Vice President Cara Sauceda filled-in for President Stacie this week calling the membership to order at noon. Dr Dave Hartman than came to the podium and before offering the invocation, he informed everyone that bad weather had forced Stacie and her family to be delayed in Denver today and that he also had spoken with Shirley Craft and she allowed him to share that she is in hospice for pain management. Following Dave’s prayer, Cara led us in the pledge to the flag. Since we had just completed our first flag day of the year, we followed the pledge by singing George M Cohen’s patriotic march, “You’re a Grand Old Flag”. For you history buffs, Cohen wrote the song in 1906 for his stage musical, George Washington, Jr., and it quickly became the first song from a musical to sell over a million copies of sheet music.
Afterward we greeted our fellow members in our usual fashion and introduced the visiting guests for the week. Bill Miller brought Shonette Adams-Harris as his guest and Cara had her son, Lenox, and daughter, Penelope, visiting today.
We had no birthdays for the week and for the Sunshine Report Cara thanked the membership for their thoughts and prayers as she embraces some lifestyle changes associated with her recent diabetes diagnosis.
For announcements, Cara reminded us that we only have two weeks until our next flag day where we will be honoring that “Grand Old Flag” on Flag Day, June 14th. The membership was also reminded to RSVP for the annual year-end Membership Dinner/Party by June 13th.
Following the announcements Carol came around with the Brag Bucket. Noros Martin started things off this week by highlighting that Colton and his family were highlighted in the June edition of the Falls Town Neighbors publication. Lance Spruiell bragged that his wife is now a “retired” school teacher – Congrats! Andy told us about his 10-year-old grandson and how their baseball team had fought their way to the championship game in their league’s division and finished second in the league’s overall standings. Dave Hartman then took the opportunity to brag on all city public servants by sharing a recent situation where a road crew had responded to a fallen tree branch that had blocked a roadway and how the crew made short work of clearing the branch and re-opening the roadway. Finally, Glenn Tole bragged on his granddaughter who will be attending Texas A&M and was the recipient of a $20K scholarship! – Well done!
Cara then introduced Ms Jeanette Charos and Alisha Hagler from Downtown Wichita Falls Development to present our program for the afternoon, an update on “What’s Happening in Downtown”. Jeanette is the Marketing Director and Alisha, the Program Director for Downtown Development.
Jeanette jumped right in and told us that downtown with its two historic districts will have a brighter future thanks to new street lights being installed from 5th to 9th street. She said the downtown street lights haven’t been updated in 30 years and these will overhang the street and the sidewalk for safety. She then went on to explain that Downtown Development is a 501C3 organization; i.e, a non-profit organization, and they promote economic development using 4A tax funds. She also indicated that the Alamo School Lofts are now open, and that downtown apartment living has become very popular with MSU students. Jeanette said the average fully furnished apartments downtown rent for about $650 per month.
She then explained more about Downtown Development’s charter and said they provide marketing services to downtown businesses through photography, website, social media and special events. She also added they sponsor programs to teach new skills to downtown business owners and outreach to the community.
Jeanette went on to describe some of the projects where Downtown Development has been involved. These included the historical preservation of the Zales building and the current restoration of the Keller building. They also added benches and trash receptacles along downtown sidewalks and created additional green space with fun seating areas around the WFTX sculpture and added additional lighting.
Besides projects, Downtown Development also has several programs they sponsor for downtown businesses and the community. Among these program offerings are the Downtown Wichita Falls Farmers Market on Ohio Street; “Take it Outside”, a picnic series in Park Central; and “Movies at the Market.” One of the most successful programs has been the monthly Artwalks, which brings about 6 – 8 thousand people to the downtown area on the first Thursday evening of each month from April through October.
Jeanette, whose life motto is to leave things better than you found it, challenged us that if we don’t like something … get involved and change it. She said downtown is not just abandoned buildings anymore and her desire is to bring Civic Pride back to Downtown Wichita Falls.
She then took questions from our members and closed by inviting members to a fundraiser for Downtown Development this Saturday, June 8th at 6 p.m. called “Pianos in Paradise” at the Farmer’s Market. The highlight of the event will be a dueling pianos performance by Fun Pianos!. Check them out on their website: https://duelingpiano.com
Cara thanked Jeanette and Alisha for their presentation and presented them with our usual speaker’s gift of a donation to the Wichita Falls ISD Foundation and then she led us in the Four-Way Test followed by our adjournment.