A celebration two years in the making brought hundreds of revellers to the Elbow Community Park May 17 for a Peace Tower dedication that puts the final touches on the village’s playground and garden.

Grace McTavish, a member of the Elbow Community Park committee, said the Peace Tower and now completed Elbow Community Park is incredibly important to the village because it brings “spirit” to its local residents and the many visitors who holiday at the resort community. She said the dedication ceremony that helped to open the two-day “Peace Party in the Park” celebration is the culmination of all the hard work that went into creating the gathering place as well as an opportunity for the community to come together on a beautiful spring day to enjoy it.

“We are a tourist community and we like to think this is one more reason that people would like to come and spend time in this peaceful place,” said McTavish. “When people come here it is peaceful and they’re happy. It’s their quiet time and we think that this park just adds to that and gives them a place to come and sit and be a part of nature.”

The hundreds of attendees who made their way to the park May 17 for the dedication ceremony enjoyed the chance to witness and revel in the unveiling of the massive blue tower that features white birds of peace breaking free from the structure and flying into the community. Four walking paths lined with plaques memorializing the history of the community’s pioneers to picture plaques illustrating the beginning of the village all the way up to the thoughts of Elbow’s present day children lead people up to the base of the tower.

The Peace Tower occupies one corner of the four-acre park that also features walking trails, a large kids play structure, a memorial garden and life-size teepees on the grounds. The other elements of the park were installed in May 2012 with the help of over 300 volunteers.