Patriot Park
Patriot Park is a 40-acre city-owned property in Marshfield, dedicated to honoring and commemorating the community’s patriots and heroes. The park’s primary purpose is to provide a location for a new city pool and activity complex. However, the park also includes various levels of celebratory symbols and places, from incidental plaques to grand plaza spaces and monuments such as a bronze eagle at a key focal point of the park.
The park’s design focuses on keeping the park as organic and natural as possible, with minimal impact on parking and maintaining the natural setting and trees where possible. It is a pedestrian-focused, family-oriented, respectful, and thoughtful park that creates opportunities for impromptu events and activities not yet imagined by staff and planners.
One of the park’s key features is its ability to address the growing pressure for regional team sports venues such as baseball, softball, and soccer. It also includes playscapes for all ages, mainly directed toward age groups that benefit most from increased activity. Additionally, an on-site trail with fitness stations provides opportunities to celebrate local heroes through naming or engraved notations, etc.
Open recreation space is available for undefined play, dog walking, kite flying, etc. Shade and gathering spaces range from full-service covered pavilions for family and other group gatherings to minimal shade structures nestled along the trail. The client specifically chose not to focus the park on somber recollections or cemetery-like memorials, but instead to celebrate the freedom and privileges afforded by the commitment of special men and women.
Overall, Patriot Park is a thoughtful and respectful tribute to the community’s patriots and heroes. It provides a welcoming and inclusive space for all ages to gather, celebrate, and honor those who have served their community.