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WORCESTER - A bald eagle has landed at Polar Park.
Etched on one of the walls inside the command center, where security operations monitor the home of the Worcester Red Sox, is a hand-painted mural of the bird that serves as a national symbol of the United States.
The recently finished painting now serves as a unifying figure inside the walls of Polar Park along with the hanging of designated unit or agency patches - from local fire stations and police departments, among other agencies - that flock the bald eagle on the wall.
"The overall spirit (is) to recognize and pay tribute to those who answered the call, will answer the call, support the call and devote their lives every day to keeping our country and communities safe," said Jim Trifiro, who is the senior director of security operations for the Worcester Red Sox and Polar Park.
When Triifiro first introduced the idea of making a memorial wall inside the Polar Park commmand center earlier this year, Courtney Cowsill, the WooSox director of graphic design services, realized this vision was something she'd have to draw by hand.
"I knew it was going to be something meaningful not just to (Trifiro), but to everyone in the military (and) first-resoibder community that saw it," Cowsill said. "There are a lot of projects I'll dive straight to the computer for, but I prefer to start with just a paper and pencil when I can spare the time. I liken it to the difference between catching up with a friend over lunch (versus) over text. You leave with all the same information, but you miss out on the attention, the emotion (and) the intimacy, for lack of a better word, of spending time with something that matters."
Cowsill created the mural in nearly two weeks, using acrylic paints to capture the true essence of a bald eagle.
"If you look at a bald eagle, there is no single hue, and I liked the symbolism of that" Cowsill said. "All these patches, all these deparatments and branches, working together."
The bald eagle mural - which is nearly 5 feet wide and 3 feet tall and faces toward the door when you walk inside the command center and has a WooSox logo above its head - has brown and black wings and feathers with a touch of white on its tail. The beak, eye and talons are a mix of yellows and reds, with its feet wrapped around a banner that reads: "Dedicated to those who serve our country and communities."
Surrounding the bird are patches from emergency medical services (EMS), fire and police departments from across Massachusetts. Trifiro, who served in the United States Coast Guard for 31 years before retiring at the rank of Lieutenant Commander, wanted to emulate his experience of serving in several response contingencies, both stateside and iverseas, where incident command centers displayed their designated unit or agency patches on a bulletin board near the main entrance inside the check-in station.
"These patches were not only a representation of where we were from; they were a symbol of authority and pride along with our branding and idenity," Trifiro said. "In addition, it was a dusokat of the bond and camaraderie we aligned toward our directives and objectives in the safe execution of mission support."
The goal of the memorial is to show unity at Polar Park, with the hope that the wall collects more patches as the seasons and years move along with security agencies donating their patches to the wall.
Security personnell will usually pass through, or go by, the Polar Park command center during their stays at the home of the WooSox.
"(The mural is) devoted to all those who serve or have served their country and communites which dispaying their unique unit or agency patch in concert with the painting," Trifiro said. "This (will) include all patches anywhere from veterans, military personnel, federal, sate, local and tribal law enforcement agencies, corrections officials, fire service personnel, (first) responder dispatchers, federal, state and local emergency management agencies, and the volunteer organizations that provide program services to these entities.
"I wanted to take that mesh of assembly, unity and integration that I personally witnessed and create an alike theme for our (Polar Park command center)."
Mission accomplished.
A bald eagle has landed at Polar Park. Its arrival honors those who answer the call.
"It was once I took out the patches . . . when the impact really hit," Cowsill said. "Some were ripped straight off their uniforms to be included, Velcro still on the backs. (It) doesn't get more personal than that. To me, they're the real heart of the piece. I hope I did them justice."
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