Street Gallery to Become Reality in Historic Downtown Council Grove!

For 30 years, the Council Grove Community Center, also more commonly known as the Bowers Community Center, has been struggling to find funding to restore the glorious old building. It has gone through some silent years and some dark years. It is on the National Registry of Historic Places. After the initial attempts to save the historic building at 325 W Main were made and the lower level was finished as public restrooms for travelers and Council Grove guests in the 1990s, fundraising stalled and the committee grew weary or passed on. The original goal of a community arts center dimmed as other venues came into existence in the area. A new, viable purpose for the building was needed.

At the same time, residents saw retail on historic Main Street changing and dwindling due to societal changes and owners' retirement. The Bowers Center Board came up with the idea of a Street Gallery, which would provide a reason for visitors to come to Council Grove 365 days a year to always see something different in the form of stained-glass window art. The art would be for sale and would be a boon to Council Grove in the form of sales tax revenue and added merchant foot traffic. The Bowers Center organization would charge 30% of the proceeds as a hosting charge and earmark the income to help complete the Bowers Center main/upper level as a cultural arts studio for stained glass and other crafts. An estimate to complete the building at 2018 prices was $1.2 million. With the new vision, they hope to do it for less.

The Street Gallery idea started at a board meeting a couple of months ago. Martin Cooney, the stone sculptor who has relocated from Colorado to our area, told the board he thought the Bowers Center could be completed for less money than what was quoted in 2018, if they were to use it as an artist's gallery. He said, "Everyone will want to come to Council Grove for stained glass. He meant everyone would want to come to Council Grove to take classes at the Bowers Center, but the group's president seized on his words and believed a Street Gallery concept would benefit the City of Council Grove and the Bowers Center by offering a new reason to visit the historic town.

The Street Gallery concept was born. The goal is to use merchants' windows, at no cost to them, for displaying the art. More than 50 windows from 19 businesses in downtown Council Grove have been committed for the project so far, with more owners to contact.

In addition to the gallery installation, the Bowers organization wants to equip each business with 10-degree spotlights to highlight the art at night. Window shopping will take on a whole new look in Council Grove!

Local contractor Keith Wyatt has been hired to install the professional gallery-type hardware display. The first site to receive stained glass will be the Hays House 1857 Restaurant & Tavern. The second site to be installed is 207 W. Main, next to Farmers and Drovers Bank.

The first stained glass pieces are already in town, awaiting the completion of the gallery hardware installation. Nebraskan Cynthia Gutschenritter delivered her art to Council Grove last week, after connecting with Street Gallery on its Facebook page Street Gallery KS. Gutschenritter has been working with stained glass for 20 years. She has a degree in business from KSU. worked with her husband in his ontometric office for 31 years and was also the Videographer for the City of North Platte for 20 of those years.

Local business, Ad Astra Directive has been contracted to create Street-GalleryKS.com. The site is currently under development and will be available soon.

When complete, a stroll down the sidewalks of our historic Main Street will look like this. Visitors see a piece of art they like. They go into the business. if it is open, to view the stained glass from the inside and to look around for other shopping opportunities. If there is interest in buying the art or if the shoppers want more information, they will scan a QR code on the art that will take them to the website where they can learn more about the artist and the particular art piece. A request to purchase or to call for more information can be made by calling 620.767 5022 which rings to three Bowers Board members who are all Council Grove residents. One of them will respond and finalize the sale. Cash, checks, credit cards and Venmo will be accepted. Shipping will be extra and will be charged separately.

The idea is different and innovative. The Bowers Center Board is moving full speed ahead to "save" retail traffic in Council Grove and to finally "save" the Bowers Center.