The Brighton Garden Club and the Brighton Veterans Memorial Committee will be honoring the women of the Greatest Generation at 10 a.m. on August 14, 2019 as two special Rosie the Riveter rosebushes are added to the garden at the Veteran’s Memorial at Mill Pond Park.
“Rosie the Riveter” is the nickname for the millions of female workers who stepped in to fill critical jobs left behind when men were called to fight in World War II. These hard-working women built the tanks, ships and planes that the Allies needed for victory. In an era when women were not expected to work outside of the home and female factory workers were rare, the “Rosies” also proved that “We Can Do It!”
The rosebushes are provided by the Willow Run Chapter of the American Rosie the Riveter Association (ARRA) as part of an initiative to plant over 80 Rosie the Riveter rosebushes in Michigan this season. ARRA was founded in 1998 by the WWII “Rosies” themselves for the purpose of providing fellowship and preserving their stories and legacy. The ARRA has over 6,000 members nationwide, with over 500 members in Michigan.
The roses are of a new variety called the “Rosie the Riveter Floribunda Rose” developed by Weeks Roses to honor the female home front workers of WWII. This hardy variety of rose has a beautiful orange-red bloom and will bloom continually throughout the season.
“We are delighted that the Brighton Veterans Memorial is providing a permanent home for some of our Rosie the Riveter rosebushes,” says Nancy J. Zajac, president of the Willow Run Chapter of ARRA, “And we hope that they will add beauty to the Memorial while representing the important wartime contributions of the ‘Rosies’.”
“The Rosie the Riveter rosebushes will be a wonderful addition to the garden at our Veterans Memorial, and will allow the ‘Rosies’ of WWII to symbolically take their place in support of our servicemen and women, just as they did in WWII,” says Brighton Garden Club member Jane Wilson.