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Main Street and students install metal tree grates as part of downtown Boone streetscape project
Summary
Main Street representatives described a student-driven project installing metal tree grates at 32 downtown tree locations, funded by hotel-motel and local donations and installed with Public Works support.
Kelly Mollager of Main Street presented the organization’s second downtown Boone project: a set of metal tree grates designed and fabricated with local students and partners.
The project, Mollager said, grew from a desire to replace mulch pits that business owners had complained about. “We said, how can we solve this problem by doing something else? And so the tree grates are the answer to the mulch making a mess downtown for the business owners,” Mollager said.
Main Street worked with John (Jim) Fitzgerald’s metal shop class at Boone High School; seven students submitted designs and several FFA students helped prepare 32 concrete locations for installation. Mollager said Lane Trailer provided larger cutting equipment and space to run CNC machinery and that the company’s state manufacturing grant helped make the work possible. Public Works staff and contractor Wayland’s crew prepared and attached metal tracks to the concrete so grates could be set in place; Mollager noted that the installed grates are ADA accessible.
The grates incorporate student designs and a range of geometric and local motifs; Mollager said some student designs could not be used as originally drawn because of fabrication and ADA constraints but that elements—such as concentric rings and line work—were incorporated. She invited council members to a dedication next Tuesday at 3 p.m. at Eighth and Story Street, when students will be recognized.
Council members and staff praised the work. A council member asked whether the project is fully funded; Mollager said funds came from hotel-motel dollars, the Boone 300 Club, and Main Street fundraising. Mollager named other partners including Freedom Tree Care (an arborist), Lane Trailer, FFA volunteers, and local designers who assisted with fabrication and installation.
The presentation concluded with a brief discussion of continuing collaboration with the high school class and possible future projects to include more student designs.
