Opening date set for crane workers memorial

A letter from the Rise Memorial Foundation, Kelowna, B.C., Canada

It is with immense pride and anticipation that I write you this letter to share the news that the Rise Memorial Gardens, located at its future home of Knowles Heritage Park in Kelowna B.C., officially commenced construction on March 11, 2025.

This project has taken over 3 years of immense planning, coordination, and effort from countless devoted community members, organizations, and supporters such as yourself. Together we’ve raised over $350,000 to guarantee we memorialize the memories of the five young men (Cailen Vilness, Jared Zook, Eric Stemmer, Patrick Stemmer, and Brad Zawislak) whose lives were taken away far too soon in this horrible workplace tragedy. This memorial stands to ensure their memories live on, but also to offer the community a future space for grieving and healing from the impacts of any workplace accident that may ever occur in the future. Lastly, it will serve as a stark reminder to all of us of the importance of making a continued commitment to workplace safety each and every day.

As such, I wanted to invite you to tentatively save the date of Saturday, July 12, 2025, when we are anticipating the site to be complete and opened to the public, to join us for an unveiling event that will also mark the 4th anniversary of the tragedy.