Worcester Design Competition Opened

WORCESTER, Mass. -- A national competition to select a memorial design to honor the six Worcester firefighters who died in a warehouse fire here in December 1999 begins this month, officially launching plans to create a primary memorial in a memorial park.

The design competition is the first public step toward construction of the memorial and the memorial park next to Worcester Fire Department headquarters off Grove Street on scenic Salisbury Pond across from Institute Park.

The competition is expected to attract designs from artists, architects, environmental designers, landscape architects and urban designers.

Those entering will compete in two stages for a first prize of $30,000 and the opportunity to continue to develop the memorial. The first stage is open to any person, team or company registering by April 22. A jury of 11 people -- including design professionals, firefighters, public officials, celebrity philanthropists and arts advocates -- will choose the winning design.

The winning design will form the basis of the memorial to the fallen firefighters that will be the centerpiece of Worcester Fire Fighters Memorial Park 5-1438, December 3, 1999. The numbers in the name of the memorial park represent the fire