Ellen Kort Peace Park
Ellen Kort was named Wisconsin’s first poet laureate in 2000. She helped found the Fox Cities Book Festival, taught hundreds of students of all ages. Ellen had the ability to make every person she met feel important, valued and significant to this world. She healed the grieving with words of beauty, humor and peace and inspired young and old to embrace their feelings end express the best humanity had to offer.
In 2016, Sculpture Valley introduced a resolution to name the former water treatment plant and WE Energies brown site along Water Street as the "Ellen Kort Peace Park". In the fall of 2016, the Ellen Kort Peace Park Initiative Committee of Sculpture Valley meet a half dozen times to craft a design brief to help define the wants and needs of the future park design. The committee consisted of Kort family members, neighborhood representative, alderpersons, arts advocates and residents. This design brief was presented to Parks and Recreation in January 2017 and became an integral guiding document for the eventual park design.
The task of actually designing the park concept was awarded to Lunde-Williams, LLC an agency dedicated to exceptional outdoor planning, design and construction. Their presented and approved park design was submitted for consideration and won Best New Park Concept award from the National Urban Landscape Foundation.
Funding for the creation of the park has been on the books since 2017, but funding needs for other significant downtown developments have delayed the Peace Park project for a couple of years. The initial grading for arterial trails and amenities are approved for the 2020 budget with a significant amount for park completion earmarked in the 2021 budget. The budgeted amount will not cover costs for some of the amenities in Phase 2 of the design, elements which Sculpture Valley sought to include in the initial park build including a pedestrian land bridge, Prospect Street egress and a functional glass box programming space.
Concept A. Includes Landbridge over Water St., Island overlook and small Trailhead Shelter
Concept B. Includes Cantilevered overlook, expanded parking and Large Multipurpose facility for classes and events
Sculpture Design Opportunities
As the Ellen Kort Peace Park begins to take shape, Sculpture Valley will be following the process closely, identifying opportunities for commissioned elements and encouraging continued community input. We at Sculpture Valley are keenly aware of the potential for this pinnacle destination park to become a significant part of our Appleton identity. We encourage you to leaf through our inspiration galleries and let us know if you spot something that you feel would be a great fit for the park and be sure to follow the progress on the Friends of Ellen Kort Peace Park Facebook Page.
