Tamaqua’s newest park was dedicated at a Saturday event complete with patriotic music, historical references — and much American pride.

Hundreds turned out to Liberty Tree Park on North Railroad Street, where a direct descendant of the last surviving original Liberty Tree in Annapolis, Maryland, is planted.

“Welcome to Tamaqua Liberty Tree Park, home of Schuylkill County’s Liberty Tree and Liberty Bell, enduring symbols of the ideals that gave birth to a nation, the very nation whose semiquincentennial anniversary we commemorate today — the United States of America,” said park committee member Eric Zizelmann, who dressed as George Washington.

The audience watched from the park’s recently poured walkway, while the Cressona Band and program participants set up on the grass, just behind the tulip poplar.

John E. Jones III, president of Dickinson College and former chief judge of the U.S. Middle District Court of Pennsylvania, was the guest speaker.

“A quarter of a millennium ago, a group of remarkable men did an extraordinarily courageous thing. They signed their names to a piece of paper that declared in plain and ringing language that all men are created equal, that they are endowed with unalienable rights, and that when a government fails to protect those rights, people have the power to change it,” Jones said. “They did that at the risk of their very lives.”

Jones, a Schuylkill County native, noted that many of the nations that existed in 1776 have been remade, conquered or dissolved.

“Empires have risen and fallen. Constitutions have been written, passed and torn up,” he said. “And yet, here we are in this great borough of Tamaqua, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, one of the original colonies subject to the very same Constitution that was ratified in 1788. That alone, my friend, is worth celebrating.”

State Sen. Dave Argall commended the work of the Liberty Tree Park committee, which includes Zizelmann, Attorney Anthony Odorizzi, the Rev. Dillon Epler, Micah Gursky and others.

“They have been working on this day for more than three years, with one simple goal: to eliminate a very blighted site and replace it with something we all can be proud of — this brand-new green space, Argall said. “And here we are.”

Zizelmann had learned of the America250PA’s Liberty Tree Project which launched in 2021 with a goal of planting one tree in each of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties. Tamaqua’s application was chosen from among the 18 received from Schuylkill County.

To make a home for the symbolic tree, the borough acquired three blighted properties between 31 and 39 Railroad St., then used Schuylkill County demolition funds to tear them down.

The site also hosts Schuylkill County’s Liberty Bell, which was designed by Tamaqua Area Middle School Art Club students under the direction of instructor Kim Woodward.

In addition to Zizelmann’s Washington attire, Steve Ulicny, Tamaqua Area High School history teacher, dressed as Benjamin Franklin.

Peering through spectacles, he read from Thomas Paine’s poem, “Liberty Tree.”

“From the east to the west blow the trumpet to arms, through the land let the sound of it flee, let the far and the near, all unite with a cheer, in defense of our Liberty Tree,” Ulicny recited.

Tamaqua Elementary school student Angelique Ramirez, winner of the Tamaqua American Legion’s “What America’s 250th Means to Me” essay contest, read from her entry.

“Being an American means living in a country where people have freedom and rights. It means you can be yourself and believe what you want,” she said.

In addition, Marian High School sophomore Carly Green sang the National Anthem, the Rev. Josh Nemeth, past of St. Peter’s Church in West Penn Township, offered a prayer, and the American Legion C.H. Berry Post raised the American flag as the Cressona Band played “Call to the Colors.” Donnie Serfass, a direct descendant of Revolutionary War patriot Johannes Serfass, of the PA Militia 4th Battalion, Northampton County, led the Pledge of Allegiance.

Justin Bailey, secretary of the Harmony Lodge #86, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, asked all to join him in reciting “The American Creed.”

An America 250 Patriots Marker was also installed at the park, courtesy of the Mahatongo Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution.

According to Sheree-Lee Knorr, regent of the local DAR chapter, the Tamaqua area had 32 Revolutionary War patriots.

Senior Warden Travis Mosney of the Tamaqua/Mahanoy City Lodge 238 of the Free and Accepted Masons helped dedicate the park and offered a benediction.

“This is an exciting time for our community,” Tamaqua Mayor Dave Clemson said. “Across the borough we are seeing projects that will improve the quality of life for our residents, and strengthen Tamaqua for generations to come. From the new rural dental school and student housing, to the reconstruction of our community pool, to the new public safety and community center — and the creation of Liberty Tree Park itself.”