Norris acts on safety ahead of July 4 event
Norris city staff members have cordoned off these dead trees to mark them as potential hazards behind the post office and next to the Norris Lions Club Pavilion. The city manager says the trees will be removed before the Norris Day events on July 4. (photo:G. Chambers Williams III )
Last week, at the direction of the City Council, Norris public works employees used yellow warning tape to cordon off the immediate area around the three trees, which are between the rear of the post office and Archer’s building, and the Norris Lions Club Pavilion, which will be the center of Norris Day activities.
Although the trees officially are on Norris Middle School property, which is owned by the Anderson County Board of Education, “We’re going to take them down,” Ledford said. “We have an arrangement with [the school] to maintain the area [around the pavilion].
“We intend to get them down before July 4.”
The directive to cordon off the trees originated with a motion by Mayor Chris Mitchell during the June 9 City Council meeting.
That motion also ordered the city staff to remove the deteriorated asphalt sidewalk in front of the middle school, along the Norris Commons.
But Ledford said that’s too big of a project to tackle in the little time left before July 4.
“We won’t touch the sidewalk prior to Norris Day,” he said Monday.
Mitchell and others on the council had suggested replacing the removed sidewalk with a gravel path, to keep the area from becoming a muddy bog.
Ledford said city staff is also looking at alternatives to bring back to the council, including shortening some of the perpendicular parking spaces to create a walkway.
Besides serving children walking to and from the school, the asphalt sidewalk is used frequently by downtown visitors taking part in the numerous city activities held in the Commons area and pavilion, and by customers of the Norris Farmers Market, whose vendors set up along the sidewalk.
The city has been debating what to do about the buckled sidewalk for several years, and had been sitting on a state grant for about 10 years that would have paid part of the cost of upgrading or replacing the sidewalk.
But because of bureaucratic issues that continued to delay use of the state money, the city recently gave up the grant and decided to pay for a solution out of city funds.
Norris Day is the city’s biggest and best-attended public event each year, and is always held on July 4.
It’s a daylong series of events that concludes with a fireworks display just after dark.
As part of this year’s Norris Day celebration, there will be an evening concert by 110 in the Shade, a six-member group performing electric, funk, soul, Motown, and R&B numbers, from 7-9 p.m. on the outdoor stage next to the Lions Club Pavilion.
Norris Day begins with the Firecracker 4K and 1K Fun Run at 8:30 a.m. in the town’s Commons area.
Other events will include Posting of the Colors, 9 a.m.; Norris Library Chalk Walk, 9 a.m.-2 p.m.; kids’ dog show, 9:10 a.m.; duck races, 9:45 a.m.; decorated bicycle parade, 10:30 a.m.; many-wheeled races, 11:15 a.m.; sack races, 11:45 a.m.; water balloon toss, 12:15 p.m.; and water balloon battles, at 3 p.m.
An evening program begins at 5 p.m. in the pavilion.
