Panaca Sesquicentennial event seeks funding

Debbie Bradfield, member of the Panaca Sesquicentennial Committee gave an update of the committee?s progress Feb. 4 to the regular meeting of Board of County Commissioners. Chairman Ed Higbee was absent.

Bradfield said the Panaca celebration will be held July 24-26, will be held in conjunction with the Panaca Pioneer Days celebration, as well as part of the festivities being held observing the 150 years of statehood for Nevada.

She said the Panaca event has been accepted by the state as a Signature Sesquicentennial Event, meaning the state will promote the Panaca observance and put it on their calendar of events. However, the state does not have any money they can put into the event.

Bradfield was asking the Commission for $10,000 to help with funding the event. She said one of the projects they are doing is the commission of a Founding Father statue of Francis Lee, one of the pioneer settlers of Panaca in 1864. The statue is being done by Utah sculptor David Lee.

Placement of the statue will be in front of the Panaca Town Hall on Main Street. Built in 1963, the town hall needs some updates done. ?What we would really like to do, she said, ?is to reface the front of the building, with new windows, siding, cement, framing, paint, etc., so that it looks nice and to have this beautiful statue placed in front of it.?

The committee would like to cover over the two garage doors on the front of the building that used to house the town fire trucks.

Fund raising efforts have already raised some $40,000 toward the statue, she reported, but needed help from the Commissioner in refacing the town hall.

The County Room Tax Board has donated $10,000 to the committee, but Bradfield said it was designated only for the purchase of fireworks.

After much discussion, Commissioner Paul Mathews said he would look into possible funding amounts the Commission could provide the committee, and asked them to return for his report at the next Commission meeting Feb. 17.