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Former high school focus of Calhoun County picnic

A community picnic will be held Oct. 9 at the former Calhoun County High School to commemorate the restoration of the building. (Photo Provided)

GRANTSVILLE — To celebrate the revitalization of the former Calhoun County High School, the 1982 Foundation is hosting a community picnic on Oct. 9.

With several activities planned, Crystal Mersh, alumna and founder of the foundation, said the event is hoped to “energize the community about the project that we’re doing to build the community center.”

The 1982 Foundation purchased the building this past summer with the intent of converting it into a catch-all community space for summer camps, events, hotel rooms and more.

For the upcoming event, guided tours of top two floors of the building will be offered and a free lunch will be served at 1 p.m.

“People are very anxious to see the school,” Mersh said.

Crews built the former Calhoun County High School in the early 1920s. The school shut down in the ‘90s, and it was recently purchased to be used as a community center. (Photo Provided)

After lunch, children will have their pick between four camps to participate in: goat yoga, pumpkin carving or science and oil and gas industry camps.

“We are modeling them after the day camps that we will have once the center is open,” Mersh said. “We really want the summer camps to open up the visibility to children of what their future could be.”

Members of the 1982 Foundation will speak to community members to share their mission for the school building, and they will open the 100-year-old time capsule.

“The contents will be placed in the community museum in Grantsville and when the building is complete, we will re-install it with a new one,” Mersh said.

A ceremonial brick breaking will take place to signify the renovations for the building and a flag pole and flag will be dedicated to the veterans of Calhoun County.

Another possibility is the addition of a pool to the property, which is right next to the Calhoun County High School football field. Mersh said she approached the Calhoun County Commission to talk about taking on that project.

“We would be willing to develop that and hopefully put a swimming pool there depending on the flood plane analysis,” she said. “The idea is that for summer camps, kids come in the morning, go to the camps, we feed them their lunch, and then they go to the swimming pool and mom and dad picks them up.”

The idea is to give children an opportunity to learn, eat nutritious food and exercise during the summer months.

Renovations will begin soon at the old high school. Mersh said architects have to complete another round of reviews before the work starts.

Marsh said she anticipates a full crowd as about 600 people have registered to attend. The event will be Oct. 9 starting at 1 p.m.

For more information or to register for the event, check out the 1982 Foundation “Calhoun County Community Center” Facebook page.

Candice Black can be reached at cblack@newsandsentinel.com.

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