Watermarks Workshop/ KK River WaterMarker, 2019

Pulaski Pavillion, Milwaukee, WI

The KK River Workshop was developed in collaboration with the KKRNIA and SSCHC and hosted at the Pulaski Park Pavilion.  The focus of the workshop is introduced by a Workshop facilitator (Travis Hope) and lead by workshop “leaders” who work directly with CALL to develop three critical questions for the community to discuss during the workshop.

These three questions which were developed for this workshop are as follows:

-       What is the first thing you want to do at the river when the restoration is complete? 

-       What are your memories of the KK river from an earlier time?

-       Why is the river important to the people and the environment?

The workshop began with community attendees arriving and being invited to post comments on large post-it signs – each poster corresponded with one of the three workshop questions.  Once all the attendees had arrived and posted comments, the workshop facilitator, workshop leaders and community event leaders each gave qualifying remarks to encourage public comment and open conversation – before breaking into group discussion. 

Group discussions were divided to correspond with one of the three workshop questions – to discuss in more detail and greater depth. This section lasted 45 minutes before each group was invited to share their discussion with the larger room.  Issues raised during group discussion ranged from memory, to family, to safety.

Ultimately the letter Ñ was selected by majority vote of all the community members in the room.  The Ñ is for señal, acompaña, enseñar — as a signal to the community to join together and teach one another about the significance of water in our everyday lives.   The marker will be installed in the coming months.