Harrington News

At the Harrington Opera House on Thursday, April 9, from 6:30 to 7:15 p.m. will be the first in a series of meetings to present purpose, goals and plans of each of Harrington’s civic and community organizations. The public is invited. There will be short five-minute presentations by four or five organizations followed by a question and answer session and informal visiting time. This will allow each organization to showcase the purposes of their organization and enlist new members. It provides time to share projects and events of each group, provide awareness for collaboration and prevent potential duplication of efforts. These meetings will encourage potential volunteers to unite with an organization that can best utilize their abilities.

Presentations that will be made at this first meeting are: Harrington Historic Preservation Commission, Harrington Public Development Authority, Lions Club, Chamber of Commerce and the Harrington Opera House Society. Posters advertising this meeting enthusiastically encourage all Harrington adults and youth to come.

Harrington

Chamber of Commerce

Wednesday, April 1, Cassandra Paffle-Dick called the noon meeting to order with Ken Kennedy, Allen Barth, Mark Stedman, Don Phillips, Heather Slack, Kathy Hoob, Sharon Nighswonger, Bunny Haugan, Nathan Luck, Cindy Haas, Sarah Hendrickson and Marge Womach in attendance. Following the normative agenda, the meeting’s focus was divided between the clean-up day and the event, Cruizin’ Day. The school suggested Monday, May 4, as the day school students and civic-minded citizens could join forces to clean portions of the town. Specific areas and a few yards were cited as needing help. Other projects proposed included the need for the entrance to town to be attacked by a weed-eater, cleaning the areas next to the buildings and sweeping sidewalks.

A committee was formed with Kathy Hoob and Cassandra Paffle-Dick to organize the projects and coordinate with the school. The city is not sponsoring a city-wide clean-up and there will be no free removal of appliances. Nathan Luck is working out the details of the insurance for a Beer Garden and Cindy Haas agreed to work with him to accomplish that goal. Six vendors are currently signed up for spaces. Kathy Hoob wanted specific hours for use of the opera house for a quilt show. Set-up time was designated as 5 p.m. on Friday and tentative hours for the show were set from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Donations will be accepted at the quilt show to be shared between the Cruizin Day’s expenses and the opera house.

Mark Stedman reported that the opera house will have its auditorium and stage floors sanded and refinished between now and Cruizin’ Day. This will necessitate the removal of the pews for the process. Don Phillips discussed the Landmark Apartments and their potential. Commissioner Mark Stedman said that once the apartments are re-activated by Neils Petersen in the Lincoln Co. Housing Coalition name, the process of getting the facility back into use will begin. Discussions revealed that Harrington has about 13 houses for sale. The next Chamber meeting is Wednesday noon, May 6, at the golf course. Members were invited to vote on the coloring contest before they left, and Allen Barth will present the prizes on Cruizin’ Day.