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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Paul J. Stormberg" data-source="post: 9765435" data-attributes="member: 33042">Howdy Morris,I am running the campaign as President of the Gygax Memorial Fund and the primary driver of the fund since I took office.Gary's widow Gail took a step back in 2019 and asked me to take over the project because she was frustrated by the lack of progress with the city on getting the land in Library Park, where Gary wanted his memorial. Here is our 2025 Project Update from our website:My name is Paul Stormberg and I am President of the Gygax Memorial Fund, Inc. The Fund or GMF, is a non-profit organization founded by Gary's widow and has worked for many years to get approval to build a memorial to Gary Gygax, co-creator of the Dungeons & Dragons game, in his hometown of Lake Geneva, WI. In 2024, during the 50th anniversary year of the game, the city fully granted the land for the memorial in Gary's favorite place, in his favorite park, and accepted the future donation of the memorial to the City of Lake Geneva.But how did we get here? Our early fundraising efforts were good but without an approved location and final design for our project, fundraising became less of a focus. Instead, the GMF worked toward securing acceptance of the memorial by the City of Lake Geneva and the location Gary wanted in Library Park.In the initial years of the fund (2009 to 2013) we raised $15k from individual fans and $50k in corporate donations (including $18k for the Premium Edition Book sales donated by Wizards of the Coast). Then, in 2012-2013 a wonderful donor stepped in and pledged $175k. We were elated but still had been unable to convince the City of Lake Geneva to permit us to build the memorial in Library Park. Shortly after this time, Gary’s widow became ill, and the project slowed. However, she still succeeded in getting the city to grant a site for the memorial. Unfortunately, after investigation, the site, Donian Park, ended up being restricted from building any such project within its boundaries.Frustrated by the lack of progress and still recovering from her illness, Gary’s widow decided to bring on a new vice president, myself to begin a campaign to re-invigorate the project. Unfortunately, just before I joined the GMF in 2019, our largest donor expressed that they did not think the site for the memorial would ever be approved by the city and, thus, the project never be completed. After a long discussion about a new direction for the fund and new design for the memorial, it was ultimately agreed to return the majority of their donation in 2022, with the hope the donor would rejoin the project when it was clear the city was willing to move forward.That left the fund with only a small amount of funds in reserve and we still had no site, nor final design for the memorial. I was then named president of the GMF and immediately began a series of initiatives within the City of Lake Geneva to apprise them of Gary's impact on the City and the world.To date the Gygax Memorial Fund has:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">dedicated a Park Bench in Gary's name in his favorite spot in his favorite park, </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">successfully petitioned the City of Lake Geneva proclaim Gary's birthday, July 27th, as Gary Gygax Day, </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">established the Appendix N Alcove in the Lake Geneva Public Library,</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">laid the Gen Con Founder's Stone at Horticultural Hall celebrating Gary's founding of Gen Con,</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">created The Adventurer's Map to Lake Geneva (<a href="http://www.tlbgames.com" target="_blank">www.TLBgames.com</a>), a walking tour map of Gary's life, </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">donated a recreation of Gary's sand table in the basement of 330 Center St., the Birthplace of D&D, </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">established The Wizard of Lake Geneva exhibit dedicated to Gary at the Geneva Lake Museum,</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">founded the annual Dragon Days Fantasy Festival, celebrating Lake Geneva as the birthplace of D&D and Gary's legacy behind it (<a href="http://www.dragondays.org" target="_blank">www.DragonDays.org</a>)</li> </ul>All this to help convince the City of Lake Geneva, that Gary really does deserve a memorial. Why do they need convincing? Because at one point they considered not wanting any memorials at all in Lake Geneva--ever--and were going to pass an ordinances to do so. Not only that but the site that Gary wanted was the absolute crown jewel of the entire city, Library Park, an emerald parkland along the picturesque shore of Lake Geneva. The deck was stacked against us but the implementation of the inititives above and a long PR campaign, including, many speeches, lots of travel (over 10,000 miles on my truck in one year!) presentations to the various civic bodies, positive press in the local papers and news programs, engagement with the local tourism entities, and downright persistence, we finally acheived our goal after 16 years of effort in 2024.Of course, none of this was without cost. The maintenance costs of the fund over these 16 years included: accountants, tax preparation, attorney fees, travel, convention appearances, city presentations, artists, surveyors, architects, sculpture consultants, domain and website management, etc. It all added up to about $4-5k of expenditures each year. It took time and considerable effort but we accomplished our mission, and secured the site and design for the project. And now we can move forward with fund raising once again.That brings us to today, starting a renewed fundraising campaign to finally realize what the fans have wanted for years. Time to move forward. Roll for initiative!Futures Bright,Paul StormnbergGygax Memorial Fund, President</blockquote>

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