Orchard Park will officially become part of a national movement to honor United States servicemen through gardening this week.

The Southtowns Garden Club will finally get to show the public the product of more than two years of planning and hard work at their Blue Star Memorial By-Way Marker dedication at Chestnut Ridge Park this Wednesday, July 29.

The Blue Star Memorial Marker program was an initiative started by the National Garden Clubs, Inc. to create a “ribbon of living memorial plantings traversing every state.” Blue Star flags were traditionally flown to denote that a family member was serving in the armed forces. The memorial gardens were originally meant to honor World War II veterans, but in 1951, the initiative expanded to recognize all past and present Armed Forces service members.

The first ever Blue Star Memorial planting is traced back to 1,000 Dogwood trees planted by the Garden Club of New Jersey in 1944. These trees line a five-mile span of highway that the Garden Club of New Jersey designated Blue Star Drive.

The Chestnut Ridge project all began when the flagpole that now sits in the middle of the garden was erected near the toboggan hill two years ago. Southtowns Garden Club members envisioned a garden surrounding the flagpole, and got a scholarship to transform their vision into a reality.

“The flagpole overlooks the sled runs, so you’ve got this beautiful view of the city,” said Carol-Jo Pope, chairperson and member of the Southtowns Garden Club.

Pope shared that Troy Schinzel, Erie County Parks, Recreation, and Forestry commissioner, was instrumental in moving the South Towns Garden Club’s request to place the first and only Blue Star Memorial in an Erie County park.

Grants from Federated Garden Clubs of NYS, District 8 and the Chestnut Ridge Conservancy also made the Honor Garden possible. The Southtowns Garden Club also held a joint estate and plant sale to raise money for the plaque, and the rock on which it rests was provided by Chestnut Ridge.

The plants in the Honor Garden are all perennials, including 35 Black-eyed Susans, 14 Heavy Metal Switch Grasses, eight Arctic Fire Redstem Dogwoods, and 12 Winterberries.

It took Southtowns gardeners 97 hours to plant all 69 plants in the self-sustaining prairie garden. South Towns Garden Club started the garden from scratch and did everything from amending the soil to the final mulching.

“It’s really going to be self-sustaining,” said Pope. “That was the purpose of it because we can’t be up there every week.”

Veterans, politicians, local and national garden club members, and other well-known members of the WNY community will be in attendance at the event or a part of the ceremony itself.

Members of Orchard Park American Legion Post 567 will serve as the honor guard for the ceremony. The Blue Star Memorial By-Way Marker dedication will begin with the presentation of colors through an alley way made by American Legion Riders from Post 567, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance which will be led by Boy Scout Troop 230.

Orchard Park High School graduate and soloist Leah Berst will then perform “The Star Spangled Banner,” and after will lead everyone in singing “America the Beautiful.”

The invocation will be made by Father John Gaglione, chaplain of Erie County Emergency Services. Next, Master of Ceremonies John J. Mills, chairman of the Erie County Legislature, will welcome everyone to the ceremony, and the history of the Blue Star Memorial program will be shared by Elaine DiPietro, Blue Star Memorial chairperson of the Garden Clubs of the Cental Atlantic Region.

Special tributes will be made by County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz, Orchard Park Village Mayor Jo Ann Litwin Clinton, and Commissioner of Veterans Affairs Francis McLaughlin.

Five Service anthems will be played by four pipers and a drummer, and then the Blue Star Memorial By-Way Marker will be unveiled, dedicated, and accepted.

The ceremony will close with a wreath presentation, benediction, pipe performance of “Amazing Grace,” and taps played by Jamie Powell and Katelyn Boswell.

“Our club has only 28 members. This memorial is an outstanding achievement for a small garden club,” said Pope.

The dedication is open to the public, so all are welcome to attend.

The Blue Star Memorial By-Way Marker Dedication will be held at the Chestnut Ridge Honor Garden on Wednesday, July 29 at 10 a.m.