veterans Memorial.While the memorial was dedicated earlier this year, it will continue to be a work in progress, with changes continuing to be made.Suey discussed the addition of a cannon to the memorial, “We have plans to add a replica cannon that was in the park from 1907 to 1943, melted down during World War II for the scrap drive.”During Word War II, an ongoing scrap drive was held throughout the country to support the war effort. In Jefferson County, there were scrap collection booths at the county fair and scrap rallies and competitions to collect the most scrap against other states were held. One of the biggest items collected for the scrap drive was the bank vault from the First National Bank, made famous after being robbed by the Barker-Karpis gang in 1933.“The cannon will be realistic. It'll be an eight pounder,” said Suey.The committee voted to recommend changing the park name and the addition of the cannon to the city council.It will be up to the council to approve the measures.

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