Palouse Community Center bid date, loan decision ahead

Bids for construction of the Palouse Community Center, a goal of many fund raising efforts over the past four years, will be opened June 21.

If all goes as planned, the exterior of the building could be finished before winter, said Scott Beeson, president of the community center.

However, the plan is still tentative and much depends on the bid amounts, he cautioned.

Once the bids are opened, the group will decide if they want to take out a loan to cover the difference between the cost and the amount of funds now available.

After four years of fund-raising by residents, the center project has roughly $250,000 available, about half the projected cost of the new building.

The building will be located in the empty lot next to the Open Eye Consignment Shop on Main Street. The front portion of the building will house the Needful Things Thrift Store which is operated by the community center. The earnings of the thrift store already go to the building.

The back half of the building will be used as a community center complete with a full commercial kitchen, Beeson said. The public can rent the center room for social events.

“Our town is a very active town. Every month there is some kind of celebration going on in town,” Beeson said. “The community center would make a nice center for all these things to be centrally located.”

Open Eye Consignment shop is located in the old community center building. Beeson said his group moved out of this building four years ago because the brick building was rapidly aging.

“It was just very old and starting to fall apart,” Beeson said.

Since that time, they have received funds from the annual Haunted Palouse, the annual blue grass festival, fund-raisers by the Palouse Lions Club and many other fund-raising events.

“We just have a very lively active town. This would give everyone a place to go to do the things they want to do,” Beeson said. He added he was proud to see the fruits of all the work come together after so many years.