Inaugural Kenosha County Veterans Picnic Draws Giant Crowd

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Kenosha County Veterans Services Director Ali Nelson speaks during Friday’s Veterans Appreciation Picnic at the Kenosha County Veterans Memorial Park
(Photo By Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)

From Joe Potente, Kenosha County Director of Communications:

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About 150 people turned out Friday for the inaugural Veterans Appreciation Picnic at the Kenosha County Veterans Memorial Park.

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County Executive Samantha Kerkman hosted the event for veterans and their families, with support from the county Division of Veterans Services and the Division of Parks.

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Mission BBQ Truck That Delivered Food Free of Charge For Today’s Event
(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)

MISSION BBQ in Kenosha provided free lunch for the guests, while transportation from the American Heroes Café at Festival Foods in Kenosha was offered courtesy of Dousman Transport.

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Kenosha County Executive Samantha Kerkman
(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)

“Really, what today’s all about is thanking you and showing you what’s available at this beautiful park,” Kerkman told the crowd.

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The Kenosha County Veterans Memorial Park is located on 335 acres west of Highway KD and north of Highway F in the towns of Randall and Wheatland. Park amenities include the Veterans Honor Plaza, the 39-acre Freedom Lake and more than five miles of walking trails.

Marine Veteran and Kenosha County Sheriff, David W. Zoerner Chats With Local Vets Friday
(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)

Now under construction and expected to open this summer are a permanent restroom facility near the honor plaza and a shelter honoring Army veterans. The latter is the first of a series of planned shelters that will be dedicated to all branches of the U.S. Armed Forces.

Learn more:

More details about the park are available at https://www.kenoshacounty.org/1658/Kenosha-County-Veterans-Memorial-Park, and more information about the Kenosha County Veterans Service Office is at https://www.kenoshacounty.org/368/Veterans.

Veterans and their supporters are also encouraged to visit the Kenosha County Veterans Honor Portal — an online tool that includes Tribute Trail self-guided tour of veteran landmarks across the county, as well as the Veterans Honor Registry, a place for Kenosha County veterans and their families to share their stories of service. A Veterans History feature also debuted recently. The portal is available at https://www.kenoshacounty.org/VeteransPortal.

**Top Row: Supervisor Zach Rodriguez, Sheriff Zoerner and Board County Vice Chair Erin Decker**
**Bottom Row: Supervisors John Poole, Supervisor/State Rep Amanda Nedweski, and County Exec Samantha Kerkman** (Poole and Zoerner are U.S. Marines)
**(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye**)

Flags Waving At Veteran’s Park
(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)

United States Vet Center Resource Truck
(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)

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8 Responses

Anonymous says:

June 2, 2023 at 10:42 PM

Nice, all around

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1. Winter says:
  
  June 5, 2023 at 10:21 AM
  
  Really? A thumbs down? Go pound sand!!!
  
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Anonymous says:

June 2, 2023 at 10:45 PM

Also nice to see Joe Potente in a very respectable and important position.

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! says:

June 3, 2023 at 12:21 AM

It’s refreshing seeing events like this that people respect and don’t find anything negative to say.

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Anonymous says:

June 3, 2023 at 7:02 AM

Thanks to Mission BBQ for donating the food.

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Anonymous says:

June 3, 2023 at 8:58 AM

Patronize Mission Bbq as often you can. They are very generous for events such as these.

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Winter says:

June 5, 2023 at 10:24 AM

Thank you Kevin! I love the group picture by the flags!

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Anonymous says:

June 9, 2023 at 4:44 PM

So KD is open again? Was closed last time I was out there. Couldn’t get in from east side and west side was a lot of construction.

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