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Ampersand Park renamed as Ken Garwood POW Park

SARANAC LAKE — The park formerly known as Ampersand Park has been renamed the “Ken Garwood POW Park,” after the village board voted unanimously to change the name on Monday.

The man who requested the name change, village resident Justin Garwood, is Ken’s grandson. Justin said in the past year, when he had been getting the village to help fix up the basketball courts at the park, where he grew up “passing the rock” with college students, he learned a family tale was true.

Ken Garwood was a village trustee in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s, and in 1968, he convinced the village to purchase the land on the corner of Broadway and Ampersand Avenue and turn it into a public park. Legal documents from the sale at the time refer to the land as “Boyer-Garwood Park” but the park was never officially branded with the Garwood name.

Justin said he wanted the park’s name to reflect his grandfather’s military service, too.

“If he were alive today, he would not probably want me to do this, so that’s why it’s important to me that it be … Ken Garwood POW Park,” Justin said.

Village Mayor Jimmy Williams had previously said he thought that with the park right across the street from the Veterans Club, it would be fitting to honor POWs there.

Justin said his grandfather served his country fighting in the Army Air Corps in World War II.

He was shot down twice — once on his first mission in a B-17 bomber, where his plane crashed in the English Channel and he was rescued from the waters, and again when he became a prisoner of war in Germany for nearly 18 months.

At a public hearing about the name change on Monday, village development board Chair Allie Pelletieri said he believes the name is appropriate, but he asked the village to take its time when naming things in the future.

“All I ask is that when you’re naming stuff after people that we really consider who they are and what they’ve done,” Pelletieri said. “In this village we happen to be really fortunate to have a whole slew of past and present community members that do a lot for the community.”

After the unanimous vote by the board, there was applause and Williams hugged Justin and Lisa Lionidas, Ken’s daughter. Lionidas was glad the village was renaming the park after her father.

“He’s a really deserving man,” she said.

“Glad to finally honor the man whose idea it was and gave so much to this country and the town,” Justin wrote in a message to the Entperprise. “Thankful to the mayor, board and public for their support.”

To read more about the park and Ken Garwood’s life, go to https://bit.ly/3QhawBv.

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