A public ceremony was held during the evening of Dec. 1 for the rededication of the park, located at the corner of East Third Street and Potter’s Alley. The event began at St. Luke’s Church Undercroft on Fourth and Main, and was organized by Jamestown Pride, St. Luke’s Church, PFLAG Chautauqua and Evergreen Health, marking the return of the park’s memorial plaque which was originally installed in the late 1990s to honor members of the community who had died during the height of the AIDS epidemic.

For many years, the memorial served as one of the region’s few public spaces dedicated to remembrance, solidarity, and compassion, but the park was closed in 2019 because of structural concerns. This led to a multi-year redevelopment project led by the Jamestown Renaissance Corporation, and at that time it was also discovered that the memorial plaque had been stolen. The site was transformed from a raised wooden deck into an accessible, green public gathering space, which reopened in 2022, and more recently the plaque has been found, prompting the rededication ceremony at the beginning of December.

“We gathered in St Luke’s Undercroft for some time of community building, conversation, and then we had a presentation,” Rev. Jessica Frederick, coordinator for Jamestown Pride, said. “There were a series of presentations from community members, talking about the history of AIDS and where we are now, along with a monologue that was written in 1994 … really just kind of talking about what it was like to be dealing with AIDS in the 90s.”

The monologue was written by playwright Tony Cushner, who wrote “Angels in America” outlining the historic picture of what it was like in 1994. Steven Cobb, Jamestown Pride president said the “Angels in America” was a two-part play highlighting the politics happening around the AIDS epidemic, and Cushner’s monologue which was also a prayer was read during the rededication event.

Members of the community gathered at an event hosted by Jamestown Pride, St. Luke’s Church, PFLAG Chautauqua and Evergreen Health for the rededication of the city’s AIDS Memorial Park on World AIDS Day. Submitted photos

“It gives a good historical picture of where we were in 1994, in a position where we didn’t know what was next,” Cobb said.

“We didn’t have cures, we had some treatments that were happening and one of the things that I think is really special about the prayer is that there’s some anger and accountability in the prayer in speaking to God out of desperation that is rooted in what was happening at the time where there didn’t seem to be a clear path forward, a cure, or how are we going to survive this?”

The event also involved planting red glow sticks down at the park, and talking a bit about the history of the park itself, and the history of what the AIDS epidemic was like in Jamestown. The park itself was dedicated in 1998, and it was discussed by Kim Lombard from Evergreen Health at the event, that the year before in 1997 was a difficult year in the city. Lumbard herself was on the ground during that time working with people and providing services, as one person a week in the community was dying from AIDS.

“There was no time to grieve and process,” Cobb said. “When one person passed, everyone just had to move on to help and support the next person who they knew was going to be leaving us shortly. So, she talked about how difficult that year was prior to the park being dedicated and that the folks who were supporting people in the community really were hopeful that in the next year things would change, and things had started to change because some of the treatments had begun to take hold.”

The park was something Cobb said people at the time felt was essential at that point to give the community something that could represent the spirits of those no longer there in a good way. They also worked closely with the mayor of the time, Richard Kimball, to make the park happen and it was an overall response to what Cobb said was probably one of the worst years the Jamestown community has seen with people passing.

Cobb said the multiple organizations involved in the recent rededication of the park felt that it was important to do as the world is in a different place now and politics have changed. He added they did not feel the politics were the most important part to focus on for this project, and what made the rededication happen so fast was the return of the park’s plaque.

“The plaque disappeared during the renovation process and a person in the community found the plaque when he had been hired to remove some debris from some place in town,” Cobb said. “He made it known that he had found the plaque through social media and wanted to get the plaque back to where it belonged.”

The plaque was returned about a month and a half ago, and Cobb said with World AIDS Day coming it was felt to be needed to get the plaque back up as soon as possible. He added that an enormous amount of progress has been made in dealing with HIV and AIDS, and they felt the message of the park with where the community and world has come from versus now needed to be shared with the community. While there is still no cure there are now treatments that make having HIV manageable, to the point where many are undetectable. Cobb added that the goal is to not go backwards and to keep that work going forward and educating the community. This includes educational pamphlets that have been spread through the community about HIV, which Frederick said was made by PFLAG Chautauqua.

Frederick said people should come visit the park now since it has been renovated, and Rev. Luke Fodor, co-chair of the Jamestown Renaissance Corporation said the renovations were done to be made safe again after some structural problems in 2019. The park was reopened again in 2022.

“Public spaces are owned by everybody and I think that’s the really important part,” Fodor said. “Even though the Jamestown Renaissance Corporation stewards the space, like all of our buildings it belongs to everybody. … Folks should visit the park knowing that those in the community who may not even be here anymore still play a part in shaping the fabric of our daily life in ways that are enduring and connective.”

Fodor said the park can be a place for people to sit and have lunch, remember, and is a place of solidarity that brings the community together and creates a sense of belonging. He added the park can be a place for people to hold together during whatever the next pandemic may be, mentioning some similarities between the AIDS epidemic and the COVID-19 pandemic.

“What I was taking away from the event and the work that we’ve done around this is that we are better together,” Frederick said. “We need community, and that ancient wisdom that what affects one affects all. Many people at the event had known and loved people who have died of AIDS and some people hadn’t or some people were young enough to not remember what it was like. And, as we’ve learned from the pandemic and public health, there’s no one thing that just affects those people over there. Whatever is impacting one other person in our community impacts us all. … Public health affects our whole community, so as a community we need to come together and tell the story, and as we tell the story of difficult times it actually strangely feels good to come together, to remember, to remind ourselves and experience community connections, which is something we need more of in this day and age.”

For more information on Jamestown Pride visit jamestownpride.org or find any of the organizations involved in the rededication event on Facebook.