The Scott Joplin International Ragtime Foundation is already making plans for the 2017 festival, including a new tour and a Joplin memorial concert.
Foundation President Kathleen Boswell presented the organization’s annual report during Tuesday night’s Sedalia City Council meeting. She gave a recap of the 2016 season, such as the new Legends concert, which included preserving a piece of history by recording interviews with the musicians, dedicating the John Stark office historic marker, and installing Scott Joplin Memorial Highway signs along East Broadway Boulevard.
She said 2016 was a year of improving community awareness of the foundation and festival.
“We’re wanting to get more entities in the community involved,” Boswell said, noting that the new historic marker was a good example of several community members working together. “… That’s what can happen when more people know what our goals are.”
Boswell said April 1 marks 100 years since Joplin’s death in New York City, and it will be commemorated by a two-part concert at Carnegie Hall in New York with Richard Dowling, a frequent musician at the Scott Joplin International Ragtime Festival, playing all 50 of Joplin’s pieces. For those who can’t make the trip to New York, Dowling will play a portion of the 50 songs as the kick-off concert for the 2017 festival. This year’s festival will also include Legends Part Two.
Boswell also told council about a new “footsteps riding tour.”
“We’re getting the Ditzfeld bus and we’re going to take people starting at the park on Main Street around to some of the places where Scott Joplin lived, the things he would’ve seen and done, and then to the cemetery where other ragtime greats are buried,” Boswell explained. “We’re thinking that’s going to be a really big thing.”
She also announced that the 2017 Artist-in-Residence will be Frederick Hodges, who will perform at local schools in early February and at a concert at Liberty Center Association of the Arts.
During her presentation, Boswell made the foundation’s annual request for city funding, asking for $10,000, the same as last year.
Council approved an ordinance — amending Section 64-154(d)(11) of the Code of Ordinances regarding rear yard setbacks in District C-3, commercial district only — relating to the relocation of an existing Sedalia business. Dollar General, 2402 W. Broadway Blvd., will be moving later this year to an empty lot just west of the strip mall where it is currently located.
Prior to the meeting, Dianne Simon, Vice President of Property Management for E.W. Thompson Inc./Thompson Hills Investment Corp., confirmed to the Democrat that the business relocating is Dollar General.
“Right now they’re locked into the size they have and they want to expand the business,” Simon said of Dollar General’s decision to relocate. She added that the new building will be about 10,000-square-feet, compared to its current 7,000-square-foot building.
Now that council has approved the needed ordinance, Simon said Dollar General plans to start construction soon, once the sale closes in a few days and as weather permits, but exact dates weren’t available.
The meeting began with a a public hearing to allow comments regarding items for consideration by council in setting the strategic plan and budget for the 2017-18 fiscal year beginning April 1. No one made any comments.
During the meeting council also:
• Approved two appointments: Laura Bouslaugh to the Citizen’s Committee for Smart Growth, completing Donnie Sattler’s term expiring June 2017, and Linda Sundy to the Public Library Board, completing John Snelling’s term expiring June 2019.
• Approved an ordinance amending the budget for Fiscal Year 2016-17 regarding the Oak Grove/U.S. Highway 50 intersection improvement project.
• Approved an ordinance authorizing two non-exclusive utility easements to Septagon Construction Co. Inc. for the installment and placement of fiber optics cable in the city-owned parking lot located at East Second Street and Lamine Avenue. Ward 1 Councilwoman Jo Lynn Turley abstained; all other council members voted yes.
•Approved a bid and an ordinance approving and accepting an agreement with Reese Equipment Co. LLC for the yard waste grinding No. 8 project.
All council members were present at the meeting.
