By Ashley McCarty
The Village of Manchester has celebrated many victories this April.
A buzz began to stir in the river village after Peebles, Ohio, revealed their completed mural in October of last year. With the common goal of raising funds for their own mural, a mural committee, consisting of residents Councilwoman Regina Adams, Ramona Gidget Applegate, Roddy Farley, Jan Campbell, Josie Campbell, Diana Brown, and Lori McCartney was formed.
Since early February, the committee worked fervently toward their $10,000 goal. In early April, not only was the goal reached but exceeded.
“[We raised] a little over $2,000 more. I was so pleased with the group that I had working for me. They worked their butts off. We had raffles, we had dinners, and everybody participated. We had a lot of community support that just gave donations. That shows me that people do care about the village,” said Adams.
In the beginning, raising even $10,000 seemed like a questionable objective.
“When we first talked, we were very leery. People said we would never get that kind of money. When you look at it, we started this the second week in February and we actually met this goal the second week in April, like April 7. It was just amazing the number of individuals and organizations and businesses that donated to us. That really helped,” said Adams.
Currently, the location for the mural, located on the side of Threads and Inks at 20 West Second Street, is being prepped for painting.
“I talked to [Artist Pamela Kellough] last week and she was hoping that the weather would cooperate and get above 40 degrees at night. With this cold week this week that’s not going to happen, but they have started on the wall and getting it prepped. They started that today. Hopefully, in the next week or two she’ll get started,” said Adams.
If the weather cooperates, Kellough should have the mural finished within a couple of weeks.
“I’m just hoping everyone is as pleased [as we are]. I think it will be a big boost to the community as well as the sign unveiling that happened on Saturday,” said Adams.
On Saturday, April 17, the Village of Manchester had its annual village clean-up.
“I think it was probably one of our best yet. We had the High School football team, the Junior High and Elementary football team coaches and parents, and then several other people; Beta Club members and residents. We probably had about 75 people cleaning and street sweeping,” said Councilwoman Lori McCartney.
According to McCartney, almost every street in Manchester was covered, as well as many of the nuisance properties.
“Next year I hope to have at least a hundred show up. I hope every year it gets bigger and bigger. I hope to see more school groups involved. I think we might, but it’s normally just beta and football. I would like to see more residents next year. We will get more dumpsters because they filled up by 2 p.m. Next year we have to always plan on getting at least four,” said McCartney.
Afterward, a cookout was held with great success, with volunteers Peggy McCartney and Beth Frazer preparing over 120 hot dogs for the village. With so many supplies left over, McCartney plans to have another cookout in May.
As the clean-up commenced Saturday morning, the village, along with county officials, unveiled the new Manchester sign.
At the corner of U.S 52 and Second Street, the property in which the sign now stands belonged to Doug and Susan Reuhl. The Ruehl’s donated the distinct green home to Adams County Shelter for the Homeless in March of 2020. In June of 2020, Adams County Shelter for the Homeless donated the home to the Adams County Land Bank.
Adams County Land Bank bid and razed the home, using personal funds to contract out Dale Bonar for the deconstruction.
The Reuhl’s donated all the rocks and labor, and B and R landscaping planted the trees and provided the mulch and dirt.
Shandra and Eric Havens Irwin created the Manchester logo, with Roddy Farley contributing the slogan. Griffin Printing printed the 8 x 8 sign.
Adams County Land Bank, consisting of Ty R. Pell, Diane Ward, Lisa Newman, Craig Wilson, Jerry Kirker, Holly Johnson, and Amanda Fraley, will deed the property back to the village within the next 60 days.
“The Adams County Land Bank’s greatest purpose is to serve our community. We are pleased to have been able to remove the blighted home on this lot and repurpose the property to welcome one and all to the Village of Manchester,” said the members of the Land Bank.
