Chuck Wright, the Vietnam veteran whose idea became Mill Creek's Veterans Monument, told The Herald about sitting on a bench at Library Park and watching a veteran and his grandchild take a rubbing of the veteran's name off one of the pillars. "That's what it's about," Wright said. "It passes history on."
That kind of moment depends on a name being in the stone. Mill Creek's monument ran out of room around 2019. The City has now finished an $860,260 rebuild of Library Park that adds that room, and when residents gather there on Wednesday, November 11, the new basalt pillars will be standing with no names on them. The City's page for adding names still says it will reopen applications once the monument can be expanded.
A monument that filled up in nine years
The monument was dedicated in May 2010 beside the Mill Creek Library at 15429 Bothell Everett Hwy. It has a courtyard of pavers around a flagpole and six basalt columns, each engraved with names, ranks and branches of service. Wright brought the idea home after a 2008 drive from Portland, Maine, to Boston, where he saw Revolutionary War memorials along the way. Fred Fillbrook pressed the City Council to recognize local veterans, and the volunteer Arts and Beautification Board took on the work.
A lot of local hands built it. Jessi Bloom designed it, John Dunton prepared the basalt, and Bernie Clites did the engraving. Short, Cressman & Burgess, Clearview Nursery & Stone, NW Bloom and Ness Cranes donated to the project, and the plantings were chosen in reds, whites and blues.
The Herald reported in May 2010 that 140 names were engraved at the time, with space for about 200 more. That space ran out in roughly nine years. According to the City, the last names went on around 2019, and requests from the public for more space became one of the main reasons for this year's project.
What the rebuild added, and why it took this long
From the street, the new pillars are the obvious change. Most of the work, though, was done to fix the ground under the park. The City describes Library Park as a small park with limited space to build on. Part of it is wetland, and the sub-drains under the lawn near the monument and playground had stopped doing their job. Staff hired a wetland consultant to work out which parts of the site could be built on at all before any design for the monument expansion was settled.
According to the City, here is what was finished as of October 5, 2026:
- New basalt columns and improvements to the monument plaza
- Restored asphalt and concrete paths, plus ADA ramps
- New benches, tables and other site furnishings
- Park and monument lighting
- Irrigation upgrades and lawn restoration
- Grading and drainage work to deal with the wet ground
Funding came from three sources. Snohomish County awarded a $250,000 grant on April 1, 2024. The state Department of Commerce added $250,260 through its Local and Community Projects Program. On March 10, 2026, the City Council moved $360,000 in Rehabilitation, Preservation, and Beautification funds, formerly ARPA money, into the project. That $360,000 came out of projects already set aside for the Park and Recreation Board ($250,000) and the Art and Beautification Board ($110,000). The same Arts and Beautification Board that built the monument in 2010 gave up some of its own project money to expand it.
The Herald put the cost of the entire Library Park project at $860,260. At the October 19 rededication, Mayor Stephanie Vignal told a crowd of more than 80 people that "the six additional pillars were completed on time and below budget," according to the Mill Creek Beacon. The Herald's account reported seven pillars. The City's own announcement and the Beacon both say six.
The application page hasn't caught up with the stone
The City's photo of the expanded monument is captioned with "additional blank pillars waiting for additional veteran names." As of late October, the application section on the City's Veterans Monument page still says this:
There is currently no additional space for names at this time. We will reopen the application process once the monument is able to be expanded.
The expansion is finished, but that wording hasn't changed. The City hasn't posted a form, a fee, a deadline or an engraving schedule for the new pillars, and it hasn't said who will do the engraving. Whatever process opens will follow the format already in the stone, which is each honoree's name, rank and branch of service.
That makes this Veterans Day different from the last six. Since about 2019, a family hoping to add a name had nowhere to put it. Now the space exists, and the City hasn't yet posted how to fill it. If you have a veteran in your family whose name you'd like on the monument, check that City page over the coming weeks, since that's where the reopened application is most likely to appear.
Planning the morning of Wednesday, November 11
The City is holding two events on November 11 in two different places, with a gap in between. Most of the traffic changes come from the parade. Here's how the morning runs, based on the City's Veterans Day event page:
- 8:00 a.m. The north L.A. Fitness parking lot closes for parade staging. Gym patrons can use the south lot.
- 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. The Veterans Day Ceremony takes place at Library Park, 15429 Bothell Everett Hwy., the first one held at the expanded monument.
- 10:30 a.m. Parking closes on Main Street between 148th Street SE and City Hall North, and 153rd Street SE is blocked to through traffic until the parade has passed.
- 11:00 a.m. to noon The Veterans Day Parade runs through Town Center. Once it starts, cars can't enter or leave the L.A. Fitness south lot until access reopens. Drivers coming from Mill Creek Boulevard can still turn north onto Main Street, but they'll be sent to an access road south of Town Center.
The City expects a large turnout. If you want to see both events, you have about an hour between them to get from Library Park to Town Center, and the Main Street parking closure starts half an hour before the parade does.
There's also an unrelated lane closure to plan around. Traffic changes for emergency work on the 164th St. SE bridge over North Creek started October 23. The eastbound far-right lane near North Creek Presbyterian Church is closed, drivers are using the left lane and the center turn lane, and the City expects adjustments to continue through mid-December. If you usually come into Town Center from that direction, give yourself some extra time.
Groups and veterans who want to be in the parade are almost out of time. Registration for walking entries, such as bands, scouting and dance groups, and for veterans who want to ride along in a participating vehicle, closes Friday, October 30. Forms are on the City's event page, and there's a PDF version you can send to [email protected].
The playground is the other unfinished piece
Families heading to the ceremony with kids won't find the new playground ready. The City's October announcement said new play equipment would arrive in early November, with a separate ribbon cutting for the park improvements "shortly thereafter." The project page has since been updated and now says the equipment is expected sometime in late 2026. The playground, its safety fencing and its gates are the last parts of the project still to be built.
So on November 11, Library Park will have two pieces still missing: the playground and the names. The City has given a rough timeline for the first one. For the names, it hasn't given a date yet. The monument's original six columns, with every name added through 2019, are still standing at the center of the plaza and will be the ones read on Veterans Day.
Lynette Thomas follows the civic projects that shape daily life around Mill Creek's Town Center, from Library Park's rebuild to the new South Town Center plan. If you're a Mill Creek homeowner thinking about your next move, ask for a free home valuation and a personalized marketing plan.
