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Nuts! Squirrels chewing on band shell
By JOHN SKIPPER, john.skipper@globegazette.com | Posted: Monday, June 21, 2010 7:55 pm | (18) Comments
MASON CITY — Janice Easley has taken on some powerful forces in her quest to the save the East Park band shell.
But she said Monday her biggest challengers so far may be a bunch of squirrels that have stored their nuts in the band shell rafters.
They have chewed their way through recently completed siding as well as a door leading backstage to get to their stockpile, which was in the rafters above the women’s restroom.
And quite a stockpile it was.
“We filled one of those big trash barrels to the brim with acorns and walnuts,†said Craig Binnebose, like Easley a volunteer and band shell advocate.
“Walnuts? There are no walnut trees around here. They must have dragged them from somewhere, he said.â€
“It’s unbelievable,†Easley said Monday as she inspected the damage.
But she’s hardly discouraged.
She recalls the days when there was a movement on to build a new music pavilion on the site of the band shell, which was to either be moved or torn down.
Easley went to City Council meetings and other public gatherings and lobbied to save the band shell.
At one point, the Mason City Park Board agreed to give preservationists time to raise money to save the band shell before taking any action to move it or destroy it.
Easley started distributing “save the band shell†petitions. She also started a fund drive by donating $500 of her own money and encouraging others to give whatever they could.
Today the fund has more than $5,000 in it. City Finance Director Kevin Jacobson is overseeing it. Contributions can be made at City Hall, said Easley.
Grant money has allowed for recent improvements including siding, new flooring on the stage, new stairways and porches and new handrails on the stairways.
Architect Ed Wineinger has donated design fees which Easley says amounts to “thousands of dollars.â€
The City Council is expected to approve $1,200 in grant money for replacement of doors when the council meets tonight.
Easley said she’s not going to let a few squirrels get the best of her.
Looking at the band shell improvements, she said, “Do I believe in miracles? I do now.â€
