The Mayor’s Corner 06/14/2017

Preparation for Fiddle Festival has begun in earnest with the placement of the banner across State Street. Crews from the Electric Department and Water Department will be placing the wood Fiddles up later in the week. Power boards will be placed in the parks and water hook-ups checked and meters read to begin usage for the vendors. The Street crew is finishing the crosswalks and will be placing barricades around various locations for parking, closing streets and preparing for the parade on Saturday. The Street crew will also be building the City float which is used to transport the host Fiddlers in the parade each year. This year it is also scheduled to be used in the 4th of July Parade to transport some of our veterans. The Parks crew is working to get the parks ready for all the visitors and make sure sprinkler heads are marked so vendors don’t run over them. Lots of little details have to be taken care of before the activities begin.

Flags will be put up this week to celebrate Flag Day on Wednesday, June 14 and will stay up until after the 4th of July. They always look so nice waving in the wind next to the flower baskets. Hopefully, the waving in the wind will be a gentle waving. We have definitely been getting our share of blustery, rainy days and nights the last few weeks. The beauty of the lightning in the sky can sometimes be lost in the roar of the thunder particularly if you have animals.

Friday nights will not be the same this year for many of us. I visited with Ken Avant last week and Friday Nite Live has had to be suspended this year. As you may know Friday Nite Live was the joint effort of Ken and Gene Inskeep. Ken was the idea and logistics man and Gene allowed his property to be used to house the event each week. Gene decided after last season to fix the courtyard up and removed the bricks and pavers along with trees and brush in hopes of redoing the area to better accommodate the event and provide a nicer set up. Gene unexpectedly passed away last winter. His family has since sold the building and courtyard. The new owner has expressed his support of the event but unfortunately the cost of replacing the roof after our ‘winter from Hades’ along with the cost of removing the tree and redoing the courtyard has made it cost prohibitive to get it done. Ken has looked at other possible venues but the transportation of equipment and setup in other areas with seating capacity has not worked at this time. This was a fun Friday night activity and a wonderful way to showcase local talent as well as a way to raise money to get music in the hands of our school kids. Thank you, Ken, for all your efforts over the last five years. You are so appreciated. We will miss this community wide event.

Be sure if you have kids to put Kids’ Day, Tuesday, June20 on your calendar. This has become a premier event for the kids during Fiddle Week. This year the ping pong ball drop has been added back in down by the Depot. Check out the details for all the activities in the special section of today’s paper. Enjoy Fiddle Week and be safe.