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City receives $50,000 grant to help fund new park bandshell
A state grant announcement was music to Greencastle Park Director Rod Weinschenk’s ears Thursday afternoon.
With the disclosure of a $50,000 grant being awarded to the city to help fund a new bandshell in Greencastle’s Robe-Ann Park, the project took a giant leap forward Thursday.
Indiana Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch announced the Indiana Office of Tourism Development (IOTD) and Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA) have awarded Greencastle and five other communities a grant for quality-of-place initiatives through the Place Based Investment Fund (PBIF).
Greencastle, Tell City, Rockport and Jeffersonville will each receive grant funds of $50,000, while Shelbyville and the Town of Warren will receive $21,200 and $28,800, respectively, to fund public venues and other quality-of-place projects.
“The Placed Based Investment Fund is a way for the state to come alongside communities working to create and maintain diverse partnerships that help make quality of place projects true community-wide investments,” Lt. Gov. Crouch said. “Working amongst a strong partnership between organizations, state and local units of government, and citizens, these communities are able to transform spaces into a place where people want to live, work and invest.”
The bandshell grant award easily made Park Director Weinschenk’s day.
“I’m totally thrilled how the community has come together and all the financial pieces of the puzzle are now starting to fall into place,” he said of a new bandshell project that has been estimated at $100,000.
“I believe now we can look at finalizing the design and then starting the project,” Weinschenk told the Banner Graphic.
The $50,000 grant, along with a potential $20,000 commitment from the Greencastle Civic League and a matching grant of the Civic League funds through the Putnam County Community Foundation, and a reported $5,700 donation from the 100 Women Who Care Wednesday night would just about fulfill those funding dreams.
In announcing the grant for the new bandshell, a state press release noted that “when the frequently used previous bandshell was no longer viable and had to be demolished, the community came together and formed a grass roots committee, bringing together the city and local charitable organizations.
“This new amphitheater will be constructed of timber and limestone with an elevated concrete stage,” it continues. “The structure draws inspiration from the architectural elements and history of Robe-Ann Park, as well as the surrounding Putnam County.
“The goal is to serve the community while creating a unique attraction that will invite visitors from west-central Indiana to the Greencastle area.”
The project, the state noted, is a partnership between the Friends of the Park Association of Putnam County (FOTP), City of Greencastle, Putnam County Convention and Visitor Bureau, Greencastle Civic League, Civil Engineering Consultants (CEC) and Scoggins Design Inc.
“Through the great work of Jessica Hartman and the Friends of the Park, the Indiana Office of Rural and Community Affairs has provided a $50,000 grant for the project,” Mayor Bill Dory commented. “We have a wide range of supporters to thank for this project.”
Weinschenk also praised Hartman’s “hard work on the grant application.”
At the May Park Board meeting, a design featuring an open wood-beam ceiling and Indiana limestone supports was unveiled.
A Bandshell Committee -- formed under the Friends of the Park group, chaired by Hartman of CEC -- has opted for a design similar to one in the Chicago suburb of Barrington.
The new bandshell will replace the 40-year-old structure razed in February after it was discovered to be an unsafe and deteriorating structure.
Plans call for the new bandshell to be 40 feet across the front, tapering to 25 feet across the back with a depth of 18 to 20 feet for the performance area.
Limestone bandshell supports would emulate the structures supporting the gates at the Robe-Ann Park entrances, Weinschenk noted.
The new structure will be situated northwest of the previous location where the audience was often forced to stare into the setting sun during some programs.
The new design also will have an enclosed back, which the park director has said, will help eliminate the chance that headlights of every vehicle entering the park might shine right onto the stage and into the eyes of the audience.
The new bandshell will be raised up about four feet as well, keeping it out of the floodwaters that tend to pool in that low area of the park when it rains heavily. By raising the bandshell and thus necessitating steps to reach its stage, the area in front of the stage between wide sets of stairs could be used as a riser accommodating musical groups with several members.
Meanwhile, by potentially including a room for storage behind the stage and a possible “green room” for performers waiting to go on, Weinschenk reasoned “maybe we can open ourselves up to having a play or two.”
The original bandshell, built in time for America’s 1976 bicentennial celebration, was funded by a monetary gift from Chet Coan, the late longtime Greencastle pharmacist.
It was later named in honor of Greencastle native Bob Flanigan, one of the founding members of the legendary singing group The Four Freshmen. Flanigan died in 2011 at age 84.