Once In A Lifetime

    You hear the phrase “Once in a Lifetime” tossed around casually, but sometimes it means just what it says.  Saving Central’s 1927 Gym is truly a “Once In a Lifetime” opportunity, and that is not limited to the gym building itself.
    Before I ramble on a bit, we have a true crisis.  The School Board is willing to allow Central’s 1927 Gym to be restored and used as a Central Museum and Cultural Center for Visual and Performing Arts, but a citizens group will have to make a $10,000 deposit to the School Board by next Wednesday or the building gets demolished.  Please go to www.Facebook.com/CentralCF and make a donation of any size, or call me at 262-3730 and we will meet you to get a check.  Donations go to the Central Cultural Foundation.
    Certainly this is a building with architectural and historical significance.  The oldest public school building in the Parish, probably the oldest school gym in the state, and definitely the oldest non-residential building in Central.  In fact, the building is eligible to be listed on the National Registry of Historic Places.  I dare say not another building in Central could make that list.  This is a Once In a Lifetime opportunity to preserve a historic building.
    But more than just a building, this will be a focal point for Central’s history.  Finally all of the documents, photos, and artifacts that tell the story of the settling and building of Central can have a home.  A Once In a Lifetime Opportunity to preserve Central’s history.
    Then there is ART, and I mean visual and performing arts.  Drama, music, dance, paintings, sculpture, and live bands.  The cost to build a facility of this size, a surprising 5,000 square feet, as a home for culture and the arts in Central could easily approach $1 million.  I don’t see that in any near-term plans for our city, so why not save the building we have.  A Once In a Lifetime Opportunity to give the arts a home in Central.
    So, one last plea.  We have until next Wednesday to raise $10,000.  As of this writing we are half way there.  Consider going to www.Facebook.com/CentralCF and making a donation of any size.  Saving this historic building would be Good News for a Great City.