Brighton Opens ‘Sister City Park Tower’

Saturday, June 4, 2011, Brighton. This month Brighton proudly opened its Sister Cities Park (Southern and 34th Avenues, Brighton) tower in a formal ceremony that involved the unveiling of its $70,000 model remake of the medieval city gate tower in Brighton Sister City, Ziebice, Poland.

Model remake of medieval city gate Tower at Brighton Sister City Park

The scale replica of Ziebice’s city gate tower was designed by Artist Kurt Simmerman of Sawhorse Studio and was provided for by GOCO and Adams County Open Space grant monies as well as funds raised through the Brighton Sister Cities Group. The four facets of the tower are also climbing walls for kids that represent various grades of climbing difficulty. Surrounding the tower is a rubber ground cover many inches thick to add for a measure of climbing safety.

Brighton Sister Cities Group Director, Susan Petrocco, first conceived of the project some seven years ago, as a tribute to its Polish Sister City. “It is a testimony to our community that we were able to complete such an ambitious and exciting project.”

The Brighton Sister Cities Group, since formed in 1996, has helped to sponsor over 150 exchange students from both countries and was recently honored by Sister Cities International as being host to the ‘Best Youth Exchange Program.”

Present at the ceremony were the respective mayors of Brighton and Ziebice as well as the Consul General of Poland and choirs representing both cities and both national anthems and exchange students from both countries. A religious blessing was conferred upon the park and the respective Sister Cities by Polish clergy attending the event.