During his 23 years of service, Reed City native Russ Nehmer lost 56 of his “brothers in combat” in Afghanistan. Not only that, but Nehmer almost lost his life himself.

After sitting in a hospital bed, one thought began to go through Nehmer’s mind that he’ll never forget.

“I was thinking about back home,” Nehmer said. “If I died, the only veteran’s memorial we have in Reed City is at the courthouse. And it's just a little tiny thing.”

Returning to Reed City after retirement from Army Special Forces in 2016, Nehmer began devising an idea to build a veteran’s memorial park on a paper drawing. He would go on to pitch the idea to his dad, a county commissioner at the time, in which it received a thumbs up.

“You need to take this to city hall and the city council,” Nehmer recollected. “They loved the idea and told me to go forth and try to get funding for it.”

This led Nehmer to brainstorming ways to make the park possible. The location of the park would be at the crossroads of both US-10 and US-131 highways near the Hersey River.

The only problem: finding funding for the park. Nehmer began to think of ways to raise money, which led to a hobby he had participated in for many years.

“I was like ‘why don't I start a car club? My uncle is also a car enthusiast. He's got a lot of old cars and he and I started working together. And that's kind of where it went. I started the Reed City Crossroads Car Club and then started doing a car show.”

According to Nehmer, the first show was actually too successful. The amount of participation maxed out the parking lot at what is now known as the Cub Scout Center. It was then a friendly tip from the mayor and the city Police Chief that gave Nehmer the chance to hold the next show on downtown Upton Avenue.

After city approval, Nehmer enlarged the car show on Upton Avenue and will now be entering its fourth year coming up on Saturday, July 15. Over the past four years of fundraising, Nehmer says the car shows have raised over 20,000 dollars for the new park.

This year’s show will likely include over 100 cars as well thousands of dollars in raffle prizes from over 105 total sponsors for the event.

“When I’m posting things on this (show), people are like, ‘when's it gonna come?’ ‘We want this to happen.’ People are anxious and they think it's something that's beneficial for the community. It's a remembrance for those that have passed and those that we've lost.”

Nehmer said he is optimistic for funding this year and believes the project will be completed soon.

The park is slated to be completed in five stages, with the first being a trail resurfacing proposal on the Westerburg and Rambadt Park connecting “Purple Heart” trail so that anyone can reach the memorial on a more usable and accessible surface.  The following stages would include putting in brick pavers, a new memorial flagpole, and surrounding benches near the memorial site.

This project could also be supported by a 4-million-dollar state grant proposition, which is currently being reviewed.

“Until we get into those phases, it's hard to do a timeline until we know about the grant,” Nehmer said. Right now, we need to know when the state is going to complete the grant process. It could be in the next couple of months. We're just keeping our fingers crossed. But as soon as we know, we'll let the public know.’

This weekend’s show has free admission, including voted awards and raffle prizes. The show begins at 10 A.M. while judging starts around noon.

For more information on the show, visit the “Event Calendar” tab at bigrapidsdailynews.com.