Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout01122023 Historic Preservation LAYDOWN Benoit230112 Benoit Laydown for the HPC meeting Rotary Park The HPC is a partner on the Rotary Park Project administered by the Seward Rotary Club. The goal is to enhance the Rotary Park Pavilion as an environmentally themed fish and wildlife viewing area for residents and visitors, with interpretive art and signs, and Pavilion maintenance this year. Future phases may include developing a trail or other access and parking. The project is developing 2 signs that will be very similar to what was created for the walking tour signs. The signs will provide information on the history of Rotary Park, a man made lagoon formed when the road was put in, as well as information on the Lagoon ecology and tips to protect the environment. HPC is a partner on the project and our logo will be on the signs. Commissions Ward and Benoit have been assisting in researching the history of the Lagoon. Rotary is applying for grants to assist in funding some of the art and maintenance. Rotary has asked if HPC could provide a letter of support that could be included in the grant application. The project will help promote Seward's history to locals and visitors. Radio Show- Seward's History- The Rest of That Story The Seward Rotary Club is interested in developing an audio walking tour using the narratives from the walking tour signs. The goal would be to promote our history and to also charge a small fee to download it that could produce some funding for Rotary and some of the partners on the tour. Commissioner Benoit, also the current President of Rotary, discussed the idea with Library Director Saylor and also talked to the radio station about how to create sound files. Commissioner Benoit was recently asked about doing a radio show on history by Becky Dunn. Commissioner Benoit developed an idea to create "Seward's History- The Rest of That Story". It would be about each of the signs, telling the story from the narrative on the sign and sharing additional information we learned when doing the research. It would be a conversation between Commissioners Benoit and Ward, with invited guests of other commissioners, partners, home owners etc. from the tour. Each show would start with a reading of the sign narrative, which could be cut out to have a professional audio of the sign narrative for an audio walking tour. This show could be a partnership between Rotary and HPC. We recorded the first show on the Manthey House this week to see how it would go. Things went very smoothly. If the product is good and the radio station wants to continue, this could be a live show every 2 weeks, between 30-60 minutes. The show will be a great way to promote our history, the walking tour, and historic preservation in Seward. The sound file links could also be shared on Facebook and on our webpage. The show could generate the sound files for the audio walking tour. It also has the potential to generate some funds for H PC.