The campaign to repaint downtown Winthrop’s Westernized buildings is underway.
Elsewhere in the newspaper you will read about the Let’s Paint Winthrop project to freshen up downtown’s murals, signs, and buildings. Learning about this project reminded me of a time probably about 12 years ago when I was driving through Winthrop with my daughter, who was then around kindergarten age.
We had to wait a while at the four-way stop, so it must have been summer. I could see my daughter in the rearview mirror, gazing out the window at the town she had been in and through so many times before. “Mama,” she piped up. “Does our town have a certain look?”
Our town does have a certain look, and like it or not, it was a strategic decision made by a group of people who knew and loved Winthrop and wanted to see it thrive. Let’s Paint Winthrop is a similar effort, undertaken by a group of residents and business owners who care about this place and want to see it presented to its best advantage.
So much volunteer labor will be needed to complete the repainting that it goes beyond the scope of “many hands make light work.” More like “many hands makes this within the realm of possibility.”
Looking ahead to Let’s Paint Winthrop, I can’t help but think of Tom Sawyer’s fence whitewashing lesson: make something look fun and in short supply and you’ll find helpers in abundance.
There is a unique satisfaction to be found in joining a group of people determined to get something done. Just consider the rebuilding of the Winthrop Barn, after it collapsed in 1971. About that Barn rebuilding effort, Carol Lester, one of the Let’s Paint Winthrop steering committee members, said something that could just as easily apply to the repainting project. “Everybody volunteered their time: my folks, my kids — we were over there all the time. It was the main place to be every day … people got really excited.”
Experience wasn’t necessary with the Barn rebuild — Shirley Haase said “We all helped with everything, even if we hadn’t done that kind of thing before — and it isn’t necessary for Let’s Paint Winthrop. If you want to help, the committee will figure out a way to include you.”
Carol is a grandmother now, as are other members of the committee, but she’s not letting that stop her from taking a lead role in Let’s Paint Winthrop. “We’re just a group of people,” Carol said of the committee. “If we burn out, we’ll get others to take our place. Or we’ll just go slower. It’s a need — we have to pull together to get it done.”
