Formerly Chelsea Park, this small park in Westminster, Colorado, USA was renovated and renamed Jessica Ridgeway Memorial Park in honor of the young girl who played here whose life was cut short by violence. More information about the case may be found at (
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Knock-knock jokes of the sort that slain 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway loved, etched into cement, adorn the park that was dedicated Saturday morning in her memory.
Playground swings, slides, ziplines all are purple and green — Jessica's favorite colors.
A teeter-totter resembles a giant green dragonfly. Project coordinators said Jessica was working on a paper about dragonflies when she was snatched from the park, one year ago, while walking to her nearby Witt Elementary School.
"Jessica's laughter will be here echoing forever," her grandmother Christine Ridgeway said during a 30-minute ceremony.
The ceremony follows guilty pleas on Tuesday by Austin Sigg, 18, who confessed to kidnapping, abusing, killing and dismembering Jessica and also attacking a jogger. Sigg is to be sentenced in November, and prosecutors say they'll seek consecutive terms so that he is never released from prison.
Beneath a sign at the west entrance of the 3.2-acre park, friends set out cherished items: a softball inscribed by "Rayshell" ("I remember playing catch with you"), a marble, a painted rock, a quarter, a doll, a yellow Frisbee. Gold leaves fell from trees decorated with purple ribbons.
Dogs barked behind fences as people — police estimated the crowd at 600 — walked and rode in golf carts toward the park.
Family members sat on a stage by a photo portrait and collage showing a smiling girl in glasses, goggles, sombrero, blowing a bubble.
"What Jessica leaves as a legacy is much bigger than a park," Westminster Police Chief Lee Birk said. "She reminded us how precious life is and how fleeting it can be."
Police officers who worked on the case — 75 agencies assisted — "are profoundly touched by it and feel as if Jessica was our own daughter," Birk said.
Westminster Mayor Nancy McNally reminded family members: "This community stands behind you."
Jessica's grandmother, Christine, looked out at Jessica's classmates standing solemnly before the stage and told them: "Go play. Jessica would not want you standing here mourning her."
But they stayed.
The family released 10 purple balloons to honor Jessica's 10 years of life.
And then, scores of children did play — twirling, twisting and testing their climbing skills on the playground apparatus.
The classmates supplied park designers with the jokes. Examples:
• Knock knock. Who's there? Abner. Abner who? Abner-noon, pard-ner.
• Knock knock. Who's there? Alex. Alex who? Alex the questions around here.
• Knock knock. Who's there? A little old lady. A little old lady who? I didn't know you could yodel.
Reading these words as she stood on the green cement forced retired fifth-grade teacher Janelle Bratten, 62, to turn in circles like a child. She loves Jessica's park, she said.
"This is who she is." (from (
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I have recorded a video of the knock-knock jokes at (
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