Chamber brings new enhancements to Gainesville square


Ozark County Chamber of Commerce member Linda Harlin shows some of the banners to be installed this week on the Gainesville square. Harlin applied on behalf of the Chamber for White River Valley Electric Cooperative Plugged In grants to purchase the banners plus four benches, four planters and a new sound system to be used for community events.

Gainesville city water specialist Jessi Price and Chamber member Doug Hawkins show one of the four benches and four planters the Chamber of Commerce purchased with WRVEC Plugged In grant funds to be placed around the square. Linda Harlin, who applied for the grant, has filled the planters with winter foliage and plans to add dirt and live plants as the seasons change.

Chamber members Hawkins and Heather Luna stand beside the winter-scene panel covering one of the windows in the building where the Chamber stores Christmas decorations. The scene was designed by Harlin’s granddaughter, Abbi Harlin Martin, a graphic artist in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Other seasonal designs will be displayed during the coming year, and a panel featuring Abbi Martin’s collage of Ozark County landmarks will be displayed below the Chamber’s logo on the building’s other window-covering panel.

The Gainesville square is getting some decorative updates and additional benches this week, thanks to Ozark County Chamber of Commerce projects using funds from the White River Valley Electric Cooperative Plugged In grant initiative. 

Chamber member Linda Harlin applied for the grant funds to provide four benches and four planters to be placed on the square, plus four sets of four decorative banners to be displayed around the square during the year announcing special events. The items are being installed this week. 

Harlin is adding artificial greenery and poinsettias to the newly installed planters; she plans to fill them with dirt and plants in the spring. She will also take care of watering and tending the plants, explaining that “the Chamber has let me, as a committee of one, take care of this project.”

Karla Smith helped design the banners and get them made, and D&D Signs placed the vinyl lettering on them, Harlin said. Each of the first set of banners has a different Christmas-themed picture accompanied by the date and time of the Wonders of Christmas. This year’s annual Christmas celebration will begin at 5 p.m. Friday, Dec. 10, with the Jingle Bell Parade at 7 p.m. 

The banners will remain on display until Jan. 1, Harlin said, but the vinyl letters advertising the Wonders of Christmas events will be removed, leaving the Christmas scenes remaining. Three more sets of banners will be displayed throughout the year to announce other events or promote the different seasons. 

She is also leading another Chamber of Commerce project to put seasonal designs on the panels covering the two front windows on the oldest building on the square, the small, white building near the southeast corner. The Chamber uses the building to store the Christmas decorations that are displayed on the courthouse lawn during the holiday season. To hide the decorations while they’re stored away, the Chamber ordered window-covering panels from D & D Signs. One is printed with the Chamber’s logo, and the other commemorates the Missouri bicentennial. 

Harlin is donating funds to pay for four seasonal designs that will replace the bicentennial logo on that panel as the state’s official observation of its 200-year history comes to a close. The winter-design panel has been installed by D & D Signs, to be followed by spring, summer and fall panels as those seasons begin. The seasonal images were designed by Harlin’s granddaughter, Abbi Harlin Martin, a graphic artist in Fayetteville, Arkansas; they were printed on the panels by D & D Signs. The Chamber is adding another Abbi Harlin Martin design, a collage of Ozark County landmarks, that will be permanently displayed below its logo on the other window-covering panel.

The Chamber also used another WRVEC Plugged In grant of $4,500 to purchase a sound system that will be used for community events such as Wonders of Christmas and Hootin an Hollarin. The equipment will be needed, Harlin said, because longtime sound technician Bill Talley has retired from the job, and he used his own equipment. 

The two grants totaled $7,500. A story about the WRVEC Plugged In initiative published in the March 17, 2020, edition of the Times listed several possible criteria for Plugged In grants to be considered. Among them were projects that “enhance neighborhood appearance or cleanliness, improve viability of commercial areas and enhance the business environment. 

Harlin expressed thanks to all the individuals and groups that assisted in the enhancement project, including Karla Smith; the Chamber; WRVEC; the city of Gainesville, which approved the proposals; Angie Collins and Rob Collins at D & D Signs; David Bushner, who helped with bench assembly; and Justin Gilmore at Gainesville High School, who has worked with Smith on developing similar-size banners to honor graduating seniors. 

 

Ozark County Times

504 Third Steet
PO Box 188
Gainesville, MO 65655

Phone: (417) 679-4641
Fax: (417) 679-3423