Volunteers finish final touches on restoration
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Mike Robinson works on staining the floor of the Norris gazebo during a Sunday morning work party at the downtown structure. - G. Chambers Williams III
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Lisa and Don Barger help put a new coat of reddish stain on the Norris gazebo on Sunday morning as the final step in a rehabilitation project that also included a new roof on the iconic downtown landmark. - G. Chambers Williams III
Volunteers turned out Sunday morning to complete the work of restoring the gazebo in the Norris City Center, painting the structure and floor with fresh coats of stain.
Lisa and Don Barger, along with Mike Robinson, were hard at work beginning around 9:30 a.m. with the painting, which followed the recent roof replacement on the iconic structure.
“We are glad to get this finished,” said Lisa Barger, who helped lead a fundraising campaign that netted the $6,500 needed to pay for the new roof and other restorative work.
The campaign exceeded its goal in just nine days, which led to the Norris City Council, during its September meeting, approving the roof replacement
“When people of this community value something, they will invest in it,” Lisa Barger said earlier.
She collaborated with Cynthia Edrington, Robinson and Bonnie Peacock as the “Save the Gazebo Team,” with assistance from the Norris Lions Club in managing the fundraising effort.
“We want to thank the Lions Club for their assistance,” Barger said Sunday morning.
After the City Council on Sept. 8 accepted the donated money and approved the expenditure to replace the gazebo roof, Jake Inglehart of JTI Construction LLC showed up at the site on Monday, Sept. 15, with helper Erik Richardson.
The two promptly removed the old roof and replaced its understructure. They returned a few days later and installed the new roof.
Because the gazebo is owned by the city, the council was required to accept the donated money and then allocate it to the project.
“We had 48 donations,” Barger said, including one from Mayor Chris Mitchell.
“It’s not a fancy structure, but it’s iconic for Norris,” Barger said in September. “The kids sit in it all the time [after school]. We will have the Christmas lights and tree there again this year.”
Jane Stribling, who donated the gazebo and the land on which it sits to the city of Norris in August 1998, wrote on Facebook in early August that she and others were working with the Lions Club to seek donations for the new roof. She also spoke during the Aug. 11 council meeting about the fundraising effort.
“Please support the fund to replace the Norris Town Center gazebo roof!” she wrote on Facebook. “The gazebo has been a cozy gathering place in Norris since 1998.
“It was the [brainchild] of my late ex-husband, Charley Wells,” Stribling said. “He grew up in Norris, retired here, and we donated the gazebo for the enjoyment of Norrisonions and their guests.”