Posted: Sunday, September 2, 2012 8:30 am
Monday is Labor Day, which commemorates American workers’ toil at paying jobs, but the folks involved with the Center for Coldwaters Restoration should be recognized today for their continued efforts to make the facility a reality. Efforts, of course, that are put forth on a volunteer basis.
As it stands now, Len Poulin and his bunch are less than $3,000 away from being able to pay for a 2,000-square-foot model of the center, which is slated to include a university research wing, an aquarium and museum, several state agency offices and a brook trout hatchery.
The model costs $50,000, and more than $47,000 has been raised, including recent donations of $5,500 from the Waynesboro Rotary Club and $6,000 from the Waynesboro Kiwanis Club.
The replica is important, said Poulin, president of Waynesboro Downtown Development Inc. and leader of the Coldwaters efforts, because it will help to explain the center to the public and potential donors. Each of the four planned Coldwaters components will be represented in the model.
Poulin’s mission also got a boost last week from the Waynesboro City Council, which unanimously agreed to spend $25,000 to help fund a study on whether a branch of the Virginia Museum of Natural History would be feasible in the municipality. The idea is that the Martinsville-based operation could operate the aquarium and museum portions of the Coldwaters center.
“The study’s going to look at what type of exhibits the general public is interested in, what will drive people to come visit Waynesboro,” Poulin told reporter Derek Micah Armstrong.
The gentleman also makes a good point when he notes that the Center for Coldwaters Restoration could be the next chapter in the history of Waynesboro’s life with the South River.
The city once depended, almost solely, on the manufacturing operations on the river. Then some viewed the body of water in a negative light because it was polluted.
But it’s once again being thought of as an asset to Waynesboro. The Virginia Fly Fishing and Wine Festival drew about 2,000 attendees this year, and the greenway that runs by the river attracts members of seemingly every demographic group one can think of.
Add to the mix Coldwaters, so named because natural springs chill the water as it flows into the place we call River City, and green will be our official color here: not only because of good environmental stewardship but also because of the economic prosperity tourists, students, and new residents and workers could bring.