City, county presented pavilion project

As a part of the planning for the 150th year celebration for the city of Graham, members of the city and Graham Chamber of Commerce spoke with the Graham City Council and Young County Commissioners Court regarding a project to create a community pavilion on the downtown square. The pavilion is suggested to sit where the old Graham Area Crisis Center and 1921 Young County Jail building currently rests.

Graham Chamber of Commerce and Convention and Visitors Bureau CEO Krisa De La Cruz, Graham City Manager Brandon Anderson, Graham Economic Development Executive Director Grant Ingram and Graham Mayor Neal Blanton met with the Young County Commissioners Monday to speak about plans regarding the sesquicentennial celebration. The groups said ultimately they want to build back up movement to the downtown square.

“We have talked about doing something on the downtown square at our county seat just to celebrate that (and) honor the history that we have here and of course one of the goals there would be to bring people to the downtown square,” De La Cruz said. “You know, our businesses here have faced significant challenges over the last year and you see some of those empty storefronts and we want to do whatever we can to get those thriving again, get those storefronts decorated and the number one way we can do that, we can help to accomplish that, is to bring people to the downtown square.”

De La Cruz said over the last year to two years there have been conversions internally at the chamber regarding the sesquicentennial event. The idea of a permanent statue was optioned, with a dedication to honor 150 years of the city. Another idea that has been researched by Anderson was for the potential pavilion on the downtown square where the old jail and former Graham Crisis Center building is located.

“Obviously, a great time coming up with the 150th year anniversary in Graham, with the history that Young County has and everything that we’ve got, and one idea that we have talking internally, but haven’t taken it to any groups specifically because we wanted to present it to y’all first because this is obviously something that would be a change. Change is sometimes not always accepted quickly, but also sometimes change is inevitable too. One thing though that we are talking about is the old jail that you guys have right over here (on the square), the 1921 jail. Obviously, I know you guys have discussed it and kind of what your hopes and future might be for that. I know if I were to have a hold of that building I would just be a little nervous and kind of wondering what to do with it and what could we do with it because it is going to be costly either way,” Anderson said. “The one thing though that we are proposing is that we’d like to have access to that land to seek permission to utilize that land and then also if that were to be given we’d like to seek permission to deconstruct that old jail. I know that there has been some talk about the historical value of that. Right now, I have toured it (and) it’s an old antiquated building. It is currently out of code compliance. It’s going to be a substantial cost to be able to upgrade it from an ADA compliance standpoint to utilize the top two stories.”

Tony Widner, who serves as the vice president of the Young County Museum of History and Culture, gave Anderson a tour and told him about the history of the building. He said they would want to try to preserve the history within the building, but also wish to create a new venue which can be used both by the community in Graham and all of Young County.

“Basically it would be a community pavilion. The specs on it would be 40 foot wide by 110 foot long. (...) At the end of it we would have a 30 by 35 (foot) addition that would openly cover a ramp that would go down to Second St. or the internal Second St. along the south side of the square. Basically, that building that we’re looking at, we’ve had it quoted (and) it’s pretty substantial cost, but what I’d like to do is really make that a quality building. Put some either rock facade up the posts or I found some faux rock facade which I thought might be a little harder for people to tear up, but basically the builders have recommended going with rock. But we put a metal building up and we’d insulate the roof and the roof we would like to put up fans. Obviously, events that go on on the square could benefit from having an insulated roof and covered pavilion,” Anderson said.

The city manager said some of the community events which could utilize the pavilion are the Lions Club Carnival, Kiwanis Pancake Breakfast, Food Truck Championship of Texas, Cars and Stars, Old Post Office Museum and Art Center and more. He added there is electricity close to the area so they could hardwire the front of the pavilion for live music performances or other entertainment. The city and chamber also reached out to the Olney Chamber of Commerce who gave their support for the project. The commissioners responded positively to the idea of the pavilion and drawing people around the county to a community venue.

For the rest of the story, see the Oct. 30 edition of The Graham Leader.