City to replace raised planters; looks at possible holiday events
Clinton will remove three raised planters along Market Street next month and replace them with ground-level planters that match all of the other ones on the street, City Manager Roger Houck said Tuesday.
There were four of the raised planters, but one of them was “literally blown out by a water main break” a few weeks ago, he said.
The decision was made in conjunction with the Anderson County Chamber of Commerce and downtown merchants to remove the other three and replace them to make the planters uniform throughout the area, Houck said.
Houck met with the chamber and some of the downtown merchants on Monday, and also discussed what events might be held during the rest of the year, after so many have been canceled since the COVID-19 pandemic shut things down beginning in mid-March.
“I met with the chamber and some of the merchants to have them update me on what we thought we might be able to do going forward if the governor relaxes the restrictions,” Houck said. “As of now, the Antique Festival is still planned for the first weekend of October – Oct. 2-3.
“We’re looking to see if [Gov. Lee] comes out with any easier restrictions,” Houck said. “But there’s probably no way to meet the current [COVID-19] guidelines. We will move forward with all of it if he comes out with relaxed restrictions. To do the parade, it would be hard to keep kids and everybody on the street separated – it would be impossible.
Houck said he also is trying to meet with the school football programs. “The state is supposed to come out with guidelines for night school sports, but we haven’t seen anything yet,” he said.
“As of now, we don’t know what any of the new guidelines will be when the current restrictions end Aug. 29. But if [Gov. Lee] lets us play football, maybe we can open some other stuff up.”
As for the planters, that work will begin after Labor Day, and will be done by the city’s Public Works and Recreation departments, Houck said.