A group of residents, volunteers, teachers and students from Dublin Consolidated School braved the cold to dedicate an engraved granite “Peace Pole” next to the Dublin Town Hall on Tuesday, Dec. 9.
The pole is inscribed “May Peace Prevail on Earth” in eight languages from around the globe.
At the ceremony, DCS students sang and shared their thoughts about peace.
“The children at Dublin Consolidated School have been practicing peace songs since last spring, after we knew that we were moving forward,” said Peace Pole Committee member Katherine Gekas. “It was very inspiring, lovely and heartwarming.”
The pole was installed as part of the International Peace Pole Project, founded in Japan more than 50 years ago. As of 2025, Peace Poles have been “planted” on every continent and every region of the world, including virtual poles at remote locations.
The Peace Pole and four additional plaques were installed on Nov. 14.
DCS students also participated in the process of deciding which languages should be included on the pole and plaques. “May Peace Prevail on Earth” is inscribed in Spanish, and on the four plaques in English, Abenaki, French, Hebrew, German, Arabic, and Chinese.
“There are over 200,000 of these poles in the world, saying ‘May Peace Prevail on Earth,'” Gekas said. “We raised a little extra money beyond the allotted amount, due to the increased expenses of the plaques.”
She said the project has been in the works since summer 2024, when several residents started talking about the possibility of bringing a Peace Pole to Dublin.
“We formed a committee that met in the fall of 2024 and then we branched out, talked, collected signatures for the warrant, estimated a budget, presented the petition warrant article at Town Meeting,” Gekas said. “It has been a multi-partisan effort since last fall, and we emphasized the message of doing things together, listening to each other, and cultivating peace in ways that we think of, whatever that might mean to us.”
The petition warrant article proposing the installation of the Peace Pole, “a symbol of the community’s support for world peace,” was approved and funded by Dublin voters at the March 2025 Town Meeting.
Gekas and fellow Peace Pole Committee members Marsha Whitney, Volkert Volkersz, Don Primrose, Bruce Fox, Traceymay Kalavaitis, Zach Redler, Ramona Branch, and Balmeet Lasky, raised additional funds for the installation and organized the installation of the pole and the ceremony.
The pole is between the Dublin Library and the Town Hall, near the side of the parking lot.
“I noticed yesterday that someone moved the bench that was nearby so that it faces the pole,” Gekas said. “We hope to have future ceremonies there, focusing on peace.”
To learn more about the Peace Pole Project, go to peacepoleproject.org.