Gazebo gets clean sweep

Carol Walker/Alachua County Today

L-R: Gloria James, Greg Dirocco, Sandra Webb and Eyvonne Andrews volunteered their time to pitch in and help improve the gazebo, stage and surrounding area. The entire project was coordinated by the Chamber of Commerce.

 

HIGH SPRINGS – Spring cleaning came early this past weekend in High Springs. In preparation for the second anniversary celebration of the Music in the Park (MIP) Series, the High Springs Chamber of Commerce and a few High Springs residents volunteered to replace the old leaky roof over the gazebo behind City Hall on Saturday, March 15, and help clean up the area. The structure, which was built in 1983, “leaked like a sieve,” said Michael Loveday, MIP Program Organizer.

 

Mud Crutch, the Gainesville band that went to California and became Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, was the first band to play in the gazebo said Loveday as he described a small part of the historic significance of the structure. All the sweeping and cleaning yielded another bit of historic information. The concrete steps were inscribed with the year they were built – 1938.

 

“We were delighted when Jim Brown from Signature Roofing, Inc. said he would donate his time, labor and shingles to help with the project,” said Chamber President Sandra Webb. The Chamber decided to take on this project as a way to thank the City of High Springs and its residents for all they do for the Chamber. Along with a contribution from Lowe's in Alachua, the Chamber purchased $700 in wood which was needed to support the shingles.

 

Loveday was on-hand as well, filling wheelbarrows with leaves and debris and pushing them and down the steep sinkhole embankment as part of the cleanup effort. The entire gazebo floor and everything around it was covered with leaves and branches that had fallen during the last few rainstorms. Webb and Chamber board members Eyvonne Andrews and Gloria James pitched in to help clear the debris and neaten up the entire area with help from Roy Blake, an employee with the City of High Springs Public Works Department. City Manager Ed Booth oversaw the production and made sure the volunteers lacked for nothing. Lunch was provided to all the volunteers by the Chamber and the Great Outdoors Restaurant.

 

Brown and Greg Dirocco, another volunteer, worked together to install the wooden structure that supports the roof. Another High Springs resident, Steve Hart, volunteered his time to install the barrier between the wood and shingles and Brown and Morgan Dall’Aqua, a Signature Roofing employee, installed shingles until dark. With 85 percent of the shingles installed that night, the gazebo was water tight for Sunday's Music in the Park concert. Each quadrant of the structure was removed and replaced separately to ensure the supporting structures maintained their stability during construction.

 

Construction and cleanup began at 8 a.m. and continued all day, said Webb. Brown returned on Monday to complete the last part of the shingle installation. “Just like any roof we build,”said Brown, “it should last another 20 years.”

 

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