By Sue Moore
There are lots of moving parts in our two villages’ downtowns to report on this month.
Schoolcraft Vision Plan Nears Completion
Schoolcraft is wrapping up its Vision plan for downtown with a final public session scheduled for August 29 during the school’s open house from 5-8 p.m. at the Roy Davis football field.
It’s a hugely ambitious plan for Schoolcraft that is being presented to the public by Jordan Parker of Wightman & Associates. The company has been the guiding light behind what has been called “Reroute”. The next step will be in the hands of the Planning Commission as it takes the next five to six months to update the Master Plan and the ordinances which accompany it. Revision of the ordinances are the keys to implementation of the Vision plan, Parker said.
Changes in Downtown Vicksburg
It isn’t exactly musical chairs but several buildings have been bought and sold over the last few months. Brian Pitts is moving his insurance office from E. Prairie Street to 123 S. Main in a building he purchased from Evie Hall, owner of Home Again Consignments.
Across the street at 120 S. Main, Matt Bolton’s Edward Jones Investments has leased and remodeled a large space from Rudy and Fawn Callen. The building on 328 W. Prairie Street that had been the home of Bolton’s business has been purchased by Attorney Craig Rolfe with plans to move his practice from Kalamazoo.
The sad announcement that Hill’s Pharmacy at 110 S. Main closed at the end of June has left the first block of Main Street on the west side with a gaping hole. For the time being, Dr. Aaron Ford is occupying Dr. Bob Dornbos’s dental office at 102 S. Main for six months and then it will become available for lease or purchase. Next door to that is Ruthie’s art shop which closed last year. The owner, Skip Knowles, has a rental sign out and expects to possibly open it as a resale furniture store.
The Dek, formerly The Vault on W. Prairie looks forlorn this summer as owner Bonnie Granado closed it up in January. The liquor license has been sold and the building itself has a big for sale sign tacked out front.
Some good news is that the Vicksburg Cultural Arts Center (VCAC) will be moving to 101 E. Prairie for a short time and thence to 103 E. Prairie in the former Doris Lee Sweet Shop.
Julie Oswalt Makes a Move to WMU Medical Center
Brett Grossman of Grossman Law said goodbye to his long-time assistant Julie Oswalt recently as she has accepted a position in Kalamazoo as the Pediatric Residency Coordinator of Western Michigan University’s Medical School. She will fit very well into this new and exciting challenge for her, now that her two daughters are off to college.
John Fulton Has Surgery for Cancer
John Fulton, this newspaper’s religion writer for the last four years was diagnosed with his fourth form of cancer, this time in the lung, on his annual visit to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. The doctors took out a portion of his lung and he is back in Vicksburg, riding his motorcycle and promising to beat this enemy, yet another time.