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I am thrilled to invite you, the Pines community, to gather in our harbor this Saturday, July 16th at Noon (sharp) for the much-anticipated dedication of Trailblazers Park.
Perhaps you have noticed the construction in the harbor over the past several weeks. Trailblazers Park is a new, permanent public space that will pay tribute to the diverse legacies of both well-known and underrepresented LGBTQ+ heroes who dedicated their lives to fighting for the ongoing movement for equality and representation.
Nearly two years of hard work and dedication from far too many members of the community for me to recognize in this newsletter have gone into making Saturday’s dream a reality. I would, however, like to appreciate TM Davy, the artist selected after an open request for proposals, for his conception of the installation and his oversight of the artistic implementation which includes design concepts from an additional 16 Pines artists who each created a flag to honor one of the initial set of 16 Trailblazers.
Acknowledgment also goes to Liam O’Malley-Davy of Gay Gardens for the landscaping and Randy Wilson for the lighting design, as does appreciation for the leadership of our professional FIPPOA staff including Karen McCutcheon, Community Manager, and Joe Micheels, Facilities Manager.
Finally, I would like to recognize Gary Clinton and Doug Harris, Co-chairs of FIPPOA’s Honoring Trailblazers Task Force and its members - Joe Conforti, Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, Crayton Robey, and Matthew Tague – who spent countless hours coordinating all the efforts necessary to bring Saturday’s dedication to reality. After nearly weekly meetings and hours of work in between, since the Fall of 2020, the Task Force solicited nominations for potential Trailblazers, vetted and researched the dozens that were submitted, and directed the countless aspects of the non-artistic elements required to get us to Saturday’s dedication.
Trailblazers Park is foremost about the LGBTQ+ heroes we will honor. The centerpiece of the park is the Pines’ first public drinking fountain, conceived by and featuring a mosaic created by TM Davy honoring Marsha P. Johnson and fellow trans activist Sylvia Rivera, who played a key role in LGBTQ+ activism in the early 1970s.
TM also conceived the flag installation, and together with Pines architect Scott Bromley envisioned the park’s open-air design. To learn more about the initial 16 Trailblazers being honored – and the artists responsible for the designed flags – I strongly encourage you to access this link to FIPPOA’s newly designed website.
I look forward to seeing you at Saturday’s dedication. We will begin at 12PM sharp to time the dedication and ribbon cutting between the arriving and departing ferries.
Henry
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