Creating a Brownie memorial is now an official City project.
Commissioner Kelly White, who has been extremely helpful and supportive, has donated $500 to the project and City Manager James V. Chisholm has assigned Assistant City Manager Betty Goodman to manage the Brownie project.
This by no means guarantees that a Brownie memorial will happen, but it’s looking like the city wants it to materialize as much as we do.
There have been several meetings with various city officials to discuss Brownie and the idea of installing a statue and/or creating a park in his honor.
One of these meetings was actually held at Brownie’s grave so everyone involved could see how the area near the grave in Riverfront Park is currently used and get a feel for its current condition.
Brownie Pointe Park
Last week the City of Daytona Beach asked their park design firm to come up with a design for what is now being called Brownie Pointe Park.
Hopefully, the park design firm will wow us with some exciting ideas.
As for the Brownie statue itself, that is still being discussed. The city loves the idea, but they are discussing how they want to fund the statue (pay for it outright or raise funds via donations and grants), who would design it (local artist, buy a pre-cast statue, etc) and if they want to create a civic group to help take care of this park.
All of this is great news because all involved are taking this project very seriously and want it to be a success.
Inspired by Jim the Wonder Dog.
The inspiration for Brownie Pointe Park is Jim the Wonder Dog Park in Marshall, MO.
Jim the Wonder Dog Park incorporates public art, gardens and a museum dedicated to Jim the Wonder Dog. There is even a yearly Jim the Wonder Dog festival each May. Jim the Wonder Dog was recently named Missouri’s Wonder Dog by the State of Missouri. Not bad for a dog who died in the 1920s.
If you are interested in helping out in any way with this project, let us know.
A simple way to help is to show up at one of our 1 hour Brownie grave clean ups. They are every other Sunday from 10 am – 11 am. We meet at Brownie’s grave.