Rossville Pride News

Rossville PRIDE

January 24, 2018

Notes

Reported by Christi McKenzie

The window display at Dr. Kratina’s building on Main Street was very well received by the community. Tracy Taylor reported that she heard many positive comments at City Hall. Lisa Thornburg plans to change the display for Valentines Day and see what comes next. Next year for Christmas, it would be great to expand the tree displays in other windows on Main Street.

Shelly Buhler and Lisa made the flower pots on Main Street look festive for the winter season. Discussed ideas to improve the display next year.

The Veteran’s Day celebration with the American Legion was well received. Tracey made a delicious cake for the reception.  The veterans liked the engraved bricks and many were surprised by the bricks that were bought for them. City Hall has received several more orders since November. The bricks were picked up and will be installed during Spring Break. Thank you to  Alan McKenzie, Nicholas McKenzie, Lisa T, Shelly, Ann Foster and Christi for laying down the bricks. People can still continue to to order bricks. The form is online.

Andrick Park is a great addition to Main Street. A big thank you to the City Utility Department, Alan Zlatnik and Brad Kirk for the Christmas light and decorations. Christi reports that the City Council is working to get wifi at the Gazebo, hopefully by early summer. The PIP grant for the landscaping in Andrick Park is completed. The volunteers completed the project in one evening. The City has done a great job watering during the summer to keep all of the plants alive and growing. The last part of the plan from Laci Foster is to add peonies. Christi will contact Brenda Brown to see if the Andrick family wants to donate some peonies from their yards this spring. Peonies could be ordered in fall to bloom next year.

Lisa Stum has been working with the California Oregon Trail Association and National Parks Service for a sign that tells Rossville’s story on the trail. An anonymous donation had been made to help fund the sign. (Update: At the February Council Meeting Lisa received information from the NPS to begin designing the sign and the Council approved to move forward with the project)

Lisa Thornburg presented an idea for a PRIDE project grant. The border between Andrick Park and the neighboring houses looks unfinished. After doing some research, she presented the idea of a series of privacy screens that would coordinate with the Gazebo. Japanese Lilac trees could be planted between each screen. Barn Quilts could be hung on each screen. Local artist could paint the quilts to be displayed on the fence or at their homes. Lisa will look for an artist who could give classes and helpful hints. The barn quilts would be added to the Flint Hills Barn Quilt trail. The quilts could tie in historically with the Oregon Trail. Christi will apply for a PRIDE grant for the projects and ask for approval from the City Council. (Update the City Council gave approval for the fence, if funded)

The Kindness Project was presented by Lisa. Small stones are painted with designs or words and then left on public property for someone to find. The stones would say Rossville Rocks and Kansas Rocks with hashtags. TASMAD students will help to paint rocks.  People will be invited to participate in the kindness project utilizing the PRIDE facebook page. We hope to have the project ready for the Regional Conference. It will be fun to see where the rocks go.

Rossvile PRIDE has been asked to host the Kansas PRIDE regional conference on April 24. The conference is in the evening and feature talks about small community improvements and involvement and ideas about fundraising. Kansas PRIDE will give an update on programs and the partnership with the Kansas Masonic Lodge. Other locations hosting are Haysville, Kinsley, Iola and Grainfield.

            
It was decided to contact Todd Brown to use his building at 419 Main Street. (Update he said sure and welcomed the use of the building) April 23 is National Picnic Day, so we are going to celebrate a day later. We will serve a fried chicken meal with possible sides of baked beans, cole slaw, potato salad, macaroni salad, jello salad, and of course homemade pie. Kansas PRIDE will make a flier and collect registrations. We are hoping for 30 to 40 people to attend in Rossville.

The Rossville Community Foundation Celebration dinner is Sat.  April 7. Lisa will again design and decorate a table for the dinner. She will also create a display highlighting the projects that the Foundation and PRIDE have partnered, including Andrick Park, Pancake Breakfast, POP Art auction and Main Street.

Jerry Schwilling is curious about creating a dog park. There are a few location that may work. We will continue to research the idea.

The next meeting has not been scheduled yet.