The Milan News-Leader
A Heritage Newspaper
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Spirit of Milan looking for community support
Donations will help maintain fireworks, concerts, holiday parade and launch Sunset Point
By Michelle Rogers, Editor
PUBLISHED: March 20, 2008
Among those attending the Spirit of Milan Moving Forward Spring Fling March 14 at Campfire Restaurant were Jeff Lewis, Nina Pemberton, Asia Renning, Barbara Gaines, Doug Gilson, Cathy Gilson, Timothy Troin, Gary Shaw, Bill Knopp, Linda Gilson, Jim Gilson, Bob Grostick, Dan Bishop and Jerry Renning. A total of $1,500 was raised that evening, with donations made in $100 increments. To help support the annual fireworks display, concerts in the park, holiday parade and Sunset Point, make a check out to City of Milan with "Spirit of Milan 2008" in the memo section and send it to City Hall.
Organizers of the Spirit of Milan are hoping the public will put its financial support behind their effort to maintain community events and also help fund the construction of Sunset Point, a spot near Ford Lake where the public can take in the local waterway's natural beauty.
About 20 people met Friday at Campfire Restaurant in Milan for the Moving Milan Forward Spring Fling, the group's first fund-raiser. The event, to be held quarterly, was organized by the Spirit of Milan, a group of business leaders, government officials and active volunteers who meet 8 a.m. every Friday to discuss fund-raising ideas to help maintain Milan's community events.
To join the group -- or "catch the spirit of Milan" -- a person must donate $100. Only donations in $100 increments are accepted. Organizers encourage people who only have $50, for example, to pair up with another person who wants to donate $50, and then combine it and donate the full amount. At last week's event, $1,500 was raised. Last year, there were 27 contributors.
"It's still pretty much a core group of people and they're basically asked to go out in the community and recruit people for the $100," said Milan City Manager Dan Bishop.
Bishop said longtime resident and community supporter Don Harkness came up with the idea as a way to continue funding the annual Fourth of July fireworks display, concerts in the park, holiday parade and development of Sunset Point park.
"There's a lot of cool stuff going on in town that the city can't afford to finance," Bishop said. "So we thought we'd go out and ask people to maintain the quality of life everyone enjoys. If everyone gets involved, we can still have these events. If people don't get involved, they go away."
Doug Gilson, a City Council trustee and organizer of the fireworks, said about $13,000 is needed for the fireworks.
It costs at least $2,000 to put on the town's holiday parade, said parade co-chair Linda Gilson. She said the committee could produce a more elaborate event with more funding, and she enjoys seeing the Scouts, local service clubs, businesses and residents participate in it.
"We've had a lot of fun. We enjoy doing it," Gilson said of her and husband Jim Gilson's work organizing the parade.
Sunset Point, which will feature park benches, a picnic table and a walking path leading to the lake near the dam's spillway, is estimated to cost $3,000. No cost estimate was available for concerts in the park.
"It's just a treat -- warm and fuzzy feeling -- to go to these events," Linda Gilson said. "We need volunteers to do them and cash to make things happen."
Bishop said having community events boosts the quality of life in a town and brings people together.
"These are the types of things that give a community quality of life," he said. "Many kids will remember these things growing up here."
Sunset Point is a pet project of local Realtor and Milan Area Chamber of Commerce member Jerry Renning and Milan City Council Trustee Rod Hill's. Hill put together a flier and diagram highlighting plans, and Renning is excited to see it come together.
Renning would like to see the eventual dredging of the lake to allow for active recreation and a parking lot behind businesses along Main Street, so store owners can incorporate back doors or add businesses in the back that will be bustling with activity as people come up from the lake.
"So people can watch kids play ball while patronizing businesses -- eat ice cream, drink coffee," he said.
Renning said the group wants to see the project phased in, with work done as money becomes available.
"What we don't want to do is the 20-year plan. We're going to do a little at a time," he said.
Bishop said Tim Heath of Heath Landscaping has offered to donate his labor as long as the Spirit of Milan can pay for his supplies.
"It's a bigger picture of making the lake a bigger asset to the community," Bishop said. "Right now, it's an underutilized gem."
The Spirit of Milan's next fund-raiser and social is tentatively scheduled May 4, with the location and time to be determined.
To donate $100 to the Spirit of Milan, send a check made out to City of Milan with "Spirit of Milan 2008" in the memo section. Renning said donations are tax deductible.
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