MONTE VISTA - The Faith Hinkley Veteran’s Memorial Park Fundraiser is being held from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, July 27, at Chapman Park in Monte Vista.
The event will raise funds toward the completion of the Memorial Paver Installation Project, at Faith Hinkley Veteran’s Memorial Park. This is sure to be a memorable event and will honor local fallen heroes and all the brave women and men who have served.
The City of Monte Vista is hosting this event. This is going to be an exciting experience from beginning to end for the entire family. There will be a poker run, a car and motorcycle show, vendors, food trucks, a beer garden, and music from a DJ and live bands. There will be kids games, a cornhole tournament, a dunk tank, and much more.
The Faith Hinkley Memorial Park Project began March 10, 2011. The City of Monte Vista, partnered with the Monte Vista School District to create the beloved park to celebrate and remember the lives of fallen U.S. Army Sgt. Faith Hinkley, and U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Glen E. Martinez. There have been many donations over the years from local businesses, and residents to help finish the park. This year, a stone will also be added by local businessman Bob Richards, and James Pacheco of the Polished Bean, for World War II Veteran George Blake, a Homelake Veterans community resident who passed away recently.
The fundraiser will help complete the Memorial Park project. Everything kicks off at 9 a.m. at Chapman Park with a poker run hosted by Larry Garner. Registration for this event opens at 8 a.m. The $20 fee for the run also gets you into the car show; any licensed vehicle, cars, trucks, and motorcycles are welcome to attend the run. At 9 a.m., everyone will follow Garner from Chapman Park, and the poker run will visit five historic sites. According to Garner, everyone from the run should be back by around 12:30 p.m.
At 10 a.m., the park activities will open for everyone to enjoy. Registration for a cornhole tournament will take place at 10 a.m., with the tournament starting at 11.
From 12 to 4 p.m., there will be live music, in this order, Marc Albion, The Rooster/Mikey Dynamic Drum Duo, Ol Scratch, and the SLV Big Band. At 2 p.m., the car show will commence, and at 5 p.m. there will be non-traditional fun awards given out for the car show, and at 6 p.m. the event will end.
All day long vendors will be selling their wares in the park, there will also be a lot of fun games going in the park for the kids to enjoy, including bouncy houses, and there will be a dunk tank, too. Nine food trucks are scheduled to be at the event. The food trucks will range from Mexican to American and all that’s in between. There will also be a beer garden hosted by Colorado Farm Brew.
Students from the Byron Syring DELTA Center created some amazing T-shirts that will be available at the event for purchase for $25.
The City of Monte Vista would like to thank all of the amazing sponsors that have donated to the event including, Valley Tractor Repair LLC, the Nazarene Thrift Store, RG Bank, The LOR Foundation Inc, Poole Agribusiness, H&R Block, Mackey Construction, The Roberts Team, Proud Military Parents and Supporters, O&V Printing Inc, Troy Plane Insurance Agency, David Hinkley, Rocky Mountain Memorabilia, and Brown’s Septic.
Food truck vendor registration is closed, but there is still time to donate to the cause for the completion of the park and register to be a vendor. For more information about registering, contact City Clerk Unita Vance at City Hall at 719-852-6171.
Vance is proud to be a part of the team that helped put this all together, as according to her and City Manager Gigi Dennis, the city has never hosted an event like this.
“Without everyone working on this together, it would not have been possible. We want to thank all our sponsors, and everyone at the city for pulling together to make this possible,” Vance said.
Garner said, “This is a one-time event, to help finish the Faith Hinkley Memorial Park. I would really like to encourage people to come to this particular event, because it is so important.”
City Manager Dennis said she appreciates all the hard work that all the city members have put in and all the sponsors and donations.
“Everyone has really pulled together to help with this event,” she said.
Dennis also thanked Colette Skeff and her family for their generous donation of $30,000 to help finish the park.
Skeff had this to say of the donation that she made, "These funds are in memory of Ray Skeff, Colette Skeff, and Margaret Skeff Family Funds. We are proud and honored to make this $30,000 donation to the Faith Hinkley Memorial Park. The park provides a beautiful memorial to honor the veterans who have passed as well as celebrate those with us today who have served our country. The fundraiser by the City of Monte Vista inspired the Skeff families to make the donation to help the city with the funds to complete the park.”
