Letter To The Editor: Disturbed with the “Simply Brilliant Branding”
Editors Note: The views and opinions expressed in this editorial are not necessarily the views or opinions of Oskaloosa News.
What a JOY to be home again!! We have been away from Oskaloosa for 20 years because of circumstances beyond our control, but FINALLY had our dreams come true and moved back in April.
We have seen some Wonderful things happen in our beautiful town. Some much needed homes torn down to make way for new ones, some cleanup along North/South Market and A Ave and much needed signage to let people know where things are located in Oskaloosa.
We were thrilled to be a part of Sweet Corn Serenade, which I was proud to have named when on the Main Street Committee. Great to see it thriving! My face was beaming like one of the floats at the Christmas Parade. Enjoying our Bandstand with lights aglow, standing strong, touting Oskaloosa’s heritage. Chief Mahaska was standing there in his brilliance and the Courthouse with its demanding presence brings the whole downtown together.
Oskaloosa has a heritage and history that is so unique and has been named as one of the top 10 downtown squares in the Nation! We have personally heard Oskaloosa mentioned in the many towns we have lived the past 20 years as the town with the beautiful Bandstand/Square and Awesome Christmas Parade. The downtown square, the heritage, the history of Oskaloosa and the wonderful people we have here who are friendly, honest, caring and love their community kept drawing us home.
We and many others are very disturbed with the “Simply Brilliant Branding” replacing the Bandstand logo with the burst. Oskaloosa has a Brand, and that is the Bandstand and HISTORICAL downtown that just needs to be built upon.
I have read the 102 page Action Plan Proposal at www.brilliantoskaloosa.org and on Page 23 it states:
“It would include repurposing the town square block with incorporation of an outdoor activity plaza (event stage, splash pad and ice rink). The programming would plan for economic success by creating 250+ days of activities and events that will draw consumers to the expanded retail mix of the surrounding blocks”, at a cost of $6,600,000. How many years of activities on the Square would it take to recover the $6,600,000 proposed cost listed in the BLT Action Plan? And what is the Plan for meeting ongoing and future costs?”
Another problem I have is many people don’t have computers to see this proposal. If you knew about this proposal, how many of you would vote for the downtown turned into a PLAZA, permanent Event Stage in addition to the Bandstand, a Splash Pad and an Ice Rink in our beautiful Square??? This is something I feel is important enough to be voted upon by the people of Oskaloosa, not decided on by a few on some committee.
We have a Town and Community to be proud of without making any changes to the downtown square!
Peggy Swick Dykstra
