By Mira Brody VP MEDIA
I-Ho Pomeroy walked from her restaurant, I-Ho’s Korean Grill, downtown to City Hall where she served a decade as Bozeman City Commissioner, nearly every day.
“That was her thoroughfare,” said Ellie Staley, executive director of the Downtown Bozeman Association. “She was not only a beloved community member, she was such a downtown gal to her core.”
When Pomeroy died in March 2024, the community she served sought a way to properly honor her. Staley was approached by City Commissioner Jennifer Madgic with the idea of a pocket park—a way the city could still feel her presence downtown.
The future I-Ho Pomeroy Peace Park will be located on the corner of South Black Avenue and East Mendenhall Street. It will have seating, bike parking, a peace pole and a cement curb aimed at allowing for safer pedestrian crossing along Mendenhall—a value of not only Pomeroy’s, but of the commission as a whole.
“She was always talking about making Bozeman more bike- and walk-friendly and that’s definitely one of our high priorities, and one of my top priorities as a commissioner,” Madgic said.
The park will include artistic motifs of birds, cherry blossoms and tigers, depicting some of Pomeroy’s favorite symbols from her home country of Korea. Two plaques will inform visitors about Pomeroy and her legacy.
“She was really upbeat and optimistic,” said Madgic, who was a fellow commissioner as well as a friend. “She just made you feel good about yourself and put a positive spin on life.”
The peace park broke ground this fall, and there will be a grand opening on Aug. 14 during the summer Art Walk, with public art being another one of Pomeroy’s passions.
The park was made possible by a series of grants, including the Montana Main Street Program, $100,000 from the Gallatin County Open Space Grant and a match from Urban Renewal Funds. Because the landscaping of the new park helps mitigate stormwater, the City of Bozeman Stormwater Division stepped in to help, and landscape design and general contracting is by Sanbell and Haselsen. Other partnerships include the City of Bozeman, Downtown Bozeman Association, Sweet Pea Festival and the Sunrise Rotary Club, who are donating the peace pole that in eight languages says: May Peace Prevail on Earth.
A noticeable number of people and organizations stepped up to make the park possible, Madgic noted. “I think it’s reflective of who I-Ho was and the impact she had on people,” she said.
While “pocket” in size, the park has a full life to represent. An immigrant from war-ravaged South Korea, Pomeroy first served the food of her home country to the residents of Bozeman from a food cart that often sold out, then established her own restaurant, an establishment that was always tied to her charity efforts; she often used it as an avenue to raise funds for those in need, both locally and internationally.
“I was lucky to serve in Rotary with I-Ho Pomeroy for many years. She held countless fundraisers at her restaurant, I-Ho’s Korean Grill, at which community members and Rotarians served free meals,” said longtime Rotarian Dave Crawford, who recalled the efforts I-Ho’s [restaurant] raised money for, including hurricane, earthquake and flood relief, and even a trip they took together to Kathmandu, Nepal in 2019 to help in schools.
“She was always so much fun to be around with her bright smile and infectious laugh,” Crawford said. The park, he said, will pay homage to Pomeroy’s “spirit of community.”
Elected as Bozeman City Commissioner in 2013, she served three terms until her resignation following her diagnosis of brain cancer in October 2023. She was the first-ever immigrant and person of color on the commission.
Pomeroy’s lasting impact on people’s lives is apparent in the way they describe not only her, but also their relationship with her. It’s not only “my colleague,” it’s also “and friend.”
“Her kindness, her love, her love for Bozeman, her love for people, the way she’d get so excited about fun new things was just absolutely contagious,” Staley said. “The woman’s smile would light up a room.”
“She was truly motivated by doing the right thing,” she added. “She symbolizes what Bozeman truly aspires to be.”
