Banners will dress up community

HARTINGTON — For the past year, the community of Hartington has been involved in a spruce-up campaign in preparation for the Memorial Day weekend Q’125 celebration.
The campaign has resulted in a number of improvements to city property, the business community and many residential homes.

Some of the improvements include the repainting of all the downtown street light poles, and new red paint for the 105 fire hydrants in and around town.

banners-for-q125-ccn.pdf

A number of businesses have also repainted and fixed up their business front and more are expected in the spring. A number of homeowners have done remodel work to the outside of their houses and a lot of painting and tree trimming has taken place with hopefully more to follow in the spring, as well.
The city has been busy repairing city street signs and a number of abandoned cars have been taken away and several houses torn down in addition to repairing and repainting city buildings which will continue in the spring.
Area residents have also noticed the number of new homes built in Hartington this past year as the remaining lots are quickly filling up with new houses.
As visitors enter the town from the east on Hwy 84, a new Welcome sign will replace the current faded sign and new blue street banners will be going up soon along Hwy 57 and downtown to replace the current Welcome banners where over half are now missing because of disrepair.
An additional 10 banners were purchased in addition to the current 26 banner locations that have been in place for years. These new banners will be placed on the stretch of Hwy 84 going through town from the city limits east to Hwy 57.
A new lighted mural was painted on the adjacent building to the auditorium drawing attention to the Q’125 celebration coming up and our town’s new slogan, “Hartington…A Great Place To Call Home.” The 25 year-old 100 Year Centennial murals that are located on the east side of the downtown Carhart Lumber building are in the process of being repainted and will be finished in the spring as the weather improves.
The enhancements at Felber Park and the new Community Athletic Complex road landscaping have been major improvements that have drawn a lot of community support in the way of donations, volunteer labor and materials.
The total money received in either donations as well as a $10,000 grant now totals over $60,000 for all the park and complex enhancements over the past two years.
“These donations alone, speak to the terrific generosity of the people within our Hartington community and many former residents and how much pride we continue to have as a community to keep moving our town forward,” said Felber Park Renovation Project cooredinaor Dan Kathol.
As part of the ongoing “Spruce Up” campaign that is underway throughout Hartington, an additional campaign is underway to really go all out to showcase our community, our patriotism and especially our Hartington area pride. The campaign is called “Let’s Dress Up Our Town” and is something everyone can take part in to dress up their business fronts and homes and really show our community unity up to and during the Q’125 celebration.
Kathol is coordinating the “Let’s Dress Up Our Town” campaign as part of the “Spruce-Up Hartington” campaign.
“Our goal, he said, “is to try and have every Hartington business and many of the residents purchase one or several of the special 3X6 Red, White and Blue cotton pleated flag banners that I will be purchasing in bulk at a discounted price, and to place the flag banner on their business front, on the front of their homes and even on a parade entry or float.”

According to Kathol, the new flag banner is a sewn cotton half circle pleated banner with three grommets on the top.
These high quality flag banners can be re-used for many years to display on the businesses or homes for Memorial Day, July 4, Labor Day and Veterans Day. The city of Hartington will be purchasing 20 of the special banner flags to be placed on the city buildings in advance of and during the Q’125 celebration.
The ideal placement for the flag banners for our upcoming Q’125 celebration is on the bottom half of each business store front or over the front door and above the door or on the porch for the residential homes.
“Businesses with a brick or concrete front may possibly need to fasten it to the building with a fastener drilled into the mortar joint and later caulked, or wired to a fixture or nailed to the wood window or door frame,” Kathol said.
“The benefit derived by having our entire business district, outlying businesses and residential area with a uniform patriotic appearance will really look impressive to the visitors and will be worth the time, effort and modest expense to really dress up our community.”
The discounted cost of each flag banner is $35, which includes the state and local taxes. Information on how to obtain the banners can be found in the ad on page two.
“Please find the ad and order blank to use to purchase one or several of the flag banners,” Kathol said.
All orders need to be placed by March 15 for delivery by mid-April.
“The target is to have all the banners to everyone who orders one by late April so the banners can be placed by everyone on or around May 10,” Kathol said.
The old saying, “Dress For Success” can really apply to our community as we prepare for our big celebration and get ready to really impress the many people who will be coming to help us celebrate our towns 125th birthday. Seriously consider purchasing one or several of these new special banner flags and together, “Let’s Dress Up Our Town of Hartington.”