Parade Memorial Commission, New City Logo Approved In Waukesha

WAUKESHA, WI—The Waukesha Common Council unanimously approved the creation of the Waukesha Christmas Parade Permanent Memorial Commission and new city logo on Tuesday.

The Memorial Commission will work with the city and community leaders to determine the best location and monument to permanently honor those lost and injured on Nov. 21.

A man drove into marchers and spectators at the parade, resulting in the deaths of six people and more than 60 injured.

Jackson Sparks, 8, was the youngest victim to die from the violence. Five others — Virginia Sorenson, 79; LeAnna Owen, 71; Tamara Durand, 52; Jane Kulich, 52; and Wilhelm Hospel, 81 — were also killed.

The commission has school, police and hospital representatives listed in the project charter. It also lists people from the Dancing Grannies, Extreme Dance Team, and Jackson Sparks/Blazers on the commission, online city documents said.

“I wanted to have broad representation,” Mayor Shawn Reilly said.

The timeline goal is to have a location determined by spring and a memorial design by summer, according to online city documents.

Although Reilly cautioned not to "bank on the timeline." He added some things are going to take a long time.

"They take as long as they take. There will be a lot of discussion," Reilly said.

The Veteran's Park in downtown Waukesha became the site of a temporary memorial to the lives lost at the Nov. 21 Christmas parade.

The memorial was decommissioned on Dec. 29.

City staff and members of the Waukesha County Historical Society are curating items from the temporary memorial.

After the Commission determines the location and the design of the memorial, the Common Council and other city committees or commissions will consider the recommendations of the Parade Memorial Commission.

The Waukesha County Community Foundation, United Way of Greater Milwaukee and the Waukesha Education Foundation established the United for Waukesha Community fund to raise money for those impacted.

New City Logo

The Common Council also unanimously approved the new city logo.

Waukesha resident Sarah Sallman created the logo along with the logo to represent the city’s 125th anniversary.

The new logo features a “W”, representing Waukesha, hidden inside the shape of a fox, the city said.

The fox is representative of the City of Waukesha as the word “Waukesha” comes from the Native American word for Fox. It also represents the City’s ties to the Fox River flowing through downtown Waukesha, the city said.

Inside the Fox/W shape are iconic elements from across the City of Waukesha.