FORKS — First Federal’s $25,000 donation to the Forks Revitalization Committee is already at work in Forks’ downtown area.
The donation to the Forks Revitalization Committee will be used for several purposes, some of which are already started, said Marcia Bingham, Forks Chamber of Commerce executive director.
The chamber accepted the donation Wednesday on behalf of the committee because the group — started two years ago by volunteers — is not a formal organization and doesn’t have a bank account.
Small park
Among other efforts, First Federal’s donation will support the creation of a small park that the committee’s volunteers began a couple of weeks ago, Bingham said.
“There was a small area between the Rainforest Players Building and Dazzled by Twilight, which had been challenging,” Bingham said.
“But now there is a slab of concrete, some benches and some lighting there.
“It is looking really nice and is already coming together. It was the perfect area for a pocket park.”
The donations also will support the effort to distribute planters to downtown merchants.
The committee gave the planters to merchants with the agreement that they would maintain them, Bingham said.
Another project that will benefit by the First Federal donation is the renovation of welcome signs on the north and south ends of town.
The signs, which are popular backdrops for photographs of fans of the teen novel Twilight, will be moved to more tourist-friendly areas, Bingham said.
SDLqOriginally we had the idea that we would do one over the highway, kind of like the sign in Sequim,” Bingham said.
“But then we found that it just wasn’t going to be feasible with the [federal] highway, so we decided to work with what we already had.”
The sign at the north entrance to town is up a steep hill and has only a small pullout, so it will be moved down the hill slightly and the pullout drive will be enlarged, Bingham said.
“It won’t be meant for long-term use,” she said. “But there will be just enough room for people to stop for a minute and snap that picture.”
The sign at the south end of Forks, which is now hidden behind a bush, will be moved to be more visible.
Bingham said the work in Forks involved Olympic Corrections Center making the planters, the Chamber of Commerce accepting the donation on behalf of the Revitalization Committee, the Bogachiel Garden Club working on the planters and many other community members, Bingham said.
“It was completely multi-jurisdictional,” she said.
“Luckily, that was exactly what First Federal was looking for.”
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
