Islands of Peace Regional Park — Attraction in Fridley

Some history...this park was the dream of Ed Wilmes. He survived the invasion of Normandy and wanted to find a purpose to his survival. His mother had been in a wheelchair and if the family wanted to picnic there was no access for her....so in her honor he had an idea to create not only access with paths but planting for texture and scent. Picnic tables that a wheelchair could roll under.. he got the small island.deeded to the park he was creating and got the Army corpses engineers to build a fishing dock and.bridge. the interpretation center building was donated by the Carpenters Union and Honeywell provided the automatic dogs. His only companion during his years of work was the trusty dog he plucked from the river perched on an ice flow. He was a regular at high schools getting students to help with planting and bringing his vision to light. If it is being destroyed at least the memory of its purpose should live on. The Congressional Office of Gerry Sikorski nominated him for a Federal Thousand Points of light recognition and I wrote up the...

I'm worried that I'm the first to review this place because everyone else that finds it decides to keep it quiet. Don't make them hurt me! A winding trail and a bridge to a small pseudo-island. A few benches, at least one picnic table. Easy access to the river bank and the ability to explore who knows how far along the shore. You still know you're in the city because you can hear the highway sound in the distance but it's easy to just let that become background noise. Breathe in. ...

They have taken a beautiful wooded retreat and gutted the trees with the plan of making it look like the typical Wayside Rest Park. Very sad and ugly. There are many more trees marked for removal. Strange because there are laws against removal of trees in this area in the Mississippi...