The group planning a plaza in downtown Brunswick to honor veterans is increasing its fundraising goal from $250,000 to $320,000. 

The plaza is designed to honor veterans of all branches of the military and the Merchant Marines. It will be located on the mall in downtown Brunswick, an expansion on the site that will include the current Veterans Monument.  

Included in the plaza will be 320 granite honor blocks that people can adopt to permanently honor veterans by engraving the name of their honoree, their branch of service, the conflict in which they were engaged or the years they served. 

According to a news release, the increased goal is due to “the unpredictably high demand for Honor Blocks, coupled with the highly publicized fact that Maine is in a building glut.” 

“They are forecasting that building materials and labor costs will be higher than originally calculated,” the release states. “The two remedies were a redesign of the Honor Block pattern in the center of the Plaza to allow 125 additional Honor Blocks to be available, and adding a building contingency fund of 15% over the original cost estimation.” 

The new goal will guarantee the plaza will have a minimum $40,000 maintenance trust from which the annual earnings will be available to help keep the Plaza in top condition. 

“This will also allow close oversight of the build-out with an emphasis on the installation of the Honor Blocks and will avoid our having to ask the town of Brunswick for any further financial assistance in the project,” David Watson, commander of American Legion Post 20. 

Groundbreaking for the plaza is set for early September 2020, with the formal dedication to be on Veteran’s Day, Nov. 11, 2020. 

“We are determined to build the Veterans Plaza to the highest standards possible,” said Watson. “We owe that to the donors whose generosity will make the plaza possible, to all veterans, to the Community, and especially to all of the 445 family and friends who will have sponsored an Honor Block dedicated to a special veteran in their life.”