Drilling begins for downtown Cultural District pillar project

Texas Commission for the Arts, private donations funding $330,000 project

 MAY 23, 2022 – Drilling began Monday morning at four locations downtown that will soon be the home of 18-foot limestone pillars delineating the borders of the Abilene Cultural District. In addition to the pillars, an 8-foot, hand-carved stone relief of William Joyce’s Sanderson Mansnoozie with outstretched arms welcoming people and a Storybook Capital of America® sign will be added.

 A public celebration for the project will take place Oct. 22. More details on that event will be announced soon.

The Abilene Cultural Affairs Council received a cultural district grant in the amount of $129,654 from the Texas Commission on the Arts (TCA) for the “Be Out Guest” project. This is a matching grant, and fundraising is underway to complete the grant. The ACAC raised a portion of the funds for the $330,000 project during Abilene Gives through its 501c3 arm, the Abilene Arts Alliance.

The four limestone pillars are located at N. 5th and Orange streets, N. 1st and Hickory streets, Pine and N. 7th streets, and across the street from Frontier Texas! at N. 1st. Each pillar will have the words “Cultural District” spelled down the side, which will be lit at night.

Clint Rosenbaum, an Abilene engineer and ACAC board member, is supervising the project. He said after the holes are drilled for the base of the pillars, concrete will be poured later this week. Next, the mason will start building the pillars.

The goal of the “Be Out Guest” project is to create a sense of place and to increase downtown cultural tourism.

“The benefit of creating a sense of place is to reinforce a sense of ownership and pride in our beautiful downtown, which is experiencing a renaissance, and to provide a cultural destination for tourists,” said Lynn Barnett, executive director of the Abilene Cultural Affairs Council, which is an Abilene Chamber of Commerce affiliate. “Abilene was one of the first five cultural districts in the state along with Dallas and Houston, and we take a lot of pride in that designation.”

The Abilene Cultural Affairs Council has successfully applied for and matched other cultural district grants from the TCA that have helped build downtown into a tourism hotspot, including matching funds for the Adamson-Spalding Storybook Garden.

TXP Inc., an economic analysis and public policy consulting firm, prepared an Economic Impact Study of Cultural District Funding and confirmed that the TCA’s past investments in infrastructure has been critical to the success of the downtown Abilene Cultural District, which includes museums, performance venues, restaurants, retail and offices. The implementation of “Be Our Guest” will benefit all venues and businesses within the district and fuel the explosive economic and tourism growth, Barnett said.