MSE continues beautification efforts in partnership with Central students
Main Street Elkader, in partnership with Central students and Mobile Track Solutions, is completing a metal banner project for the downtown. The designs highlight town focal points.
By Willis Patenaude, Times-Register
Main Street Elkader continues to develop new projects to help beautify the city’s scenic downtown. One of them is the design and future installation of metal banners, accomplished in partnership with Central and Mobile Track Solutions (MTS).
The project started in 2019 after a neighboring community launched a similar program, but some staffing changes at Central and within MSE, and of course the COVID-19 pandemic, inevitably delayed it until this year.
The first step was reaching out to Ryan Bergen, the industrial technology teacher at Central, to gauge whether any students would be willing to tackle the project. Three—Nick Dietchler, Daniel Royer and Ethan Palas—took an interest.
The students have played a large role in designing the banners alongside MSE, and part of the challenge was creating deigns focused on certain themes derived from what MSE Director Samantha Baumgartner called “town focal points.” These include river recreation, the butterfly garden, opera house and Keystone Bridge.
“[MSE] shared several design ideas but encouraged the students to generate designs and ideas that they felt reflected the best aspects of Elkader,” Baumgartner said. “The students created multiple design options, giving them experience with technology and the design process. These designs were then presented to our Design Committee for review. The committee reviewed the designs, color for powder coating and fonts used in the designs and gave feedback to the students.”
MTS is a key component of the partnership by providing the scrap metal for the Central students, allowing them to move forward with the project and begin the laser-cutting phase.
Baumgartner noted, “MTS is an outstanding supporter of both our school district and our community as a whole,” and due to the connections of MTS employees, either through having children at Central or through involvement with MSE, this has allowed “a natural partnership to emerge on this project.”
The project timeline is expected to take a few more weeks, as students anticipate finishing the 12 banners before the end of the school year. The banners will then be sent to MTS for powder coating, while the MSE team finalizes a bracket mechanism with which to hold the signs.
Baumgartner hopes to have the signs hung in late summer, after coordinating with MSE’s city team. Once up, they are expected to hang year round.
“The metal banners enhance our downtown beautification efforts. They provide year-round unique branding for our community by highlighting different unique features and assets that Elkader has to offer,” Baumgartner said.
