On a cool, early November afternoon in front of a glassy lake on 300 Howard Drive on the west side of the Sparks Marina, close to a thousand people came out to celebrate the official grand opening of the Nevada Veterans Memorial Plaza. Eight years in the making, the dream of late Mayor Ron Smith came true with this special statewide commemoration to honor and preserve the legacy of Nevada’s 896 fallen service members who fought for our country dating back to 1864.

In an hour-long ceremony in front of the phrase “All Gave Some, Some Gave All” embedded into the plaza, the Sparks City Council including project lead Kristopher Dahir, along with Washoe County Commissioner Vaughn Hartung, Sparks Mayor Ed Lawson, Attorney General Aaron Ford, and other dignitaries spoke about what the NVMP means to the City of Sparks and all of Nevada. The Sparks High School Railroaders marching band played, and residents of the local veterans’ home were in attendance (including a few who attended the 2019 groundbreaking).

Courtesy photo – After years of planning, the Nevada Veterans Memorial Plaza officially opened to the public last week in Sparks.

“We believe that it is our responsibility to build a Plaza to honor our veterans, who allowed us the freedoms and rights we enjoy today, and to have a place to commemorate the brave actions of future generations of service men and women,” Sparks City Councilmember Kristopher Dahir said in the ceremony.

Then a group of kids came up and cut the ribbon, “because this is all for them and they’ll still be around to see it,” Dahir added.

Courtesy photo – After years of planning, the Nevada Veterans Memorial Plaza officially opened to the public last week in Sparks.

The NVMP team has raised $1.3 million in donations to help build the Memorial Plaza, which includes new landscaping, benches, the pavers/plaques/statues, educational information, an area for veteran organizations to be able to hold meetings, and more than a thousand commemorative bricks that people bought to support the project’s construction. Bricks are still being sold and range from $100-$1,000 with the sales to go towards further construction and/or maintenance of the project. Several kiosks are earmarked to be placed along the Ron E. Smith Educational Path along the marina, describing our veterans’ story of sacrifice throughout the decades.

For those who could not attend the ribbon-cutting, NVMP members will also be at the Sparks Marina this Friday, November 11 (Veterans Day) from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. to give people an idea of how to best engage with the NVMP. Sparks Florist also donated flowers that people can place next to Nevada’s fallen servicemen and women.

Dahir and the NVMP team will then be putting the time capsule in the ground on November 14th that contains notes, challenge coins, a Ron Smith memorial coin, a Letter of Legacy, and the signatures of the people who attended the November 4 grand opening ceremony, to be opened in 50 years.

“I will be 100 years old when it’s opened back up,” Dahir says.

Mayor Lawson also proclaimed November 4, 2022, as “Nevada Veterans Memorial Plaza Day”. For more information or to donate to the NVMP project, visit https://www.nvmp.us/.

“I encourage everyone to come out and see it. You feel what’s there; it definitely makes you pause,” Dahir adds.