Commercial kitchen hits a snag

At the June 12 meeting of the Odessa Chamber of Commerce, President Marlon Schafer and community kitchen project chairperson Lindsy Starkel brought to the membership’s attention a potentially costly problem with the current roof design of the Odessa Community Center. Expansion of the current kitchen to provide room enough for the commercial kitchen approved by the Chamber for use by startup businesses as well as for cooking and serving food at Deutschesfest and other community events will require raising the roof to ensure adequate ventilation of the kitchen area.

The suggestion was to replace the existing roof trusses with new trusses to allow the roof to be raised and a clean roof line to be established over the expanded kitchen area.

As of last Tuesday’s meeting, no cost estimates were available, although a project of that magnitude would surely involve a s dollars.

Opportunity

Since the pre-school classes will be taken under the wing of the Odessa School District in the fall when school resumes, the Odessa Pre-School Parent Cooperative will no longer need to raise money for operating expenses. Therefore, the group has opted not to sponsor the Youth Garden and the pop booth during Fest this year.

Any other civic or church group now has an opportunity to take over these combined tasks in order to raise money for their organizations. Suggestions from the floor were that the Vacation Bible School organizers might be interested in taking over, or perhaps the youth groups from local churches, either jointly or individually.

Any organization interested in more information should call the Chamber office or the president Marlon Schafer.

Food permits for Fest

Lindsy Starkel announced that classes given by Lincoln County for the purpose of awarding food permits will no longer be offered. The test and application are now online only, so anyone without a home computer but needing a new permit will have to find a friend or neighbor to help them out.

Downtown benches

Chamber member Norm Ott and Town Council member Marleen Kramer are volunteering again this year to paint any downtown benches that are looking worn or weatherbeaten. They will paint the bench a solid color only, and the business owners will be responsible for adding any decoration and the business name.

Work days coming

President Marlon Schafer will be calling on Chamber members soon to schedule work days in anticipation of this year’s Fest. New tables and benches will need to be finished and painted. The remains of the dual tent structure that was blown apart by high winds during the Stumpjumpers’ Desert 100 need to be sorted out and salvaged, if possible. Schafer hopes that one good tent can be assembled from the pieces of the two originial tents. It can then be used for shade or shelter over the picnic tables set up around town during Fest.

A group of five to six workers will be assembled soon to spend three to four hours installiing conduit and sound-system cabling for the outdoor downtown sound system.