Late city commissioner to be honored with park expansion

Late Bozeman City Commissioner I-Ho Pomeroy will be honored with the construction of an expanded park in her name on the northeast corner of Black Avenue and Mendenhall Street. 

Pomeroy was born in Korea and moved to the U.S. in 1988 with her husband Derik, later opening I-Ho’s Korean Grill on Main Street in 1997.  She was elected as a city commissioner in 2013 and served for a decade, becoming the first immigrant and first person of color to serve in the role, according to NBC Montana. She passed away on March 12, 2024. 

Following her death, Bozeman Mayor Terry Cunningham asked City Commissioner Jennifer Madgic to do something to remember her impact, according to Madgic. “She represented the Bozeman business community and I think really tried to represent particularly small, local businesses,” Madgic said. “She was a positive, happy force and we don’t see that in many politicians these days.”

“She was a founder; a modern-day pioneer for this community,” said Ellie Staley, executive director at the Downtown Bozeman Partnership (DBP). The DBP is a partnership between three Bozeman organizations and works in conjunction with the City, the City Commission and community advisory boards to address and manage issues and projects regarding downtown Bozeman, according to its website.

The project is still in the planning phases, but grants — like ones from the Montana Main Street Program — are steadily coming in to fund the park, Staley said.

Pomeroy was known for always giving back to the Bozeman community and trying to feed everyone in Bozeman. She set up fundraisers for various charities, including the Bozeman Cancer Support Community, according to Staley.

The DBP has remained in contact with Pomeroy’s family, who are giving their approval on designs of the park and suggesting additions — like a cherry tree —  according to Pomeroy’s daughter Jin-Ju Jahns. “I think she would have been really honored,” she said.

“We want this park to be a model of how we can design our community differently while applauding and honoring those, like [Pomeroy,] who have made a difference,” Madgic said. 

“[Pomeroy] always talked about the importance of keeping Bozeman walkable and bikeable. This park is intended to help show how we can make both modes of travel safer by designing a street that slows traffic, adding more landscaping to help [beautify] our community, and replacing auto parking spaces with bike parking,” she said.

The project site is currently a small pocket park on the corner of a parking lot, but the park will expand eastward into two existing parking spaces. Madgic explained that the park will have a Korean-themed design with a cherry tree, planters, benches and arched entrances. 

The park will also feature a peace pole — a post with the message “may peace prevail on Earth” according to worldpeace.org — and other designs inspired by Pomeroy’s Korean heritage, according to Madgic.

“She had this belief that you’re supposed to help other people in this world and that’s what she went out and did,” Jahns said.

The DBP plans to open the project to community fundraising around late spring once it is closer to its goal of around $300,000, according to Staley.

To stay up to date on the project, check out https://downtownbozeman.org/news.