Annual Freedom Park Memorial Day event will try out a new time slot in 2022
Event moved to 2 p.m. from 4 p.m. with hopes of less wind
An important part of Eagle County’s annual Memorial Day event in Freedom Park is the reading of the names of Eagle County locals who have been killed in wars dating back to World War I.
But the audio on those afternoon readings is always a little tricky, due to the windy conditions that Edwards often sees that time of day at this time of year.
Hoping for less wind, organizers this year have decided to try a 2 p.m. time slot instead from the event’s usual 4 p.m. time slot, said Pat Hammon with the Freedom Park Committee.
Hammon also said the new Freedom Park Memorial Wall will also help block the wind.
“In the past, people gave us a donation, and for the donation they got a paver,” Hammon said. (The pavers) were on the plaza floor of the veterans memorial, and they all got worn down from people walking on it and from all the sand that came through there with the wind, so we built the wall as a wind break, and so we could put the pavers up vertically,” Hammon said.
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Unveiled at last year’s Memorial Day ceremonies, the wall was dedicated to Hammon’s late husband, Col. William M. Hammon of the U.S. Army Medical Corps.
Hammon was born in 1930 in a Belgian colony in Africa, where his parents were serving as medical missionaries, and grew up to be head of neurosurgery and hospital commander at the 24th evacuation hospital in Long Bien, Vietnam.
All are welcome to attend this year’s event at 2 p.m. on Monday, where Keynote Speaker will be Air Force Veteran Claire Noble.