FARGO — Amid a sea of 22 blue and white pots, the Fargo community gathered Thursday, June 25, to celebrate a major milestone: the official groundbreaking for Phase II of the Garden of Healing at Urban Plains Park.
The 22 pots — 11 blue with white salvia and 11 white with blue salvia — were a poignant contribution from Shelly Pingel of
Bloomfield Garden Center
. Each donated pot was sold for a $50 donation to the garden, a tribute to each year of Cameron Fisher’s life, whose death spurred the creation of the garden.
The expansion comes at a significant time for the garden’s founders, Sarah and Arlin Fisher. This Sunday marks eight years since the death of their son, Cameron Bolton, following a car crash.
The upcoming $1.7 million expansion of the garden, located at 3020 51st St. S. in Fargo, marks an important milestone in the project’s evolution. This ambitious second phase will introduce several new features designed to enhance the site’s role as a sanctuary, including tranquil walking paths, serene water features and symbolic elements such as a labyrinth and a medicine wheel, as well as bring the previous 3,000 square-foot park to 30,000 square feet.
Arlen Kakac waters flowers before the ceremonial groundbreaking of the Garden of Healing on Thursday, June 25, 2026, located at 3020 51st St. S. in Fargo.
Chris Flynn / The Forum
The groundbreaking ceremony, set against the backdrop of the lush garden, opened with a musical performance by Josh and Hannah Dockter. For Josh Dockter, a two-time transplant recipient, the performance was deeply personal.
“I’m very grateful for people like Cameron who donate, because they saved my life,” he shared, referencing that Cameron’s organs were donated following his death.
During the ceremony, Arlin and Sarah Fisher expressed their gratitude for the overwhelming public support.
Sarah and Arlin Fischer talk with people gathered for the groundbreaking of the Garden of Healing expansion on Thursday, June 25, 2026, in Fargo.
Chris Flynn / The Forum
“The true beauty of the garden is not in the beautiful flowers, but in the community that we have,” Sarah said.
For many in the crowd, the garden serves as a vital refuge. Diane Brendemuhl, who has connected with the Fishers through shared experiences of loss, spoke to the park’s importance. Her sister is already honored with a brick in the garden, and other family members will soon be recognized as well.
“I’ve sat here just to sit, and it brings me a lot of peace,” Brendemuhl said.
Having secured the funding for the expansion in April, the ambitious expansion is finally underway thanks to relentless community fundraising, sponsors and a clear, shared goal.
For board members working behind the scenes, the expansion is personal. Nick Davis, who joined the garden’s board recently but has supported the project’s marketing for over a year, says the work is driven by a unified mission.
Diane Brendemuhl holds a plant she purchased on Thursday, June 25, 2026, following the ceremonial groundbreaking for the Garden of Healing in south Fargo. The plants were donated by the Bloomfield Garden Center and proceeds will benefit the garden.
Chris Flynn / The Forum
“Everyone on the board is passionate about helping people heal,” Davis said.
He credits the park with playing a critical role in his own recovery after losing his friend, Brady, to suicide.
“This park has been tremendous in my own healing process,” he said.
Davis has been active in fundraising efforts, including selling 3D puzzles to help reach the financial goals for the second phase.
The path to healing and hope
Cameron’s giving spirit didn’t stop with his death. Through organ donation, Cameron saved and improved numerous lives throughout the country.
His heart, liver, kidneys, corneas and more
gave life to those who needed it most.
“Cameron would’ve had his accident either way; that was God’s plan,” Sarah Fisher said. “Now we get to see that God’s plan was for Cameron to help all these other people.”
Sarah and Arlin Fisher founded Crosses for Cameron, a nonprofit organization working to raise awareness about organ donation and supporting families navigating similar journeys.
According to a Fargo Park District memorandum, in spring 2021, the Fishers went a step further and approached the park district with a vision. They proposed creating a memorial garden to honor Cameron, as well as serve as a space for support and healing for the broader community.
Approval was granted
by the Fargo Park District in 2021, and the Fishers have seen the project grow from a small memorial into a vital community resource.
“The garden was never about death and dying, it’s about healing,” Sarah Fisher said.
A groundbreaking ceremony
followed in May 2021, with installation of initial features continuing throughout the summer. By October 2021, Phase I was complete, marked by a dedication ceremony.
Only a month after the garden’s opening,
the Fargo Park Board
approved the concept for an expanded version. The Fishers were given the green light to pursue their long-term vision, initially allowing three years to secure funding for a much larger Phase II, though they were later given an additional five years in March 2023.
By September 2025, additional enhancements were completed, including the installation of the Healing Hotline or the
“Phone in the Wind.”
A bed of fibrous begonias shaped like a heart is shown in front of the “Healing Hotline” monoliths on Thursday, June 25, 2026, at the Garden of Healing in south Fargo.
Chris Flynn / The Forum
This hotline uses no real phone. Instead, the Healing Hotline serves as a symbolic phone installation offering visitors a private way to speak their thoughts and grief, utilizing cleverly built monoliths.
With the Healing Hotline gaining public attention, the demand for more features became clear. “Listening to the need of the community,” as Arlin Fisher put it, pushed the family to pursue this larger expansion.
They hope the garden’s new features, particularly the labyrinth, will provide a place where visitors can enter with a problem and leave it behind.
“You just have to find a healthy way to navigate through death,” Arlin Fisher said. “For us, when Cameron died, we basically had two choices: we could curl up in a ball in the corner and stop existing, or we could take in that negative and turn it into a positive, and we decided to do that.”
Along with the garden, the Fishers continue to advocate for organ donation awareness, speaking to thousands of students and community members annually.
As construction on Phase II begins, the Fishers remain focused on the future, noting that while they have the funds to start building, they will continue to need community help with future maintenance. For more information on the expansion or to view the virtual tour, visit
gardenofhealingpark.org
.
From the left: Zoë Absey, Fargo Park Board; Susan Faus, executive director, Fargo Parks; Sarah and Arlin Fischer, co-founders of Crosses for Cameron; Joe Deutsch, Fargo Park Board; Sam Koskey, board member, Garden of Healing and Crosses for Cameron; Nick Davis, board member, Garden of Healing and Crosses for Cameron; and Dave Bietz, deputy director of operations, Fargo Parks, are pictured at the groundbreaking for the Garden of Healing on Thursday, June 25, 2026, located at 3020 51st St. S. in Fargo.
Chris Flynn / The Forum
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