Greenville Rising: July 21 – Commemorative events being planned
By Meg Upton
The air is hot and windy and bone dry. A siren wails. Your body tenses up immediately. There’s a small fire. Then a call that the fire is out. Relief.
This might be how the rest of summer goes for me. The hot weather itself a trigger of memory. I assume it might be the same for you. Be kind to yourself. Take care of yourself and all that hippie-esque mumbo jumbo. We’re going to need that right now.
Speaking of all things old are new again, there seems to be a number of anniversary events about to take place in downtown Greenville to commemorate the destruction of Greenville and surrounding areas between August 5 and August 6. We will do our best to cover them. Though truth be told, no one has sent us press releases of these matters. But like many things in Greenville, word of mouth gets it done.
My own commemoration will be Thursday, August 11 at the Quincy Library conference room where I’ll be reading from my new chapbook of poetry Burn Scars and inviting others to share what they’ve written on the subject. The reading is from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Let’s hope it’s not a scorching hot day.
I want to bring up one more topic as we head into our weekend. Leadership of Indian Valley. Are we courageous enough to find new ways to operate? New ways to govern? Can we acknowledge perhaps the old ways of doing things might not work anymore and that new blood, new energy, and a stepping down of the old guard might be in order for a new town to not just survive but thrive?
This last weekend at Gold Diggers Day I spoke with many people and witnessed a bunch of behaviors both great and not so great and it got me to wondering to myself what will Greenville need to be to prosper? Can we acknowledge that the town was economically stunted before the fire? That we were surviving in a beautiful place but maybe not thriving the way we could?
It was great to see people visiting Greenville from outside the area and most felt welcomed, some did not. What can we do to make all feel welcomed here and not give into prejudice and racism and to hold our leadership accountable when racism occurs?
It was great to have people here from around the county, but what can we do to get visitors to respect that just because a lot doesn’t have anything on it, doesn’t mean the person it belongs to isn’t attached to it and maybe don’t run your car over an area that used to be someone’s living room?
Maybe just be nice and take care of each other instead. Maybe to prosper again we need new leadership coming out from young families in the community. Maybe new people investing in the community can run for school board, the hospital board, the FRC board, sit on the Indian Valley Chamber of Commerce, run for supervisor. You get the picture. It’s time for new ideas to go along with our new infrastructure. The old guard needs to retire and enjoy their lives.
The following is a list of events and meetings coming up in the valley that you might be interested in attending or volunteering for or both. If you have an announcement or event you’d like to inform the community about, please send it to [email protected].
Lift Your Voice for Greenville
Marsha Roby is looking for singers to sing patriotic songs at the August 5 and 6 event in downtown Greenville. Come find out what it’s all about tonight at 5 p.m., pick up some sheet music, and sing. Roby will be on the site of the American Legion parking lot this evening, July 21 on Main Street to fill in details and speak to singers.
Paint the Town Greenville
This event will be held on August 5 and 6 on Pine Street in downtown Greenville from noon till dusk to commemorate the anniversary of the Dixie Fire decimating Greenville. Attendees will be painting the street in remembrance of the fire, eating, drinking, and socializing. Organizers are looking for all types of vendors to come and join the party. There is no vendor charge for the event. Contact Penney Robbins at (530) 282-7000 to reserve a spot.
Cash Machine
Evergreen Market installed a cash machine ATM for those with debit cards to withdraw some cash. There was much talk online about why hasn’t Plumas Bank offered the same. There’s a huge difference between a machine that dispenses cash and a machine that can do all your banking for you securely (deposits) and record them correctly. For that you need a secure and stable Internet connection—something not yet available in downtown Greenville.
Jobs
The Rebuild Greenville facebook page has a flyer up from Plumas Rural Services about temporary positions for disaster case management. Could be lucrative positions for people in need of work. Check it out.
Pool
The Indian Valley Community Pool is now open for four open swim sessions on Saturdays from 1 pm. to 4 p.m. on July 23, 30, and August 6 and 20. The pool still needs volunteers to watch and take in fees. Water aerobics happens at 5:15 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays. If anyone is interested in volunteering call Judy Leland at (650) 942-4948.
Library
The Library is open Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.; 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. and on Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The July Summer Reading Program events (which is in addition to the reading log) are on Thursdays July 21, and July 28 from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m.