Perry's Monument won't open in 2017

PUT-IN-BAY — An iconic and popular monument symbolizing peace on Lake Erie will not reopen in 2017. Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial rises 352 feet above Put-in-Bay and dominates the South Bass Island skyline. The monument will undergo a series of repairs this year and likely won't reopen to guests until 2018. "It is unfortunate but unavoidable that the column will be inaccessible to the public in 2017," park superintendent Barbara Fearon said. "This is another phase of repairs that is critical to the longevity of the memorial column."Visitors look over Put-in-Bay from the top of Perry's Monument on July 15, 2016.The roughly $1.8 million federally funded project calls for cleaning and re-pointing the exterior of the monument column, along with interior tile work. Work is scheduled to begin soon.Coon Restoration, from Louisville, Ohio, will handle the exterior work while PPW Builders, from Cleveland, will cover the internal tile work, said Rodney Karr, facilities manager at Perry's Victory. A 12-month study revealed flexible silicone, applied when the memorial underwent extensive maintenance in the early 1980s, trapped moisture inside the structure. If left unchecked, this could pose a problem for the monument in the future, according to a news release. Fearon explains the importance of this project. "The monument is essentially a series of granite blocks with mortar joints," she previously told the Register. "These joints need to be periodically cleaned out and mortared again. We've done a lot of testing and we've determined it would be better for the monument to use a cement-based mortar. That will allow the monument to breathe as intended."The exterior work is scheduled for completion in December. "Thanks to the foresight and ingenuity of engineers working on prior projects, this work can be completed in one construction season versus two as they will be using swing stages rather than building scaffolding," Fearon said.Reach reporter Patrick Pfanner at pfanner@sanduskyregister.com, follow him on Twitter @PatPfanner and follow the Register at Facebook.com/SanduskyRegisterThe sun shines over Perry's Monument in Put-in-Bay on July 15, 2016.This view of Put-in-Bay will be temporarily unavailable. The state plans to do maintenance work on the monument this year.