The Owen County Chamber of Commerce is spearheading a fundraiser to build a public restroom facility in downtown Spencer.
Working with the Owen County Community Foundation, Spencer’s MyPath Trail System and Chambers Smorgasbord, which is leasing the land on the south side of the town square, the chamber hopes to raise $25,000 by July 26 for the project.
“We have partnered with Patronicity and because of that, we've been able to get IHCDA (Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority) funding,” says Marce King, executive director of the Owen County Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development Corporation. “And so they are matching the funds that we are raising between now and July (26).”
Patronicity is essentially an online crowdfunding site for community improvement projects. It connects projects with private corporations, grant organizations or state agencies, like the IHCDA, which match an agreed-upon amount once the campaign is successful.
As of Monday, the campaign had raised almost $11,500. If the $25,000 goal is met by the target date, the IHCDA will match it.
Most of the funds have come from local businesses and personal donations. This past weekend, many downtown businesses – including the Spencer Pride CommUnity Center – donated a portion of their proceeds to the project.
King says decisions “made about public events being held in the downtown area” last fall spurred some “creative thinking” for community developers.
Last fall, Owen County commissioners Jeff Brothers, Steve Williamson and Gary Burton pursued and approved a deeply controversial county ordinance that prohibits anyone from using the Owen County courthouse for a festival or special event.
The commissioners originally introduced the idea of a new festival ordinance in August as a response to what they described as a petition from county residents who were concerned about taxpayer costs. But that “petition” turned out to be a form letter from the anonymous Facebook group Morals of America describing the Spencer Pride Fest as overly sexual and inappropriate for children. Neither Brothers nor Williamson is seeking re-election this year.
The coronavirus pandemic will make festivals a tricky topic for the foreseeable future – the annual June Pride Fest was postponed until Oct. 17 – but community leaders felt the facility is important for the county’s festivals and overall economic development, since the courthouse was the hub for many of the county’s festivals.
“Several of us were thinking about that and had the idea to put a public restroom facility in our historic downtown area to provide just an amenity to our festivals and our local businesses and the different events that are held in this area,” King says.
The facility would also be a part of the MyPath Trail System, which broke ground in 2014 as a “planned network of safe sidewalks and multi-use trails in and around Spencer.” The site will include a new mural, which local artist Israel Hogan is slated to create.
“Especially with the Spencer Pride Festival being one of the larger festivals that’s held in the downtown area, we want to make sure to accommodate everyone,” King says. “So not only will they be handicap accessible, but also because they are single stalls, they're used for anyone.”
The Chamber of Commerce has had discussions with the Owen County Sheriff’s Office about maintaining and cleaning the facility. The bathrooms would have timed locks and would shutter come evening.
This story has been updated to reflect the fact Chambers Smorgasbord is leasing the land for the project to the Town of Spencer.
