Main Street coordinator speaks to Kilgore Rotary Club

Fallon Burns, Main Street coordinator for the City of Kilgore, was the guest speaker at the Kilgore Rotary Club meeting Wednesday.

Burns spoke about exciting opportunities for Kilgore to revitalize its downtown, some things which have already been started and have shown success.

She spoke about the Farmer's Market which started in May and has been staged each Saturday from 8 until noon in the downtown area. The produce that has been brought by six to 10 vendors each week has been a big hit, and the event will carry on into the fall.

Several club members said they had attended the market and were pleased with the quantity and quality of the products.

She also talked about façade rehabilitation and showed slides of several buildings in the downtown area which have undergone facelifts that have improved them dramatically. One is Bill Woodall's building on Commerce Street, while the other is the former Frame Shop on East Main Street. Both have benefited from Main Street grant dollars and have been improved dramatically.

She also spoke about downtown activities such as Christmas in the Patch, the Snow Hill, Downtown Trick-or- Treating, the Chili Cookoff and other things that occur during the year. She said Kilgore is lucky because so many people and organizations want to have events under the derricks or in the downtown area. And, the chamber is very active in trying to get visitors to take tours of the downtown area.

Finally, she discussed streetscaping in downtown and said the plans are to add aesthetics such as trees and flowers as well as level the sidewalks and make them look pretty. She also said ADA requirements downtown would be met and a host of other things would be done to beautify downtown. This is something that merchants in the area have asked for, and she said she has seen success with this type of beautification in the past.

In other Rotary news, the club will usher at the Texas Shakespeare Festival one night in the next couple of weeks. Volunteers have been secured to handle this effort.

The club will put out flags once again for Labor Day in September. Anyone wanting a flag or to add flags to their areas should contact a club member so the changes can be made before the next flag holiday.

Janet Marley, children's librarian at the Kilgore Public Library and a member of the KISD school board, was honored as Public Servant of the Month. Mrs. Marley has been a longtime employee of the library and has approximately 300 children enrolled in a summer reading program that has proven to be very successful for a good number of years.

This week, Nicola Greene, the Community Involvement Coordinator with the Vow Marriage Program, will be the speaker.

The Kilgore Rotary Club meets each Wednesday at noon in the ballroom of the Meadowbrook Country Club. Guests are always welcome.