CHAPTER 5Blake's Garden

All photos in this chapter are © by Joe Konz except where indicated**

There will be a full future chapter in the series devoted to monuments, memorials and statues in Garfield Park. But I felt that Blake’s Garden is one park memorial that deserves a special chapter in this series.

Blake’s Garden was developed and opened in the years after the death of Blake Bowell, 25-year son of Mark Bowell, onetime executive director of the non-profit Friends of Garfield Park Inc., the fundraising and advocacy organization for the park.

Blake, a U.S. Navy veteran who enjoyed doing volunteer work in the park when time permitted, died in 2017 after a four-year struggle with brain cancer.

Blake attended Franklin Central High School, lettering in football and track, and graduated in 2010. He received an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy, fulfilling a longtime dream. There, he competed in track for the Midshipmen. But he suffered a severe injury during training exercises and left the Navy early with an honorable medical discharge with veterans distinction. 

He then enrolled in Murray State University with hopes of majoring in business, but the onset of a rare form of glioblastoma (sarcoma) intervened. He spent the next four years fighting the cancer, forming the BlakeStrong Bowell Fund to raise money for the American Cancer Society and The Refuge (a treatment center for trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder). He did volunteer work at Garfield Park in Indianapolis whenever he had the opportunity in the interim. The photos of Blake above and below (copied from his BlakeStrong website) are used here with permission from his family.**

After Blake’s death on June 5, 2017, family, friends and other supporters continued the BlakeStrong mission and fundraising. Since 2018, the Fund has held annual BlakeStrong Open Golf tournaments and BlakeStrong festivals to further the cause. 

 

Blake’s Garden was developed on a modest patch of land immediately east of and adjacent to the Conservatory. That area was formerly known simply as The Children’s Garden. Blake’s Garden was dedicated in Blake’s honor in July 2019. A sign welcoming visitors to the attraction (see last photo in this post) under its previous name, Children’s Garden, was still being used when I took these pictures two months after its dedication to Blake.

The centerpiece of Blake’s Garden -- or at least the first focal point as one enters -- is a sculpture called “Divine Light” (shown above and again in the first photo below), which was crafted by Blake’s Franklin Central classmate Kenzie Funk. The sculpture is 5-feet, 8-inches tall – the exact height of Blake. 

Welcoming visitors at the entrance is a black ornamental iron gate, with “Blake’s Garden” etched into an overhead panel in the same font used on a similar gate nearby for the “Sunken Garden.”

Coming tomorrow, Chapter 6: Burrello Family Center and former James Garfield statue

Previously in the Garfield Park in Pictures series:

Introduction

Chapter 1: “America, We Remember”

Chapter 2: The Garfield Park Arts Center

Chapter 3: Bean Creek and Pleasant Run

Chapter 4: New Bean Creek pedestrian bridge