The Morton Chamber of Commerce recently announced they will be dedicating a portion of the revenue generated from this year’s Morton Pumpkin Festival to a key community project, the Morton Downtown Plaza. “The Morton Chamber of Commerce strives to not only strengthen local business, but also to enhance our community,” said Katie VandenBerg, Owner of Eli’s Coffee Shop and President of the Morton Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. “We surveyed our Members to see which of several major community projects they would like to support and the plaza received the greatest number of votes.”
The Downtown Plaza is a new community gathering space and destination proposed for construction on Main Street in the heart of Morton’s downtown district. The Farnsworth Group was recently hired by the Village of Morton to complete a detailed design of the space. “Through the downtown development planning process, our citizens indicated a strong desire to have an active gathering space in our downtown,” said Jennifer Daly, CEO for the Morton Economic Development Council. “A Veteran’s Memorial, playground, splash pad, and entertainment space are all components that could be included in the final design.”
A detailed 3-dimensional Plaza design will be unveiled by the Morton Economic Development Council and the Village of Morton during this year’s Morton Pumpkin Festival. “We hope everyone will take a moment to view the proposed design and share their comments,” said Daly. “If all goes well, we will raise the needed funds for the plaza in 2013 and begin construction by the spring of 2014.”
Over the past decade, the Morton Chamber of Commerce has contributed over $200,000 of the revenue generated by the Morton Pumpkin Festival to local organizations and initiatives. In addition to giving donations to over a dozen non-profit organizations that assist in the operations of the festival, the Chamber has been instrumental in the construction of local Welcome to Morton signs and the launch of the Morton Community Foundation and the Morton Economic Development Council.
“On behalf of our Members, we strive to use our resources to make the greatest impact possible for our citizens and our businesses,” said VandenBerg. “We hope this year’s festival is a big success and that we will be able to provide a significant donation to the new Downtown Plaza at our Annual Dinner in January,” said VandenBerg.