Members of the Delmont-Salem Rotaract Club will install a peace pole” in Delmont’s Newhouse Park later this summer.
The small monument, supported by Rotary and Rotaract clubs across the globe, is an eight-foot pole on which “May peace prevail on Earth” is inscribed in eight different languages. That is surrounded eight small flag poles bearing the flags representing the countries that speak each language.
“There’s a similar pole at Newlonsburg Presbyterian Church in Murrysville,” said Rotaract Club President Dominick Fogle. “It looks really good, and I thought I’d really like to put one here in our town.”
More than 250,000 peace poles have been installed around the world, according to the Peace Pole Project website at WorldPeace.org.
Rotarian and Rotaract Club sponsor Harold Hicks said club members will raise funds for the project expected to cost between $1,500 and $2,000.
“We’re looking at possibly the end of August or early September to install it,” Hicks said. “We estimated about a 5- or 7-foot diameter around the pole itself, with maybe some stone landscaping. It all depends on how much money we’re able to raise.”
“This is a fantastic idea,” said Delmont Mayor Alyce Urban. “We initially talked about putting it in at Shields Farm, but ultimately thought there’s probably more people who will see it if it’s in Newhouse Park.”
Hicks said an ideal location would be between Newhouse Park pavilion and its restrooms, “but I know there are other projects like the pickleball courts happening at the park, so we’re happy to work with the borough on the location.”
Council voted unanimously to donate land for the project. Hicks said the club will begin gathering cost estimates this week.
