City breaks ground on Christmas parade attack memorial
By Erica Finke
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WAUKESHA, Wis. (WISN) — Crews broke ground Wednesday afternoon on the Waukesha Christmas parade memorial at Grede Park.
The city was recently able to secure all the funds for the memorial after fundraising for the project started in January 2022.
The tragedy happened Nov. 21, 2021, when Darrell Brooks — who was convicted of the crime — drove a red SUV through a crowd of people at the Waukesha Christmas parade. Six people died, and more than 70 others were injured.
The new memorial will honor those victims with benches, sculptures, a tile wall created by the community, and dedications to those who lost their lives: Tamara Durand, Wilhelm Hospel, Jane Kulich, Leanna Owen, Virginia Sorenson and Jackson Sparks.
“This memorial will offer our community a beautiful space to come together to heal and to remember. This memorial will be an everlasting symbol of our community’s support for the victims and survivors of the parade tragedy,” said Waukesha Mayor Shawn Reilly.
Some of the victim’s loved ones attended the memorial’s groundbreaking, including Donna Kalik and several members of the Dancing Grannies. Four people connected with that group died in the attack.
“It’s actually a full circle that we’ve actually had to come. It was horrible what actually happened out there and to be a witness to the whole thing was just the most horrible situation that I’ve ever seen in my entire life,” Kalik said.
The president of the Dancing Grannies, Jan Kwiatkowski, said this memorial will be a meaningful place to come and reflect.
“I think for me, it’s a sense of, I don’t know if I’d exactly call it peace, but coming to a closure, a place where we can still gather and remember,” Kwiatkowski said.
Construction on the Waukesha parade memorial is expected to wrap up in the fall. A dedication ceremony for the memorial is planned for Nov. 21, the day marking three years since the tragedy.
Any other donations the city gets for the memorial will go towards maintenance funds for years to come.
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