IIPT Harrisburg Peace Promenade officials and honorees in Exemplar’s Grove
Behind three new trees planted in Riverfront Park are three stories of Harrisburg community leaders.
At a ceremony on Friday, the International Institute for Peace through Tourism (IIPT) Harrisburg Peace Promenade dedicated the trees in honor of community activists, artists and religious leaders.
“Making history matter is our thing,” said Lenwood Sloan, director of the Commonwealth Monument Project and IIPT.
The new trees were planted in Exemplar’s Grove, a portion of Riverfront Park near Verbeke Street, which includes several historical monuments, commemorative benches and 12 trees with plaques that recognize significant past and present Harrisburg area community members.
On Friday, Sloan and other local officials recognized the new “exemplars of peace,” including the late Esther Popel, a notable Black Harrisburg poet, Gloria Martin Roberts, a former Harrisburg City Council president and Rev. Trey DuPont, pastor of Greater Zion Missionary Baptist Church.
A maple tree and two gingko trees were planted in the grove in their honor.
“I’m going to continue to do my work. I get my joy when I know I’m able to help the least of these,” Martin Roberts said.
Additionally, officials at the ceremony dedicated Exemplar’s Grove in honor of Naomi King, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s sister-in-law, who passed away in March and visited Harrisburg and designated the city as part of the IIPT at a ceremony in 2018.
Not only does Sloan hope to beautify the park with the tree plantings, but he also hopes that the monuments provide a sense of pride to the community as people see the names of leaders working to foster peace and unity in Harrisburg.
“We have a lot here in Harrisburg,” he said. “We are making history mean something and keeping the spirit.”
Additional trees honor the following Harrisburg leaders:
- Peggy Grove – Change Agent
- John and Anne Marie Judson – Thought Leaders
- Momin and Mahadmodra Bhatti – Rising Inspiration
- K. Leroy Irvis – Thought Leader
- Homer Floyd – Living Legend
- Dr. George and Mrs. Hette Love – Thought Leaders
- Judge Janeane Turgeon – Living Legend
- Rabbi Ronald Muroff – Thought Leader
- Maude Coleman – Change Agent (Yvonne Hollins – Steward)
To learn more about the IIPT Harrisburg Peace Promenade, click here.
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