It’s hard for me to believe that summer has come so quickly to a close here on the north coast. As we head into the autumn season with its crisp, cool mornings and falling leaves, I can’t help but wonder where the time has gone.

It seems like just a couple of months ago we were welcoming a new year, yet we are only a few months away from ushering in another one.

Just a couple of weeks ago, our Community Center Commission members hosted a special dinner for a handful of the Main Hall Refresh Project donors, City staff, City Council members, and contractors who helped work on the project. The commissioners served homemade lasagna and the dinner was a great success.

Commission Chair, Kristin Kabanuk took special care to thank each of the contributors in her address and also spoke about some of the exciting things that are yet to come here at the center. One of those things is the donor recognition tree that has been recently commissioned with local artist Jeremy Furnish. Jeremy is designing the body of the tree from a black walnut slab and adding wire branches. The wire branches will be capped with laser cut bronze leaves and each leaf engraved with our donors’ names. We are hoping to have the tree in place by the end of November.

Another exciting development is the donation of a wood slab by High life Adventures LLC, which will become a countertop at our serving counter in the hall. This was originally part of the project scope, but had to be cut from the plans to keep our project within its budget. Having the folks at High Life step up to donate the wood slab is an absolutely amazing way to cap off the Main Hall Refresh Project.

Looking ahead, our commission members are already working on planning for a Phase II project and what that might entail. I went through an exercise with the commissioners several months ago, where we looked at building needs. One item that seemed to come up again and again was the current stucco siding, which local painter Randy Anderson has offered to paint for free this year as a donation back to his community.

I am truly excited to see the final pieces of this project fall into place and I am continuously amazed by the generosity of our community members. As we settle in for the shorter, chillier days ahead, it’s time to start putting together a list of items to be thankful for and my list starts with all of you!

Every month, The Bob will bring you information on current events and items of interest here at the center. See you next month!