Town Hall trustees end year on high note
By Maureen Robertson
“We’re ready to do it again in the spring,” said Franano, a Ramona resident, telling the trustees at their Dec. 21 meeting that about 1,000 people visited the three-day craft fair.
The craft group tentatively has set April 27-29 for its next craft fair in Ramona Town Hall.
This is the second $600 donation toward Town Hall restoration from the crafters. The first came last year after they held a fair in the 117-year-old adobe building donated to the people of Ramona — then called Nuevo — in 1894.
In other business at the Town Hall Board meeting:
•Sandee Salvatore, board secretary and treasurer, reported that Town Hall had received $4,000 from an anonymous donor. After reviewing other recent donations, she accounted for recent expenses for the Town Hall restoration project, commenting that there had been $26.33 in the Town Hall account in June 2008 and there now is $3,543.90.
•Salvatore, who owns The Original Old Town Ramona Antique Fair across the street, said two people she met through her business are connected with Save Our Heritage Organization (SOHO), the group that recently purchased the historic Santa Ysabel General Store. They are working with the architect who worked on restoration of Balboa Theatre in downtown San Diego and offered to have the architect evaluate the possibility of less invasive and expensive ways to repair Ramona Town Hall, she said.
•Town Hall Board member and Construction Committee Chairman Darrell Beck reported on recent renovation work in the hall’s West Wing. The lower rooms in the front portion of Town Hall need to be primed and painted, there’s carpentry work to be done, and cabinets, handrails, gutters and vents for air conditioning and heating are among tasks left.
Beck recommended that the group “move forward with the priming next week” and perhaps have a “primer party” before painting. He said he will repair the drugstore cabinets that longtime Ramona resident Donna Zick donated after Ramona Pharmacy closed at 677 Main St.
“There’s a lot of carpentry work to do,” he said, adding that they could seek donations from people for items such as carpeting, flooring and fencing.
“We will attack one at a time,” Salvatore said of work projects ahead.
“We’ll just nibble away at it,” said Woody Kirkman, board president.
•The trustees set the date for the unveiling of portraits of Martha and Augustus Barnett for Sunday, Feb. 26. Ramona artist Judy Nachazel, president of the Ramona Pioneer Historical Society, did the charcoal portraits of the Barnetts, Beck said.
The Barnetts donated Town Hall to the people of Ramona on Washington’s birthday on Feb. 22, the reason the board scheduled the unveiling as close to the date as possible.
Beck said the circa 1905 piano in the East Wing of Town Hall will be moved to the West Wing — and tuned — for the unveiling. The mother-son team of Pamela and Andrew Stubbs of Ramona are scheduled to play period music on the piano and violin at the event.
The board hopes to have all work completed on the West Wing for the unveiling but, because they are providing most of the volunteer labor, they are uncertain about a completion date
•Beck suggested using the small office in Town Hall as a gift shop.
“Years ago we were going to have a library in there,” commented Beck, a retired building contractor, adding that he could build cabinets.
Responding to Salvatore’s question of who would man a gift shop, Beck said Friends of Ramona Town Hall members are a possibility. The shop wouldn’t be open every day, he said.
“It would also serve as a history room,” said Kirkman.
•The board tabled discussion of Casino Benefit Night and postponed Silent Picture Night until spring.
Ramona Town Hall is about 6,727 square feet. Restoration of the front portion is about 80 percent complete, said Beck. Retrofitting and repairs to the main hall are to cost $2 million.
The board has five members. In addition to Kirkman, Salvatore and Beck, Robert Krysak and Bob Hailey are Town Hall trustees.
The board’s next meeting will be Jan. 18 at 6:30 p.m. The public is welcome.
For more information, see www.ramonatownhall.com.