2008 Year in Review

Paint the Town Thank You

Another incredible Paint the Town has come and gone. More squares were painted than ever before, a total of 1375, with more added even as participants were registering. This fun, family event would not be possible without the generous support of sponsors and volunteers. We, the Paint the Town Board, recognizing their importance to the vitality and longevity of the event, extend a heartfelt thanks to each and every sponsor and volunteer and to our community, for their support, for the beautiful squares, each one a masterpiece, and the life they give to Paint the Town year after year.

The Paint the Town day begins in the wee hours of the morning, sometime around 3 a.m. when the crews gather to mark the squares on the streets. Although the method has been refined and improved over the past 14 years, it is still a painstaking and labor intensive job.

More volunteers spend days and weeks before the event to insure that things run as smoothly as possible on that third Saturday in September. These tasks include making the signs recognizing the sponsors, charting the street, checking in all the registration forms and assigning squares. The supplies for the bags must be inventoried and numbers checked and rechecked so that all the brushes, chalk, paints, painting supplies and shirts are in good supply. This year, the event used more than 6,875 bottles of paint, 2,800 brushes, 2,800 pieces of chalk, 4,000 cups for mixing paints, 1,400 plates as palettes and more than 2,300 shirts. Then, of course, there are all those wonderful window artists.

The Thursday before Paint the Town is spent on packing the bags. One group inserts all of the sponsor information and gifts for each participant into one bag. Those bags are then taken to the Morrison Fire Department, who generously provides the space for the next phase of the process. There, they join a production line of volunteers that loads the paint bags with everything participants find on Saturday- almost. Those delicious Subway cookies are distributed to over 1,000 bags shortly prior to the noon opening.

However, the pre-event volunteers are just a drop in the bucket. The dauntless souls out in the dark painting yellow lines on Morrison’s Main Street are preceded by the guys putting up the street barricades and followed by hundreds more. Signs and tents go up, food vendors are directed to their places and the entertainers are welcomed, and that’s before the painting even starts.

During the event, volunteers man the information tent, dispensing first aid along with information and selling shirts and paint. The registration tent is busy from the time it opens at noon until the last participants pick up their supplies.

Some of the braver volunteers take on monitoring the streets, making sure the sinks are running, the supply of paper towels doesn’t run out and that unsupervised youngsters don’t create too much havoc. The cleanup crew is seemingly tireless and doesn’t stop until the final half-empty bottle of paint is in the dumpster.

Just as important, just not as visible, are the numerous Paint the Town sponsors. It is their generous support that makes this event possible. Not only do these businesses provide funding, many also donate goods and services. Sponsors and contributors for Paint the Town 2008 include: Exelon; Fitzgerald Pharmacy; CGH Medical Center; Wells Fargo Bank; Sterling Gazette; Clinton Herald; City of Morrison; Altronic Coils; American Piping Group; American Products; Baxter and Woodman, Consulting Engineers; Blackhawk Lumber; Community State Bank; DQ Grill & Chill; Farmers National Bank; Happy Joe’s; Kohl’s; Law Office of William R. Shirk; 3M; Medical Associates; Moring Disposal; Pi Design, Inc; P&P Tool; Subway; Dr. William Simpson; Super Wash, Inc.; THE National Bank; Waste Management; WSDR, WZZT, WSSQ radio; A+ Self Storage; Climco Coils Company; Coplan & Buckwalter, PC; Karen Bramm Insurance; Ken Kophamer Realty; Law Office of Lester Weinstine; Mickley Insurance; Morrison True Value Hardware; Morrison Unit District 6; Pignatelli & Mertes, PC; Pop Graphics; Shawver Press; Sterling Federal Bank; Tegeler Accounting; The Morrison Clinic / The Morrison Clinic Vision Center; US Cellular; Whiteside New Sentinel; Nelson, Kilgus, Richey, Huffman, and Buckwalter- Schurman; Northwestern Title; RC Smith/Scenic Stage Line, Casey’s, FS, Hardee’s, Shell, Shop & Go, Sullivan’s, Walmart, Morrison Blacktop, Tiny and Darrel Vandervinne, Arnie Vegter, Larry and Georgia Isaacson, Ray Gilbert.

Through the funds raised from Paint the Town, the Children’s Art Preservation Association (CAPA /Paint the Town) was able to increase its scholarship awards in 2007-2008 to two, $1,000 scholarships to Morrison High School seniors pursuing careers involving art. CAPA has purchased pottery wheels for the MHS art department and other “extras” for the art curriculum at all levels. In addition, the organization subsidizes art field trips for high school and junior high students and the end of the year art show at the community room. In the coming year, the board will add focus to a larger scale community project, with several options currently under consideration. The Paint the Town board thanks everyone who worked to make this year’s event such a success. We are very grateful for all of your help. Paint the Town is only possible because of your support.

Paul Beck, Nick Becker, Bob Bees, Barb Bees, Bonnie Bonhoff, Sandi Crouse, Aaron Drey, Pat Gibbs, Duane Habben, John Martin, Brenda Martin, Ned Nesti, Jim Scott, Gail Smith, Sarah Thorndike, Carol Vail, Mark Zinnen, Jean Zinnen

by  Editor, theCity1.com
October 7, 2008