“Our meeting went fabulous,” said Donna Blake, one of the meeting’s organizers. “We had about 55 people show up and we raised over $3,000 that night.”
It wasn’t just citizens of Adairville that showed up either.
“I was amazed that there was so much diversity,” Blake said. “It was not just business owners - it was just ordinary people from Adairville and from out of of town. e had people coming from Schley, Schochoh and all different areas of the county,.”
Meeting organizers brought in Sam Koltinsky, a native of Princeton, to help spearhead the campaign.
“(Koltinsky) has already done this in Princeton and Greenville,” Blake said. “It’s already turned those towns around.”
Koltinsky’s plan is simple – get the community involved in painting and restoring the look of the city’s downtown area.
“It’s more or less just getting everybody working,” Blake said. “This makes you proud to have a nice downtown.”
Once the downtown is freshly painted and looking nice, the next step – getting businesses and shops to locate in the once-vacant shops – should be easy.
Blake said that she has already hear from “several people that are interested in opening shops down there,” once the work is completed.
The only cost to the building owners is the cost of the paint. All the labor and any construction work is done on donated time.
And there is a job for everyone, Blake stressed.
“We need painters, contractors, gophers … and people that are just willing to help feed and water the workers by making sandwiches and carrying them water,” she said.
At the end of Koltinsky’s presentation, pledge sheets were passed around the room and a little over $3,000 was promised toward the effort of fixing up the town square – with much of the money being collected on the spot.
The first work day has already been scheduled. On Saturday, September 18, volunteer work crews will gather at 8 a.m. to begin the project.
They will work on beautifying the square until about 2 p.m.
“We’re not going to make anyone give up their entire Saturday,” Blake said.
Work is scheduled to begin on the east side of town with targeted buildings including First Choice Lottery, the Lion’s Mane and maybe the Adairville hardware store.
And while there are already plenty of folks signed up to help, anyone else wishing to help out would be very welcome.
Those interested can contact either Blake at 772-2175 or Nannette King at 847-7246.
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