WILD-PAINTING
Fri, 2016-11-04 05:00
News Staff
KCCB downtown planter painting nearly complete
By BRITTANY FHOLER
Cove Leader-Press
Downtown Copperas Cove will be looking a bit more beautiful by the weekend thanks to the efforts of Keep Copperas Cove Beautiful volunteers and local artists with a planter painting project.
Keep Copperas Cove Beautiful board members and volunteers spent last spring priming and painting the base coats of six plain concrete planters located in downtown Copperas Cove, near the corner of S. 2nd St. and Avenue E. The project resumed last week and this week now that temperatures have dropped and weather conditions have improved.
The project is being done in order to curtail littering in the planters and enhance the downtown area a little, according to Silvia Rhoads, the executive director for KCCB.
KCCB member Lynette Sowell, along with local artists Joan Kelley and Catherine Blashack, spent Friday, part of Saturday and Sunday painting Texas wildflowers on the previously plain planters and have continued the work this week.
“One of the things we talked about at last year’s KCCB retreat was doing something a little different to beautify the community,” Sowell said. “When the idea of painting the downtown planters project was brought up, I knew right away we could involve the community by bringing in local artists to help paint. I reached out to some artists in town and they were glad to help us make these planters beautiful.”
Sowell added that when she told one of the artists, Blashack, where the planters were located downtown, Blashack wasn’t sure where she meant because she hadn’t noticed them.
“Now, they are definitely noticeable and I hope this gets the ball rolling for more beautification to come downtown,” Sowell said.
Kelley said she had been involved in beautification projects for many years and that it was a big deal for Copperas Cove to try and win the Governor’s Community Achievement Award for improvements.
In 2013, KCCB won the GCAA which included a landscaping award of $210,000, which was given based on a portfolio of the group’s work reflecting projects completed in 2012. KCCB is now eligible to win again, something the group is hoping to do when submitting the 2016 portfolio of work.
“Every city in Texas is competing to win the governor achievement award and if I can be a part of any project to help achieve a goal that will make a difference, I will volunteer my time to see progress made for any beautification projects,” Kelley said.
The artists hope to have the planters completed by this weekend.
The KCCB commission’s annual retreat is coming up soon and they will decide what is next to do to continue beautifying Copperas Cove, something Sowell said she was looking forward to.