Carolyn Wells is a retired English teacher who is active with Historic Todd County, Inc. and several other organizations in Todd County. She writes an article for the Todd County Standard on a weekly basis.
If you ever have some ‘extra’ time to chug around the Elkton Square, be sure to drop by and check out the Old Todd County Courthouse Welcome Center. Again, if you happen to stop by, I am certain within a short period of time you will see folks drop in to peruse the Historic Old Courthouse, many of those stopping by visitors to our community who are interested in seeing one of the landmarks of our community and area.
As most are aware, fundraising events are in the process for generating the monies needed to restore the second floor of the Courthouse and also to make the second floor a museum spotlighting the history of Todd County. A brochure recently published about Historic Todd County, Inc. highlights the mission statement of HTC – “To preserve Todd County’s unique heritage and historic sites.” In its continued efforts to achieve that goal, HTC has been active in recent months planning and working on several upcoming events.
Since HTC is a non-profit 501c3 organization, those who donate ‘new or gently used’ items for the auction will be given a receipt for tax purposes.
An approaching fundraiser in September will be the sale of the coffee table or alphabet book entitled “T Is for Todd County.” This fundraiser, which will see its ‘kickoff’ event on Saturday, Sept. 30, at the Milliken Memorial Community House, will begin at 5:00 PM. The public will be able to view the artwork selected for the book and meet the selected artists with the sale of the featured artwork to begin at 6 p.m. Along with the selected artwork other artists’ submissions will also be offered for sale.
Laura Brock, chair of the “T Is for Todd County” book committee, messaged, “We are so excited the book files have been sent on their way to Jostens in Clarksville for its publication. We have been given so much community support, and our county can be very proud of the artwork selected to accompany each page of our book.”
Noting the book focuses on an “A to Z” look at important or significant people, places, and events in our county’s history, Laura added, “It is amazing so many have embraced our vision to produce an alphabet book rivaling other ‘A to Z’ books we have seen, and we know Todd Countians both near and far will treasure our published book.”
Books will be on sale on Saturday, Sept. 30, at the ‘Kickoff,’ and HarvestFest on Saturday, Oct. 7, will see continued sale of the books. Books will be sold for $20 with a limited number of signed and numbered books on sale for $25 at the “Kickoff.”
Other fundraisers already in progress include the sale of remaining 5K t-shirts from last fall’s Historic Todd County, Inc. 5K Walk/Run. Those shirts, which sell for $5, have been available at recent Bike Nights and are also available in the Welcome Center during its normal hours on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday from 10 until 5. To make certain your choice of a shirt is available, you might call ahead and check on the size and shirt you would like to purchase. The number to the Welcome Center is 270.265.7070.
A second set of donated wireless LG headphones valued at $100 will also be given away at the Elkton Christmas Parade scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 9. Donations of $1 are being accepted for the wireless headphone drawing.
Yearly memberships in Historic Todd County, Inc. are also available with those memberships offered to the public for $10. Historic Old Courthouse pins and pins with a ‘solar eclipse’ theme are also currently being sold for $10.
Tentative plans are to host another Historic Todd County, Inc. 5K Walk/Run in late October with details on that event to be finalized soon.
As you can easily surmise, much effort is being made to raise monies to fund the restoration of the Historic Courthouse’s second floor. Billy Bryant, chair of the Historic Todd County Courthouse Museum Committee and vice-president of HTC, encourages everyone to make plans to attend the “T Is for Todd County” Kickoff on Sept. 30.
As true of any effort, community support is crucial, and Billy echoes the sentiments he has heard so often in recent weeks with folks so very pleased that work is planned to preserve the second oldest Courthouse in Kentucky. He also encourages everyone to share info about the fundraising events with both family and friends.