Mar 10, 2025
Natalie Luczkowiak
Dunkirk Councilwoman Natalie Luczkowiak indicated last week there will be opportunities soon for residents to publicly comment on the city’s plan for a welcome center and stage in Memorial Park.
A guest speaker and discussion about the topic will be featured at the next meeting of the Common Council’s Economic Development Committee, said Luczkowiak, who chairs the committee. The meeting is scheduled for March 25 at 4 p.m. in the city planning and economic development office, inside the Stearns Building next to City Hall.
“Everyone’s invited, to find out the facts, to ask questions,” Luczkowiak said. “There is going to be a public forum regarding the going forth of (the project), by the way — but here is also another opportunity for us to talk about it, find out needed facts, and ask questions.”
Luczkowiak spoke about the issue at a Common Council meeting.
The welcome center would include restrooms, a concessions area, storage space, a “green room” for people performing on the attached permanent stage, and a small office. It’s funded by a state grant.
City officials are in talks with SUNY Fredonia officials to return the Neptune statue that used to grace Washington Park, and put it in a display area in the new welcome center.
The center would be on the east side of Memorial Park. Some local veterans have criticized the siting of the center in a park dedicated to Dunkirk residents who died fighting for their country. The memorials in Memorial Park are at the center of the park; the current portable stage used for city events, such as its summer music series, is actually placed closer to the monuments than the center would be.
City resident David Van Wey also criticized the proposed Memorial Park site for the center, at Tuesday’s council meeting. He suggested Point Gratiot Park as an alternate site.
Some locals have erroneously referred to the welcome center project as an “amphitheater.” According to the dictionary, an amphitheater is “an open circular or oval building with a central space surrounded by tiers of seats for spectators.” SUNY Fredonia has an amphitheater near Reed Library.
The Dunkirk project, however, would apparently include ground level-seating facing a stage that is attached to one side of a rectangular building.
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