Calais: Town council OKs funds for roof at Triangle Park
Tuesday, February 19, 2008 - Bangor Daily
News
CALAIS, Maine — City councilors agreed last week with a plan to build a roof on the Triangle Park stage.
For several years, the Calais Rotary Club raised money to build a stage in a corner of the park. It finally
was completed in 2006.
Located between Hog Alley and Main Street, the wooden structure is the brainchild of Carl and Melissa Royer
of My Favorite Things on Main Street and has been used for the community’s summer Music on the Green programs.
Now the stage needs a roof.
At a meeting of the City Council on Thursday night, Assistant City Manager Jim Porter explained that a $150,000
Community Enterprise Grant the city received would allow several things to be done downtown, including some landscaping and
putting a roof on the stage.
Money also is available in the grant to repair the bandstand at Memorial Park on Main Street.
A committee looked at several options for the Triangle Park stage, Porter said. One of the recommendations
was to have a structure that would have a steel beam attached to lateral beams that would be set in cement footings in the
ground and not attached to the stage.
"[That way] there is nothing obstructing the front of the stage," Porter said. "So [the roof] would be independent.
It was felt it should be that way just for stability."
Porter then unveiled a drawing of the proposed roof.
"I like the idea of not blocking the front," Councilor Marianne Moore said. "That would open it up if you
had a big band or a number of larger bands."
Porter agreed. "That was a matter of controversy," Porter said. "There are at least a few people that would
like to see it more intimate and [the stage] used for other things, but when [the] Rotary built it [they] saw it as a performance
stage."
Porter said trash cans and steel benches have been ordered. "The trash cans will match the benches," he said.
The assistant city manager said he also planned to put restoration of the bandstand on the same contract
as the roof. "I just need your blessing to go ahead," he told the council.
After some discussion, the council agreed that Porter should move forward with the projects he described.
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