John Nolen statue offered to Venice

Groups would donate it as part of city’s centennial

BOB MUDGE

Senior Writer

VENICE — John Nolen, who designed the plan for Venice, could be present for much of the city’s centennial celebration, which kicks off in November.

Not the landscape architect himself; he died in 1937. Instead, he would be represented by a bronze statue seated on a bronze bench, holding a bronze version of his plan.

Venice Area Beautification Inc. and Venice Area Historical Society are collaborating on the project, which the Citizen Advisory Board unanimously voted Wednesday to recommend for City Council approval.

The statue would be placed in the southeast corner of Centennial Park downtown, at the northwest quadrant of the intersection of West Venice and Nokomis avenues.

The Public Works Department, which will be doing the installation, has approved the site, Historical Resources Manager Harry Klinkhamer told the CAB. The project still needs the Council’s blessing, however.

The two organizations plan to use Bronzeman Inc., a California company, to make the statue, said Bob Vedder, representing VABI.

The company has made the other statues VABI has installed downtown, he said.

The original bid for making the statue and shipping it to Venice is

More STATUE | A4

The statue of John Nolen that Venice Area Beautification and Venice Areas Historical Society are offering to donate to the city would somewhat resemble this statue of Ben Franklin reading the Declaration of Independence, photographed by Bob Vedder in Holland, Michigan.

SCREEN CAPTURE

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$64,000, he said, but that was without the bronze version of Nolen’s plan. VABI and VAHS are estimating the total expense at $70,000.

A $20,000 down payment is required, Vedder said. That money is in hand, and a donor has committed to a capping grant to ensure the full amount is available after a fundraising effort.

“There is no doubt that we’ll raise the money,” he said.

Some sort of educational display about Nolen is also planned, he said, but that, too, would be a separate expense.

The organizations are expecting the city to cover the cost of installation, as it has for VABI’s other statues, Vedder said. The method of installation will be determined later.

Getting the statue approved soon is crucial, Vedder said, as the creation of it will be an eightto- 10-month process.

“We want to make sure we get on with it,” he said.

No date has been set for unveiling it, he said, though one possibility is during the community picnic planned for July 2026.

OTHER BUSINESS

The board continued working on its after-action report to the Council on last year’s hurricane preparation, response and recovery.

Vice Chair Mary Davis and Public Information Officer Lorraine Anderson are going to prepare a draft survey from more than 100 questions submitted by board members and city staff, then circulate it to the board members.

The survey is expected to be made available to the public in early March, in advance of a public meeting March 19.