It looks like Dunkirk’s memorial bench program is headed for Wright Park’s splash pads.

“I’ve had a lot of ‘jajas’ and ‘busias’ call me and ask me if we can possibly shake the money tree in the backyard, to see if we can find some extra to put benches down by the splash park down there,” Common Council member Nancy Nichols said at last week’s meeting. She used the Polish words for “grandpas” and “grandmas.”

Nichols continued that they “bring the grandchildren down and they’re standing.

They’re not thinking of bringing a lawn chair with them… they would just like to sit there, because the kids want to spend at least an hour and a half to two hours, sometimes three, having fun down there.”

She asked Department of Public Works officials for their thoughts.

DPW Director Randy Woodbury said, “I’d like to remind people we have a memorial bench program that’s very popular and it’s a nice way to pay long standing tribute to a loved one. We have them throughout Point Gratiot, for example, and there are some in other areas. We pretty much saturated Point Gratiot with those, they’re very popular. I think Wright Park would be a good place to have that.”

Woodbury envisions a circle of the benches, around the splash park area. He encouraged residents to ask about doing memorial benches.

“What the mayor’s done at Wright Park to make it so popular, that is a problem we like having,” he added.