Area residents have a chance to invest in Hartington’s future

It looks like Hartington residents will get a chance this spring to make some big decisions about our community’s future.

Petitions were presented to the Cedar County Clerk’s office this week calling for bond elections for a new city maintenance building and to move the Skylon Ballroom and turn it into a community center.

If enough legitimate signatures are verified by the County Clerk, the Hartington City Council is expected to vote Monday to place the issues in front of the voters at the May 14 election.

It’s up to local residents at that point. The facts were laid out pretty strongly at last week’s Town Hall meeting. The city is still trying to house its equipment in a 100-year-old stable that was turned into a shop. Because of its small size, it’s not big enough to hold all of the city equipment, so the city is also using two other sites to store materials and equipment.

The shop building was fine when it was first modified to be used as the Cedar-Knox Rural Electric warehouse. It worked fine, for awhile, when the city first moved in, as well. But that was a long time ago, folks.

As the years went by, the equipment got bigger and the building became less usable.

Today, it’s literally held together by baling wire. A new, larger building would solve a lot of problems and, in our opinion, would be well worth the investment by local taxpayers.

Mayor Mark Becker also pointed out at last week’s Town Hall meeting that Hartington has been fortunate in that we have had a community center here for over 70 years, but none of the responsibility of maintaining it.

The Skylon’s days are numbered, though. The building’s owners say the historic venue will hold its final event this summer.

The Skylon Ballroom has been a great place for banquets, funeral dinners, dances and large meetings. It’s also helped put Hartington on the map as the Big Bands traveled through the area in the 1950s and 60s.

It’s storied history conjures up quite a few memories for area residents both young and old.

Now residents must decide if those memories, and the chance to have their kids and grandkids experience similar memories, are worth the cost to relocate the Skylon and transform it into a community center.

While there are many pros and cons about moving the Skylon and turning it into a community center, one thing is for certain — something must be done.

The Skylon brings thousands of people to town each year because of its wedding dances, and other events.

It’s a big driver of our local economy. You can pretty much count on the fact that people coming to town for a wedding and a dance are going to spend money elsewhere in town, too. Wedding guests fill the Cobblestone and the Historic Hartington Hotel. They head to the bars for food and beverage, and before leaving town, they stop at Keith’s, Casey’s and Stop N’ Go to fill up on gas. That’s money that is hard to hand over to Yankton, Laurel or Wayne. And, that’s what we’ll be doing if we don’t have a facility in Hartington to host those big events.

Memories are wonderful things, but money pays the bills; and a community center will help each and everyone of us to maintain and build those memories as well as a strong, financially sound community.

Hartington needs a community center, whether that’s the Skylon or a new facility.