The Huron County Community Foundation (HCCF) awarded $4,000 in grants last night from the Community Impact Fund to projects that re-imagine and re-invent public spaces through Placemaking. The projects were submitted by community members and voted on by the community, which was an important aspect according to HCCF Executive Director Mackenzie Price Sundblad. The four winning projects will bring new ideas to life in Sebewaing, Port Austin, Bad Axe, and Harbor Beach.

The public was able to vote on Facebook from February 10 through February 17, with over 21,000 Facebook users seeing the projects in the album. On February 19, HCCF hosted their Placemaking Pitch Event 2020 at the Harbor Beach Community Theater, where representatives from each of the submitted projects had one minute to sell the audience and the panel of judges on why they deserved the $1,000 grant. Over 60 people from communities across the county heard pitches from the following groups and voted for their favorite in each region.

Projects presented included:

Benches for the Sebewaing Dog Park
LED Lights for Pigeon Little Fields
Updated landscaping at Veteran’s Park in Pigeon
Benches for the Ubly Walking Path
New Bingo equipment for the Bad Axe Senior Retirees Club
A Gazebo on the McLaren Thumb Region walking trail
Community CPR Courses by Laura Schenk
Walking path project in the Village of Ubly
Signage for the Bad Axe Public School buildings and fields
Expanding on the Log Cabin exhibit at the Port Austin History Center
Wayfaring signage in Port Austin
Directional signage for public art projects
Harbor Beach Rotary tree planting on the Backus Nature Trail
Establishing an exercise room at the Harbor Beach Community House
Structural maintenance on the Murphy House
New Concert Series to be held at the Harbor Beach Community House

There were four winners, one from each region, that received $1,000. Representing the Western Region, the Village of Sebewaing was awarded a grant to bring benches to the first dog park in Huron County. In the North Central region, the Port Austin Area History Center is expanding their Log Cabin display to include an outdoor education area. The Eastern region, the Harbor Beach Rotary Club won the grant to continue their project of planting trees on the Backus Nature Trail. Finally, in the South Central Region, Laura Schenk was awarded a grant for her Communities Compress The Chest project to increase public access to CPR training. “We would love to see each of these projects become a reality to continue to create vibrant and dynamic communities across the Thumb”, added Price Sundblad. “We have already heard of some groups that have donors interested from seeing their projects throughout the Placemaking Grant process.” If you are interested in supporting any of the additional projects that did not receive an HCCF grant, call the Community Foundation at 989.269.2850.