New Life, New Events

 Several events are being planned in the downtown area, further signs of new life and new connections among enthusiastic business owners, organizations and the public.

            So far, this is what I know: The Second Annual Crawfish Festival is set for April 2. The Saturday Farmer Market season starts on April 9. April 10-15 is the “Bunny Business and the Golden Egg,” with an Easter Egg hunt on April 15, Good Friday. The “Mamacita Sip and Shop” is planned for May 5. And a Monterey Square Jam Fest Fest on May 14.  

            

Jetstream RV Resort

            On Thursday, the chamber participated in the groundbreaking at Jetstream RV Resort, 2601 N. Richmond Road. This is a major expansion, adding new spaces to a total 155, plus adding a clubhouse and swimming pool. Attendees included Mayor Tim Barker (who manned the ceremonial shovel); City Manager Joe Pace; Councilman Don Mueller, WEDCO executive director Josh Owens; Debbie Folks, the chamber board’s membership chair; Debbie’s husband, Jim Folks; Linda King, chamber administrative assistant; and Linda’s husband, Carl King. Representing the company were Tom Campbell, Diana Laughlin and Cathy Lawing.

 

The front entrance

            One of my early memories of moving to Wharton involves a broom.

            In my mind’s eye, I can see various downtown Wharton merchants sweeping the front sidewalks of their business establishments — like each morning driving to work in those early years. 

            First, it showed pride.             Second, it switched perspective, from the proprietor’s to a potential customer’s view. And third, it’s a good visual, in and of itself  — customers respect business people who care about what their establishments look like.

 

Progress report

            However, blight was evident in those early years (1982 or so). But the Main Street Project arrived, the courthouse was restored, buildings were upgraded, public-private partnerships developed, many small businesses were created, the railroad returned, young people came on the scene, and people are working together.  And let’s not forget Buc-ees, Walmart, and the reopening of the hospital.

            

The Levee Project

The Levee Project will be the topic of our next Lunch and Learn, Tuesday, April 19, at the Wharton Civic Center. You can get tickets at: 

whartonchamber.com/lunch-and-learn, or contact 979-532-1862  or helpdesk@whartonchamber.com.

  

And yet another project to improve Wharton. Interstate 69, and a future interstate interchange will be created from the extension of FM 1301. And more investment is coming in a big way.

            We have come a long way, and we will go a long way.

‘Players win games, but teams win championships.”

Serendipity

             You can go to college to acquire knowledge and skills for just about any profession, from educator to engineer, teacher, accountant, geologist, and beyond. But what about the knowledge or skill to start and run a successful business?

The founder of Best Buy thinks every college should teach students the art and science of being an entrepreneur.

Richard M. Schulze is the founder and chairman emeritus of Best Buy Co. Inc. and founder of The Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation. He makes the argument in a column he authored for CNN Business.

            

He writes that “teaching students to think and act as entrepreneurs does remarkable things. It motivates and energizes students, it builds their critical and creative thinking capabilities, it focuses them on the ways they can make an impact in the world, and it prepares them to enter the workforce with passion, purpose and confidence. “

            

He adds, “regardless of whether they start a business or not, students with entrepreneurial training are better equipped to identify and craft opportunities for themselves and their employers, to bring innovative thinking to the problems they face and to mobilize the resources they need to implement new and better solutions.”

         

Entrepreneurs are not actually “born,” Schulze says. The become. “Formal education isn't just about learning facts and formulas, although being exposed to a broader range of ideas and knowledge is, of course, invaluable in and of itself. The best education is one that teaches people how to think. And an entrepreneurial education demands just that.”

         

I think Schulze makes an important point in this column. He writes about a process of personal growth. It enables a person to make the most of what he or she encounters. Perhaps the right word might be “serendipity.” 

        

Serendipity is defined as “an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident.” And that’s no accident.

        

Thank you. “Players win games, but teams win championships.”

 

 

 

 

 

A judge, and an axe

 It took an axe to inspire the construction of the Wharton County Courthouse. Really.

 

The year was 1888. The county judge was W.J. Croom.  Judge Croom went to the attic. With an axe.

 

An article puts it best from the Architecture and Design Magazine of Houston: 

 

The residents of Wharton County were not eager to foot the bill for a new courthouse, but the county judge at the time, W.J. Croom, didn’t necessarily believe the taxpayers should have the final word. To force the issue, the county sold courthouse bonds to fund the new building. Wharton citizens were so mad about this that they took out an injunction to block construction. The judge found out about the injunction, and before it could be served he climbed in the attic of the old courthouse with an ax in hands and began chopping away. When the hole he was carving in the roof was sufficiently large, he declared the building dangerous, clearing the way for a new courthouse.

 

The Architecture and Design Magazine is published quarterly by the Rice Design Alliance, a program of the Rice University School of Architecture. You can read whole article at rice.edu/2000/07/SavingTheCourthouse_Scardino_Cite48.pdf.

 

 The replacement courthouse was completed in 1889. In 1935, the mansard roof was removed as well as the clock tower. The exterior stopped being Victorian and became yellow Art Deco. One-story wings were added on two sides also in 1935, and two more were added in 1949. (Horton Foote wrote that the courthouse with its yellow finish looked like a “block of sulphur.”)

 

In 2006, the full restoration was completed after decades of twist and turns. 

 

I remember the heroes that made this miracle happen: David Bucek Sr., David Bucek Jr., Jeffrey Blair, Barbara Young, and so many others. It did not take an axe, but a county judge from El Campo can be seen as the one who tipped the scale, Lawrence Naiser.

 

Wharton County and its people did the right thing.

 

You can experience the courthouse restoration with a guided tour at 11 am Saturday, March 5. The tours are always the same time the first Saturday of each month and are free. 

 

“Players win games, but teams win championships.”