By Joseph Slacian
jslacian@thepaperofwabash.com
WABASH – The City of Wabash took the first step Monday night to create a cultural district.
A cultural district is a specific geographical area in a city or town that has a concentration of cultural facilities, activities, and assets. It is a walkable, compact area that is easily identifiable to visitors and residents and serves as a center of cultural, artistic and economic activity.
“We were approached by the Honeywell Foundation and somebody from the Indiana Arts Council,” Mayor Scott Long said. “We have so many cultural things going on within the city that we’re going to apply for Wabash to establish a cultural district.”
There are only six cultural districts in the State of Indiana, and just because the city is applying doesn’t mean it will achieve the designation, Long told The Paper following the meeting. The final determination will be made by the Indiana Arts Council.
To begin the application process, the City Council had to pass a resolution seeking the designation. That was unanimously approved Monday evening.
“As its been explained to me by the Indiana Arts Council, currently there’s no financial assistance that goes along with this,” the mayor said. “Basically what it does, we create the cultural district then we would be named on the Indiana tourism website. We would get a lot of free publicity that we have a cultural district.”
Long said it is a “strenuous application process.” Bev Vanderpool and Madison Rebholz are working on the application in conjunction with the Economic Development Group of Wabash County, Wabash Marketplace Inc., the Wabash County Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Honeywell Foundation.
The district would be anchored by the Wabash Carnegie Public Library and Dr. James Ford home to the north, the Honeywell Center to the west, Paradise Spring Historical Park to the east and West Water Street to the south.
The city is trying to finish the application and then meet with the various other groups on Sept. 13 to finalize plans.
The application is due to the state on Sept. 30, and Long said he hopes a decision is made by the end of the year.