Missoula Peace Park project lets community honor loved ones

MISSOULA, Mont. — A new project at Missoula’s Peace Park aimed to give the community a lasting place to remember loved ones and gather together.

I was at the Waterworks hiking trail in Missoula, where the Peace Park sits a little farther up the trail near the Waterworks West Trailhead. Organizers said they hoped to turn that space into a large peace-sign-shaped patio by the end of the summer using engraved community pavers.

The Jeannette Rankin Peace Center planned to unveil the project during its annual Peace Party fundraiser Friday evening at UM’s Masquer Auditorium. Organizers said the event started at 6:00 p.m. and only a limited number of tickets remained at the door.

This year’s event also used handcrafted nature-themed centerpieces made with pinecones, moss and rocks. Organizers said those displays helped guests picture what the future Peace Park installation would look like.

“So when we launch our, you know, fundraising campaign, the Paddle Call, they’ve got some sort of concept of, okay, oh, this is going to be the Peace Park. This is going to be the pavers. These are the levels. And we just thought it would be really fun to have nature being brought in as a centerpiece for the peace party, because to so many of us going into nature to find peace and solitude and just a grounding place,” Nicole Mitchell, executive director of Jeanette Rankin Peace, said.

Organizers said people would be able to engrave pavers with the names of loved ones, pets or other important people in their lives. They said the project was meant to become both a memorial space and a gathering place for Missoula.

The pavers were scheduled to be installed in September. The Peace Center said it wanted every engravable paver filled by next year, which marks the 20th anniversary of the Peace Park.

Organizers told me the Peace Center still mattered because it gave people a place to come together during times of division or uncertainty. They described it as a grounding place for the community and said this project would help create that sense of connection in a physical way.

They also said this year’s Peace Party stood apart from past years because it focused on building something permanent. In earlier years, the event mainly supported programming, but this time it launched a project people would be able to visit, interact with and watch grow over time at the Peace Park.