By Woodrow Polston
Now that the wet and cold winter has run its course, springtime has finally returned with the Vernal Equinox on March 20. At the close of spring break, student athletes were busy preparing to run track and begin baseball season. This spring also brings an election cycle, as candidates campaign for offices across the county and state. Local groups are looking forward to warmer weather and outdoor activities. President of the Lafemme Arts Club, Linda Klug, stated that they are ready to be active outside again after the slow winter months.
“The first thing that we have planned to do this spring is to help fill the eggs for the Community Easter Egg Hunt,” said Klug. “We will be assisting some of the residents at the Tri-County Nursing Center for April 9. After that we will be getting ready to plant the planters on the corner of State and Main Street,” she added. The members of the Lafemme Arts Club have been leading the effort to beautify the city of Vandalia by planting flowers, trees, decorations and various other projects around town.
According to City Administrator Darren Berry, there are several projects coming up for the spring and summer months.
“We are hoping to get the sidewalk project done up on Main street,” said Berry. “We currently have bids out for that job. We may even end up doing it ourselves. In the month of May, we have scheduled maintenance on the city water tower. We will be taking it down and having it painted on the interior and we will do any repairs that are needed to the base. We will paint the exterior of the tower at a later date. We are going to be running water lines out to Standard Wellness soon. We have just finished building a platform and installing new flooring at the Lange building. We are also going to be looking at a proposal to finish our storm sewer mapping, which we would pay for with funds from the American Rescue Plan Act. We are also looking into the installation of new playground equipment at the South School Park on South Main Street,” he added.
Visitors at the Vandalia Branch Library will find a lot more spaces to park this spring, as the work to expand the parking lot nears completion. Park goers can also look forward to another year of the ‘Book Walk’ at Tri-County Park. Branch Manager Crystal McCurdy said that this will be the third year that they have provided this.
“We are going to be doing this for the third year in a row I believe,” said McCurdy. “Rotary helps with expenses, and we will run it from May through October. We have received good feedback from the community. We modeled this after Mexico’s ‘Book Walk’ and it is going well,” she added.