Karl McCollester (00:02.198)
Welcome to Mighty Municipalities, the podcast about small municipalities and how they can punch above their weight. I'm your host, Karl McCollester, and along with my co-host, Mark Partin, and our other guests, we take you through the highs and lows of working in a small municipality. Whether it's the hardship and frustration that is holding you back or the progress and wins that are propelling you forward, we're here to share the lessons learned and give you strategies to help improve your community. Mark, how are you doing?

Mark Partin (00:27.496)
Doing great. just got back from a week long vacation. So excited to get started, back at work as well as working on this podcast. So looking forward to the conversation today.

Karl McCollester (00:38.898)
Very, very nice of you to time that with a three-day weekend, right after you get back. you go. I think that's the best way a one-day week to start things back. That's good. So today we've got a couple things to talk about. One, an idea of rental inspections, which I thought was interesting in a pilot that is just starting up in Springfield, Illinois. Talk about adaptive reuse of...

Mark Partin (00:41.95)
That's right. I would like to say I intentionally planned that, but I didn't.

Mark Partin (00:52.692)
That's right.

Karl McCollester (01:08.43)
the old library parking space after a new library has been opened in Aberdeen, North Carolina, and then talk about some of the impacts of public art and arts festivals that are happening around South Carolina. And we're going to finish with a new segment. We've been seeing a lot of grants that have been coming up as we've been doing our research. So we'll share a few of those that are coming up. So hopefully you all can take advantage of them. So, Mark, let's start with the Springfield, Illinois.

So they have looking at the material, they've been working on this for probably a good year and a half. And the pilot program starts shortly. They're on definitely the high side of what we think about. But I like this one because it was a program that certainly can be adapted down to our smaller municipalities. And I think something that's in some cases very much needed in our smallest municipalities where absentee landlords are

fairly prolific, unfortunately. And that is a rental inspection pilot program. Mark, did you have a chance to take a look at the, any of the material? How was your, what were your thoughts on it?

Mark Partin (02:20.99)
Yeah, I did take a look at the material and I think it's an interesting program. As you said, it is needed because with the current housing situation nationally, know, many people are living in rental properties as opposed to home ownership. And, you know, in many of those cases, the rental properties are not adequate. They're not clean. They're not safe. They're not up to code in some cases.

and you know, this is an approach towards trying to bring a basic level of, of living for people in those rental facilities. It does, I think it does bring some challenges into, you know, private property and, and, you know, is this the right manner? Is this, you know, are the fees appropriate or not? All those questions I think will be important to look at as this pilot program.

is implemented just, and, you know, it even says they're going to review this and see if it needs to go citywide and so forth. But it's a start. And I think you have to start somewhere, because you know, people do need and deserve to have, if they're paying rent for somewhere, it needs to be kept up. So I think this is a good start towards that.

Karl McCollester (03:40.875)
Absolutely. I think some of the articles we were looking at were talking about the concern of the fees from the landlord side, which I thought was interesting because the initial fees talked about in the news article was $35 for the inspection. And I was thinking, most landlords, don't think the $35 is really what's bothering them.

Mark Partin (03:56.329)
Right.

Mark Partin (04:03.367)
Exactly, yes. I was really surprised that it was only $35.

Karl McCollester (04:08.168)
Well, and then I looked at the current version of the ordinance that seems to be on their site, and I think they've actually dropped the inspection fee, and it's only a $25 re-inspection fee. So they've even lowered it from there. What is your take on this versus, is this a natural and you feel like...

Karl McCollester (04:32.49)
legal extension of codes enforcement from a city's enforcement standpoint.

Mark Partin (04:39.935)
well, I'm certainly not an attorney, so this is not a formal legal opinion. I'll make that clear. But I think, I don't think it's too far off from being a codes enforcement issue, but based on the articles I read, and I may have just missed it. I don't know if they're going inside the homes to inspect and, and that's where it could get into, going too far for codes enforcement, know, codes enforcement.

Karl McCollester (05:02.006)
They are.

Mark Partin (05:09.339)
usually, at least in residential, is external and property-based, not internal. So they may run into a hiccup if they go inside for inspection purposes.

Karl McCollester (05:20.173)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, from what I could see from the ordinance, the way that it talked about making sure the tenant was aware and allowing access made me think that meant more than just the yard or the surrounding property area. I felt like it probably falls under the idea that a building code has to be maintained.

to be especially in effectively a commercial property and it effectively fell under that. So I feel a little more comfortable with the legality or the capability for it to stand the challenge maybe than you. I do think it's a, what gets more difficult is the place is up to spec, but you have rodents.

Mark Partin (05:49.66)
Right.

Mark Partin (06:12.947)
Yes.

Karl McCollester (06:14.126)
Where does that fall in? If the tenant tells you that as the inspector, is that something you can even enforce or go after? I mean, it is a health violation, theoretically, in that case, and it's still a commercial property. So I guess it is, as we're spitballing this.

Mark Partin (06:29.352)
Yeah. Yeah. Or is there, their intent more structural? You know, does it have plumbing and is it sealed in to that from outside weather and things like that? Heat and air versus pest control, you know, and, and it's hard to say, um, which it isn't, which, you know, there are some pretty strong landlord tenant laws on the books.

Karl McCollester (06:35.694)
Mm-hmm.

Karl McCollester (06:56.728)
Mm-hmm.

Mark Partin (06:57.98)
you know, not necessarily at the municipal level, but at state level, but they're so tricky to enforce from all points of view that they're so tricky to enforce if you're the renter, they're so tricky to enforce if you're the landlord and you've got problems with the tenant, as well as where does the local government step in. So this will be very interesting to watch this pilot program unfold and see exactly what happens.

Karl McCollester (07:05.208)
Mm-hmm.

Karl McCollester (07:26.572)
Yeah, I agree. think there is, as you mentioned at beginning, there is a need to ensure that, you know, especially in our smallest towns where

The landlord is, you know, frankly, the, you know, maybe the daughter or the nephew of somebody who's passed away and they've maintained, you know, they received the property, they inherited it. They're no longer in the community, but they're renting it out, right? Whether they're doing that out of the goodness of their hearts or out of the desire to, you know, get whatever cash they can. That doesn't matter. But there are a lot of those things I see happening in especially our smallest communities where it's the rental.

Mark Partin (07:56.2)
Yes.

Karl McCollester (08:07.06)
market is significantly higher than the ownership market compared to our larger municipalities. And so, you know, how to, you know, make sure that your folks in your municipality are maintaining a quality of life that isn't affecting other things because clearly as we know, right, lead

contamination, excessive insect or rodent droppings, all those things can impact childhood health, childhood intelligence, ability to be educated. So it all is affecting your community downstream. And then it's just a matter of what you can do about it and whether you can be effective and apply it fairly, which is, think, sometimes also the challenge.

Mark Partin (08:52.115)
That's right. And this Springfield we're referring to is Springfield, Missouri. So, you know, we do need to really pay attention to that because of different region of the country and different approaches to local government and how policies are implemented and enforced. So this, I think this will be a very interesting test case.

Karl McCollester (08:57.678)
Correct.

Karl McCollester (09:17.066)
Agreed. So switching over to, you know, more of from a quality of life issue, you know, from a preventing a negative quality of life issue to improving the quality of life for community, you know, and moving closer to our field, Aberdeen, North Carolina, which is a population of 9,300. They have, they're opening up a new library and their old library is a very historic building, looks like potentially one of those

Even Carnegie or pre Carnegie stone house type structures that were made. You know, I think they said 400 square feet or something very tiny Was the old library and this new one is 1400 square feet There the things I love about this is they're keeping it downtown it is

refurbishing a historic structure. from what I saw from the pictures, was a, it's the new library is an old brick building and the old library was an old stone building. And then, you know, what I think is most interesting about this is that they've taken the initiative to go ahead and while they haven't potentially come up with a new use for that building per se, they have already worked on the grounds to turn some of what looked like to be the former parking for the old library into a parklet

right downtown, which again helps enhance the walkability, the general look of the place, and that overall quality of life.

Mark Partin (10:42.419)
Yes. And, you know, a lot of times it's easy to forget the power, the presence of a library in a community, but it really is a, can be a third place for, for many people, not just for, you know, let's go get some books or other reading materials, but to meet people, to socialize, you know, you may have a book club meeting there and, or again, you know, let's get together and play cards or chess or whatever.

So anytime a new library comes online, it really is a community center. And I think it's important, as you said, offline in just a moment ago, that it remains downtown. They didn't move it to another area that may move the foot traffic elsewhere. But particularly I like the way they have already started reusing the greater property area and not just let it sit there for a while.

you know, if you go to the Facebook page and see the redevelopment of that area into that little parklet, it's a beautiful little spot to sit and gather and it beautifies the area rather than just having an empty spot. Like can often happen when new facilities are built.

Karl McCollester (12:00.94)
Yeah, and this goes back to our, some of our conversation last week of episode two, when you have a building that's going away, especially historic one, hopping on it as quickly as possible to figure out the reuse, figure out how to keep it activated. And to an extent, because of doing this with the grounds, they're doing that. So bravo to them.

Mark Partin (12:20.015)
Absolutely. And I'm not necessarily jumping to our next topic, but it does fit in nicely with this, way they redid that little parklet area. But downtown Sumter, South Carolina has what used to be an old store that is no longer there. It was an empty lot. And some years ago, one of the local garden clubs converted it to a mosaic park. And it has, you little mosaic tiles in the...

walking paths as well as some small sculptures and some plants, greenery in area. And it transformed what would have been just an empty lot into a little piece of gardening in downtown Sumter. So that parklet reminded me of that mosaic park right here in Sumter. So always neat to see the creativity people come up with to use spots and transform them into something different.

Karl McCollester (13:18.422)
Yeah, absolutely. are a few. I know exactly which park you're talking about. And that space, especially at the time when it was put in, really helped keep the transition of the activity of that area. At the time I know it was put in, was still the, I think, shoe shop on one side and the furniture store on the other of that block. And so having that versus a derelict space certainly

Mark Partin (13:37.608)
Yes.

Karl McCollester (13:44.756)
improved the walkability and the safe feeling of safety and the feeling of attractiveness of that part and that's a lot of what we're working for in any downtown.

Mark Partin (13:54.032)
And I should say thank you to that garden club because they regularly maintain it. There are people out there every week working on it. So it's very well maintained.

Karl McCollester (14:00.225)
That's fantastic.

Karl McCollester (14:04.628)
And so, and speaking of public art like that, why you take us to our next subject?

Mark Partin (14:08.283)
Yes. Good segue. Yes. So this, this one is very interesting to me. And while I'm certainly a, an enjoyer of arts, I'm not very artistic myself, but I do notice when I'm driving around the state as well as, other states, there is a lot of public art, what I'll call public art in the form of murals, sculptures, you know,

art displays that are, primarily talking about outdoor art here, but it really does change a community, the appearance of a community, brightens it up. It, like with the parklet or with the mosaic park I was referring to a minute ago, it can transform what was once an empty lot or an empty building into a piece of art that is enjoyable to look at. And it keeps the interest and life of a community.

Karl McCollester (14:42.83)
mm-hmm

Mark Partin (15:07.951)
alive and growing and particularly in South Carolina in the low country and in the Midlands, there are several projects that I'd like to highlight. One here in Sumter, always like to brag on our own hometown. Downtown Sumter has a couple projects that have been done over the last several years. The first one that was done was the Butterfly project and it was done in downtown in the central business district.

Karl McCollester (15:23.566)
Go for it.

Mark Partin (15:36.59)
And the downtown office invited artists to adopt a butterfly. I'm talking about like a probably three by three, three foot by three foot butterfly. And they are allowed to paint any design on it they want. So it's not just, you know, a typical looking monarch butterfly with yellow and black coloring, whatever designs they want to put on it. And they, you know, they adopted the

Karl McCollester (15:48.782)
Mm-hmm.

Karl McCollester (15:58.52)
Mm.

Mark Partin (16:05.233)
The program was the city would provide the materials, the individuals would do the art and it would be hung on light posts in downtown. And there are a number of them all over downtown and each one has a little plaque that says who the artist was and if they dedicated it to someone, all that information is on there. But it's, you you can walk around downtown and see the

butterflies on display, take your picture in front of them and find the butterflies. So it's a good way to encourage you to explore all the blocks and side streets of the downtown area and get out and get some exercise at the same time. And then an additional project that was done since the butterfly project is a mural project that was done mostly in the central business district. And then also the

Karl McCollester (16:38.551)
Mm-hmm.

Mark Partin (17:02.515)
Sumter Museum, which is adjacent to the Central Business District. And then the Manning Avenue area did a couple, two or three blocks away from downtown. And all of these were, again, it was a big project. A grant was received to do the project, but they all show different aspects of life in Sumter. You know, one is of swans diving in the water at Swan Lake.

One is primarily of Shaw Air Force Base, shows an F-16 fighter jet. The museum has some historical scenes and the Manning Avenue area has former Chief Justice, Ernest Finney, as well as Freddie Solomon, who was a pro football player from Sumter So they tell the story of our community in a very vibrant way that is bright and beautiful.

Karl McCollester (17:55.864)
Mm-hmm.

Mark Partin (17:58.83)
and reminds people this is what our community is about. So it's a celebration of our community. And these go on, these are done all over in many, many communities. And in Clarendon County, which is an adjacent county to Sumter County, they have what they call the Swamp Fox murals trail. And the Swamp Fox is referring to General Francis Marion from Revolutionary War days. And there are a number of murals around the community in Manning.

Summerton, Turbeville and Paxville, those are all communities within Clarendon County. And they're all sculptures of him as well as different battle scenes from the Revolutionary War era. And these are a great way to get you to drive all over Clarendon County, particularly if you're a history buff, to see the different scenes and the depictions of them on the sides of buildings.

And this mural trail has been done for a number of years, but it fits nicely with the upcoming 250th anniversary of the American Revolution. So, you know, they did a great job tying that history in to the 250th anniversary celebration of the Revolutionary War. And it's just beautiful artwork to see around town. And then finally,

two art festivals I wanted to bring up and the art fields down in Lake City. yes, yes, yes. Sorry, Carl.

Karl McCollester (19:32.143)
Wait, I'll get this up. I just want to try to interject in as we're going along and I can get this part out. So that way, you don't have to worry about keeping talking and talking and talking. So I'm just going to... Let's talk about the... I'll cut in and let's talk about the butterflies first and then we'll do a cut to talk about the murals and then we'll go into the arts festivals. Okay.

Mark Partin (19:39.079)
OK.

Mark Partin (19:44.701)
Sure.

Mark Partin (19:56.658)
Okay.

Mark Partin (20:00.657)
Okay.

Karl McCollester (20:01.27)
Okay, so.

trying to think of how I want to interstitial this.

Karl McCollester (20:11.2)
Yeah, the... Let me try that again.

Yeah, I've noticed the butterflies around the Main Street area. There are a couple other programs. And in fact, I think some of that idea of having the artists do various variations had a moment. I think it started with, was it with cows in Chicago or something? There was some community that it started with. Yeah. And then I remember Columbia had doors. There's been a number of those things. What I think is interesting about that is it gives people, especially those who are

Mark Partin (20:34.011)
I think so, yes.

Karl McCollester (20:45.674)
you know, of completionists, you know, once they see one or two, then they want to start seeing the rest. And so it's an interesting way to get people out of the, once they see one, get people out of that section of town that they're normally in and potentially go see other neighborhoods because those were the other pieces are. And so it gives a way to, you know, maybe not necessarily encourage out of town people to come in, but maybe people who happen to be visiting already or, you know, kids to explore.

various parts of the community and expand out to spaces they may not have normally seen because now they're looking for this, you they're looking for where else the butterflies are, things like that. And from a small town standpoint, I've seen Columbia do, they actually have a little six inch long brass lizard that they have hidden in various places around downtown that you can find. And I think that's an interesting one in that it's a long duration.

Mark Partin (21:21.875)
Right.

Mark Partin (21:34.502)
Yes.

Karl McCollester (21:41.589)
low cost, you cement the thing in, you can have a website that has something that, know, potentially where people can look up where they are if they want to find them all, or you can have brochures, like there's 30 of these across around the town, find them. And so that gives an interesting activity for somebody who, you know, especially, let's say you're a small municipality on an interstate corridor, right?

Mark Partin (21:50.087)
Right.

Karl McCollester (22:02.658)
People are coming back and forth on that all the time. They drive into town, looking, they just want to let their kids get out and get some energy. Right? Giving them that thing to do, you know, potentially keeps them in town and has them do lunch. And again, this is a relatively low cost thing. So I really like those small wayfinding things. One of the things I've seen from that several municipalities, several large cities in, well, globally has, there's an artist or, know,

Mark Partin (22:08.531)
Yes.

Karl McCollester (22:32.096)
An artist kind of like a graffiti artist what he does is he places if you remember, you know what the space invaders little aliens look like if you weren't if you played on your Atari so he he has variations of those that he goes around at night and puts up and people you know, know, and he's just used to this as a like a Very advanced they're mosaic. So he would do this as a very kind of advanced form of tagging as an artist, but he's done thousands of them throughout Europe

Mark Partin (22:40.413)
Yes, I do.

Karl McCollester (23:02.158)
to the extent that now there's, I think it's Miami or some place, some town in Florida is paying him to come put some in Florida. Because people now are obsessed with it and there's like whole app so you can find them around Paris and around different places in Europe and stuff because again, he puts them in crazy places. So it's one of those things like, one of the things I think we're going to talk about as well is the, you can,

Mark Partin (23:18.758)
Interesting.

Karl McCollester (23:31.337)
potentially add yourself into one of these phenomena like that or apparently like what the city of Casey here in South Carolina is doing with the the new troll sculpture that they're doing where apparently that sculptor is nationally famous for these trolls. People will actually go out of their way to stop by and see them and they're going to be the first one in state to have one of those. And so these things where they can provide wayfinding I think are really interesting as far as a way to

not only have a sculpture in general, but also to have a sculpture that either if you're talking about a series of them like you talked about with the butterflies that let people explore their community and explore the different artists that are available. So providing that local quality of life thing up to these ideas of these more national phenomenon where people are, you know, attaching themselves to these global things like the Space Invader or like the troll statues.

Mark Partin (24:27.131)
Yes. And as you were talking, it made me think and make the comparison to this is a physical version of what many people do with the Pokemon.

Karl McCollester (24:38.892)
Yes. Yes. The Pokemon. Pokemon hunters or whatever. Yes. So yeah. And that's obviously virtual and they have it populated throughout the entire world where you can walk on any street and you can can find them find those kind of things. This makes it more of a real place making thing where it's it's part of your community. So think that's interesting. So I'll cut there and then let's let's talk about murals real quick. OK.

Mark Partin (24:40.179)
I'm not even sure if you call it a game or what, but yeah, that, yeah.

Karl McCollester (25:09.366)
The thing I love about the Clarendon County one is it does incorporate several small communities throughout that county into a theme that then gives it a larger potential presence that they're looking at potentially from a tourism perspective. Like you said, it ties into the 250th anniversary now that that's here.

And it gives a way where I think a mural in itself can be great, especially if you can find a cost effective way to do it, whether that's just even having the elementary school kids do a mural that you're supervising and maybe, know, supplementing what the high school kids do, the taller part or something like that. So it's safe. But, you know, that's something any of those kind of things were instead of just a brick wall that looks like any other brick wall throughout your downtown. If you have those things that make it look different, but look

kept up. It's improving the quality of life of how people perceive the town. New things are happening. They're getting to look at something of interest when they're walking by. That does wonders for your own community's perception of how well your town is doing.

Mark Partin (26:21.029)
Absolutely. Yes. it, in the case of Clarence County, as you mentioned, they go, you know, all the different little municipalities, but it, it covers one corner of the County to the other, you know, Turbeville is at one end and, Paxville and Summerton are at the other. So it really gets people out and around the entire area. And, hopefully they'll stop and spend some money while they're there and help tourism.

So I think these can be good community identification pieces as well as people have the opportunity to learn and explore new areas of a community.

Karl McCollester (27:04.59)
Absolutely, and even these days, and there are the opportunities for there to be a revolutionary war buff YouTuber who comes by and does a series on all of them and that increases traffic. Again, having those things these days, they not only supply an opportunity for your local community, but especially if they're themed or there's a set of them.

Odds are there is a community that has some sort of obsession with whatever you just did, whether it's butterflies or doors or cows or what have you. And so there's a good chance where you can make a connection with that community just by having that available and making sure that not only do you have it in your community, but that you talk about it least somewhere on your website so that people outside of your town can know about it. Because you will be surprised about...

Mark Partin (27:33.875)
Yes.

Mark Partin (27:54.386)
Yes.

Karl McCollester (27:58.657)
some of the impacts you can get and sometimes, you know, the...

the outsize impact you can have. One of the towns in South Carolina is named Harleyville. They had so much trouble with people continuing, Harley Davidson people coming down and stealing the sign. So now they offer it for sale. People come because of Harley Davidson and they just happen to be named Harleyville and it's a great tie-in. Who would think that normally, but taking advantage of what your natural asset is, even if it's just your name.

Mark Partin (28:16.115)
Yeah.

Karl McCollester (28:33.826)
is a great way to supply a small amount of tourism dollars, tourism infusion into your community.

Mark Partin (28:44.048)
Absolutely.

Karl McCollester (28:46.294)
And of course, in the final way, Mark, that we were talking about was the, of course, the festival circuit.

Mark Partin (28:53.915)
Yes. And, you know, there are two I wanted to highlight here. One is Artfields in Lake City. One is the Inspire Festival here in Sumter. And, and I think they, they both have the same end goal, but I think the Artfields has a different side benefit versus the Inspire Festival of Sumter in that Lake City is located in the PD region of South Carolina and

was known for years and years and decades as a tobacco town. A lot of tobacco markets were there, warehouses, auctions were done there. And when the tobacco settlement was done with the federal government several years ago, tobacco production greatly decreased. So Lake City was hurting as a community and Darla Moore, Philanthropist and Finance

professional is from Lake City and she cares about her hometown and wanted to help revive it. So one of the many things she has done was started Artfields, this festival is in April of every year in Lake City. it was intended to help revitalize the community, highlight the arts, and then of course, as a philanthropic goal as well.

But now Lake City is known as an art destination for this art community and they do all types of art. It's not just paintings, but it's sculptures, performance art. The full breadth of arts are highlighted there in Lake City and they have some serious artists come to town to display their art, to perform their art and to be a part of that festival.

So what went from a community that was hurting because a traditional industry went away has transformed into being an unlikely destination for arts in a small community in the PD of South Carolina. So I think they've done a fabulous job now, this, you know, be over 13 years that I think that needs to be celebrated, you know, so they have revitalized a community.

Mark Partin (31:17.297)
with a festival.

Karl McCollester (31:19.382)
Absolutely, and as part of that they have that art center that is basically built on the backside. So if you think of a core downtown of a small town where you probably have a main street with a bunch of attached buildings and then they have the parking or empty space behind it on the block behind that is where their their art center is and it's a beautiful art center and they're able to put in some of the more larger installation pieces in there.

and then combine or have that then flow out from there into the main street where they have both installation pieces in buildings that are currently unused as well as having smaller pieces along the street. And then as you mentioned, the performing arts pieces in various buildings as well. It's a great half-day to full-day trip where you will see a lot of art and you potentially have some, your perspective change.

and certainly have an interesting time where you will be fully engaged throughout the day just because of the the quantity and quality of it.

Mark Partin (32:26.547)
Yes, and I'll transition onto the Inspire Festival now, which is here in Sumter. And it's a little bit newer festival, but it is also utilizing the arts to inspire, no pun intended, creativity in the community, revitalization in the community. And while we haven't lost an industry that our town was defined by.

Karl McCollester (32:32.685)
Yes.

Mark Partin (32:55.225)
We learned from the Arts Festival and the founders of the Inspire Arts Festival and the founders of the Inspire Festival said we need to do something similar in Sumter. And the main goal of the Inspire Festival is to raise money to support the arts in Sumter. So a little different focus, but still carried out very much the same way with visual arts, with performing arts.

Karl McCollester (33:16.686)
Yeah.

Mark Partin (33:24.699)
national acts come in and perform and you know, it's over a week long time period, but it is, it really brings some excitement and some unity to the art community here in Sumter and it gets all ages involved. So there are contests with the schools, high schools, elementary schools, and their art gets displayed downtown in empty storefronts. So again, it gets traffic downtown.

The kids are excited to see their art on display and it's really a vibrant usage of empty store spaces that come alive for, thankfully they leave it up for more than a week. So you can enjoy it for a much longer period of time. But I'm excited to see where the Inspire Festival goes in the next few years. But it's off to a great start and expect great things to continue with the Inspire Festival as well.

Karl McCollester (34:02.477)
Yes.

Karl McCollester (34:07.379)
good.

Karl McCollester (34:24.558)
Yeah, that's great And to that point, I remember there was a art installation in a building that is now has been replaced by the new hotel downtown in Sumter that for years had an art installation in it. And the visual of that versus a abandoned building with soaped up windows significantly improved the walking in that section of Main Street, just having that there.

you know, when you're thinking of even smaller towns trying to do the same thing, it doesn't have to be, excuse me, it doesn't have to be, you know, national acts. To your point, if it's a in your one block range, if you can get your landlords in that area to agree to host the art and it's just art from your schools and from the local community and there's some middles and there's, you know,

You get some people to donate some gift certificates for an award or something like that. And just having those pieces brings people downtown. As you said, kids are really excited to show their stuff off and see it displayed in the downtown area. People can recognize their neighbors and it brings all those people together in a way that can be done relatively inexpensively. So I love the idea of having that community arts festival where you're really engaging the school.

students in that student body so that you can have people come downtown and share what they're doing from a creative standpoint.

Mark Partin (36:02.289)
Yes. And I like the way you emphasize you don't have to have a big budget to do these things because art can be powerful, whether it's a 99 cent piece of art or a million dollar piece of art. And it, it, it inspires people at all levels. You know, the price tag is irrelevant. It's, it's the art that really inspires people. And when you see the, the excitement in a child's eyes over something they have done, it just, that's priceless.

Karl McCollester (36:13.742)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Karl McCollester (36:32.856)
pretty fantastic. Great. Well, thank you, Mark. With that, one thing, dear listeners, as we've been doing this research and doing the searching, what keeps coming up as I'm seeing is grant opportunities happening. And so one of the things we wanted to highlight here, and maybe this will become a episode or a regular segment of our listening podcast,

We wanted to make you aware of some grants that are coming up and we'll include, of course, the links to these in the show notes. But nationally, AARP is doing a community challenge, which includes some park revitalization grants. And these are on the micro grant level, but that is due on March 4th. Here in South Carolina, in March 26th, SCRIA is having their Basic & economic infrastructure grants, which is around mostly utilities. But again, March 26th is coming up fast.

In North Carolina, small business infrastructure grant for those in the Hurricane Helene impacted areas is still open, but is closing May 1st. And then finally, the Duke Energy Foundation is doing a series of grants for America 250, and that is due in the next week on February 20th. So if you are in a Duke Energy supplied state, which is North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and Florida,

You should definitely check that out and see if there's a way you can take advantage of that grant.

And with that, Mark, it is great seeing you and talking about all the things that the small communities are doing in our neck of the woods and across the country.

Mark Partin (38:12.199)
Same to you, Carl. Always enjoy these conversations and look forward to learning about more mighty municipalities in the future.

Karl McCollester (38:21.186)
Thank you. And as always, please don't forget to subscribe as well as like our Mighty Municipalities podcast. And we'll see you in a couple of weeks. Thanks, Mark. Bye.