Gainesville square building faces will be professionally cleaned soon
These buildings on the south side of the Gainesville square are some of the ones that will be professionally power-washed and cleaned in early August, removing the dark buildup.
The “giraffe rock” fronts on some of the buildings on the west side of the square will also be cleaned, removing dirt and grime that has built up over decades.
Thanks to the Ozark County Community Foundation and the Gainesville Lions Club, several buildings on the Gainesville square will be a little brighter in a couple weeks when the crew with Chaney Monument/D&D Signs professionally cleans the brick and stone faces of the structures.
Gainesville resident Linda Harlin is the driving force behind the project. She applied for a grant last year from the White River Valley Electric Cooperative on behalf of the Gainesville Lions Club for the cleaning. In the process of putting together the grant application, Harlin spoke with the building owners and asked who would like to participate and have the buildings cleaned.
She also looked at each of the buildings with Rob Collins, owner of Chaney Monument and D&D Signs, to see what it would take to remove the black mold, soot and mildew growing on some of the faces. Collins had previously washed the historic “old bank building,” which housed Century Bank of the Ozarks in earlier years, with good success.
Harlin filled out the paperwork for the grant program and submitted the request. The WRVEC grant that year was awarded to the Gainesville Saddle Club rodeo grounds for its proposal to repair buildings and grounds from damage sustained in the historic 2017 flood.
Although Harlin’s proposal for the building was not accepted through the WRVEC’s program, she was not ready to give up. Instead, she worked through the Lions Club to submit a proposal to the Ozark County Community Foundation, an organization that awarded the project $9,000. The Gainesville Lions Club agreed to chip in the remaining $500 to fully fund the $9,500 it will take to do the targeted buildings.
Collins says he plans to start the project in early August, and buildings will be blocked off a few at a time as the power washing is completed. Collins says that the building windows will be washed down after the process is complete, but business owners may find that they want to clean them again after its done.
“The Lions Club is pleased to be able to help the square look much better,” Harlin told the Times, explaining that the cleaning is just the most recent element added to the other projects and efforts in Gainesville that has helped to create a beautiful town square. She specifically mentioned these other recent projects that have also helped: adding benches and planting pots along the sidewalks on the square, planting bright flowers and shrubs in the planting beds and sprucing up the courthouse lawn landscaping.