The possibility of a new and improved Ketchum Town Square feels more palpable every day as the flow of donors continues.
Marybeth Flower, fundraising chair for the project, said an anonymous donor has given a $25,000 matching-funds grant for the project, bringing the total to $213,000. To receive the grant, a matching $25,000 must also be raised, which would bring the total to $238,000. That would make fundraising 66 percent complete for starting construction.
The square's projected cost is $474,500, with $355,800 needed to break ground in May for a July opening.
Just a couple of weeks ago, town square planners only had a single $100,000 donation in hand. The number of donors has consistently grown since the Ketchum Community Development Corp. revealed the designs.
The CDC's Town Design Team—consisting of 21 volunteers—has been working since October to build a town square for concerts, outdoor movies, farmers' markets and more. It would be an extension of the existing town square near the corner of Fourth Street and East Avenue.
The design has come to include a raised platform for performances, a fountain, fire pit, solar-powered lighting, trees, tables, benches and areas for temporary vendors.
John Hanousek, co-owner of Inovus Solar, the Boise company that designed the light poles, put together a pole for a town-square fundraising event Monday. The square would have six poles.
"The light poles are completely self-sufficient," Hanousek said.
Aesthetically, the city doesn't need to worry about flat solar panels. Hanousek said Inovus has designed a thin-film solar panel that wraps around the top half of the pole and can barely be seen. He said the poles use an array of LED 50-watt lights, and each pole would save the city about $800 a year in electricity—the average energy cost of a normal light pole in Idaho.
He said Invus' poles cost between $6,500 to $7,500. Design team leader Dale Bates said a normal light pole costs $5,000 without wiring.
Flower said no definite donations were made at Monday's event, but interest was piqued by the demonstration.
"I'm sure we'll see something come out of the night," she said.
Trevon Milliard: tmilliard@mtexpress.com
