Gazebo at Lake Park pays tribute to Mitch Bowers
By Kyle LoJacono
The newly constructed gazebo at Lake Park in Lutz will be the venue for birthday parties, weddings and other happy events, but the structure was built to honor the untimely death of Mitch Bowers.

Bowers was a member of Boy Scout Troop 314 in Odessa. He was hit and killed by a vehicle in January 2010. He was 12.
“The death was very hard for our boys to take,” said scoutmaster George Cucchi. “He was a very well-liked child and we all still miss him. There is still a hole in our troop that will never be filled.”
Cucchi said after a few weeks, the boys decided they wanted to do something to help everyone remember Bowers.
“We did a flag ceremony at Mitch’s funeral and people donated money to our troop,” Cucchi said. “We didn’t know what to do with it. We didn’t want to go on a fun trip with that money. The boys started thinking and they decided they wanted to do something to help the community.”
That idea started a year-long project to build the gazebo, which costs $3,000. It took nearly 800 man-hours, but on Feb. 12 the boys put the finishing touches on the all white gazebo, which overlooks one of the large lakes at the park.
“It’s been a year of hard work and planning for the troop, and it was amazing to see it finally finished,” Cucchi said. “The boys were very happy to have it done for Mitch and also for the community.”
One of Bowers’ good friends was Michael Palermo.
“It’s pretty amazing to see it finished,” said Palermo, an eighth-grader at Martinez Middle in Lutz. “Mitch was a fun-loving guy, so I think he would be happy to see the gazebo with people having parties in it.”
Cucchi said the Hillsborough County Parks, Recreation and Conservation Department will maintain the gazebo to make sure it looks as pristine as the day it was finished, but the troop will check in on it as well.
“It’s honoring Mitch, so we want to make sure it stays all white and looking good,” Palermo said. “It’s really cool and a lot of people will use it, so we don’t want to let it get worn out looking.”
Cucchi said while the structure’s main purpose is to honor Bowers, it also helped the scouts learn life lessons.
“A lot of the kids in the troop go to prep schools and will be going to college,” Cucchi said. “They don’t have a lot of experience with hammers and nails. It was a culture shock for a lot of them.”
Cucchi also said the project helped the scouts learn organization skills.
Troop 314 currently has about 20 kids from Odessa, Lutz and Land O’ Lakes. For more information on the group, visit www.troop314fla.com/index.htm or e-mail .
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