The city of Arcadia Wisconsin has a population of over 3,000. It is surrounded by farmland in the rolling hills and valleys of southern Trempealeau County.
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How The Memorial Park Began
In 1989, the town purchased 54 acres of land for a park, which now includes an aquatic center, tennis and volleyball courts, picnic areas, a large wooden playground, an outdoor amphitheater, a pavilion for indoor gatherings, and a facility with equipment for cooking 1800 pieces of barbecued chicken at the same time!
(That comes in handy on Memorial Day weekend when the community hosts its annual Arcadia Broiler Dairy Days festival in the park.)
In 1989, the town purchased 54 acres of land for a park, which now includes an aquatic center, tennis and volleyball courts, picnic areas, a large wooden playground, an outdoor amphitheater, a pavilion for indoor gatherings, and a facility with equipment for cooking 1800 pieces of barbecued chicken at the same time!
(That comes in handy on Memorial Day weekend when the community hosts its annual Arcadia Broiler Dairy Days festival in the park.)
The centerpiece of Memorial Park is its tribute to American statesmen and members of the armed forces who have served our country in times of war.
The first part of the memorial, the rotunda, covers the period in our nation's history prior to the founding of Arcadia. Among its features are statues of George Washington and Andrew Jackson, and of soldiers who served in the War of 1812 and the Mexican War.
The first part of the memorial, the rotunda, covers the period in our nation's history prior to the founding of Arcadia. Among its features are statues of George Washington and Andrew Jackson, and of soldiers who served in the War of 1812 and the Mexican War.
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The Pavillion
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Amphitheater
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Visitors Center
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The Memorial Park All Started With A Vision From Ronald G. Wanek, Chairman of Ashley Furniture Industries Inc.
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Ron Wanek and his wife Joyce, with their Ronald and Joyce Wanek Foundation are the lead benefactors of Soldiers Walk Memorial Park, located in Arcadia, Wisconsin
His leadership in the furniture industry and his community has been recognized with numerous awards over his extensive career. Ron is known in his community and in the furniture industry for his ethics and strong family values. He has been married to his wife, Joyce, for over 45 years. They have three children and nine grandchildren. He is a versatile man who, in his spare time, enjoys sculpting and is actively involved in politics. Ronald G. Wanek founded Ashley Furniture Industries in the early 1970's. Since that time he has taken Ashley from being a modest manufacturer of occasional tables to the largest furniture manufacturer in the world and the second largest retailer in the United States in 2005. Ashley Furniture Industries, Inc also donated many of the statues to Soldiers Walk. |
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Awesome Fireworks Displays
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Frequent Concerts
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Ashley For The Arts
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Hot Air Balloons At Ashley For The Arts
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TREMPEALEAU COUNTY COMMUNITY TV PROGRAM ON SOLDIERS WALK
MEMORIAL PARK RECEIVED AN AWARD FROM WISCONSIN COMMUNITY
MEDIA AT THE ANNUAL MEDIA FEST IN APRIL, 2017.
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The project involved people from different backgrounds and took nearly 10 months to complete. The large task of completing such an in-depth program was made possible by the cooperation of several organizations and the dedication of people at those organizations to do right to the veterans honored along the Soldiers Walk.
In the Fall of 2015 Bill Napier of Napier Marketing Group and Jason Lockington of Ashley Furniture contacted TCCTV regarding a program highlighting all the monuments along the Soldiers Walk Memorial. T-16 Aerials provided drone footage to accommodate hours of ground footage taken of each monument. Bill then spent what must have been days if not weeks researching and writing scripts for each monument that included a historical background of the conflicts, wars, individuals, and countries involved. The total project took 12 months to complete. Bill spent over 400 hours researching each monument and conflict to write the script and record the voice track for each monument. TCCTV edited the voice tracks, still and video camera footage, graphics, and images all together to create a story for each monument. |
It was imperative that the program could run as a full-length documentary of the park, and have individual segments that worked as standalone video pieces explaining each monument and conflict. These video pieces were then intended to provide visitors to the park a virtual tour and lesson by calling up their location on the Soldiers Walk on their smart phone or tablet.
The park was then wired for free WI-FI and a mobile APP was created so visitors could download the Soldiers Walk APP on their smartphone and take a walking/video tour of the 500 meter long park.
The full-length video made its debut airing on TCCTV cable channel 18 on Memorial Day 2016. Since then it has received numerous compliments on the in depth recall of the events along with the beautiful images offered by the Walk, Park and Amphitheater. TCCTV entered the full-length video in the 2017 Best of the Midwest Video festival held in Milwaukee in April. Stations from Iowa, the Dakotas, Illinois and Wisconsin entered the fest and TCCTV is proud to report the Soldiers Walk Video received an Award of Merit.
TCCTV would like to thank the Ron and Joyce Wanek Foundation, Bill Napier of Napier Marketing Group and Ashley Furniture for this great opportunity to bring awareness of the impact local residents have had on the wars and history of our great nation. Soldiers Walk Memorial Park is the largest Veteran’s Memorial Park outside of Washington D.C. with 28 memorials honoring all of our Veterans who have served, past, present and future. It is truly a one of a kind facility for our area and we at TCCTV hope this joint effort brings more people to visit the park.
The park was then wired for free WI-FI and a mobile APP was created so visitors could download the Soldiers Walk APP on their smartphone and take a walking/video tour of the 500 meter long park.
The full-length video made its debut airing on TCCTV cable channel 18 on Memorial Day 2016. Since then it has received numerous compliments on the in depth recall of the events along with the beautiful images offered by the Walk, Park and Amphitheater. TCCTV entered the full-length video in the 2017 Best of the Midwest Video festival held in Milwaukee in April. Stations from Iowa, the Dakotas, Illinois and Wisconsin entered the fest and TCCTV is proud to report the Soldiers Walk Video received an Award of Merit.
TCCTV would like to thank the Ron and Joyce Wanek Foundation, Bill Napier of Napier Marketing Group and Ashley Furniture for this great opportunity to bring awareness of the impact local residents have had on the wars and history of our great nation. Soldiers Walk Memorial Park is the largest Veteran’s Memorial Park outside of Washington D.C. with 28 memorials honoring all of our Veterans who have served, past, present and future. It is truly a one of a kind facility for our area and we at TCCTV hope this joint effort brings more people to visit the park.
