The Kingston Town Council held their regular monthly session on February 14 with a room packed full of attendees. February’s meeting had a lenghty agenda, and the Town Council wasted no time getting down to business with the introduction of Kingston’s Placemaking Committee spearheaded by Donna Bearden.
Bearden introduced the committee as a group that is dedicated to Kingston’s beautification and family friendly events in downtown Kingston.
“It’s a hands-on approach for improving a neighborhood, a city or a region,” Bearden said. “It’s a community- based process to capitalize on assets and the potential to create quality public spaces that contribute to the community.”
Bearden recapped the town’s visit with the Chickasaw Nation and their New York consultant on identifying some towns in Oklahoma last spring. Bearden said last June they walked around Kingston with business leaders, the Chamber and the Lake Texoma Association to see what they could do to make the park better and to enhance the appearance of the town.
With fresh ideas from the Chickasaw Nation last year, a local group formed and officially began holding monthly meetings.Thegroupcameup with a tentative schedule of downtown events as well as goals they wanted to achieve in collaboration with the Town of Kingston and presented it to the council.
“We would like to see flowers through town, we would like to see new stripes for the walkways across the highway, we would like to clean up some unsightly areas, paint and see some murals in town,” stated Bearden.
With Kingston being a lake town, the group had plenty of ideas to make it a destination for visitors as well.
“This summer, during the holidays, we want people to drive through town and see flags all the way through town and work with the community to make things better for all of us,” said Bearden.
Bearden explained how thegroupcanhelptopromote and increase tourism with gettingdowntownbusinesses and the lake resorts involved. Bearden said they wanted to help increase tourism for the tax base to help the people who live in and visit Kingston. “
We want to provide family friendly activities for the people who live here and for tourists who visit here,” said Bearden.
With the help of sponsors, the Placemaking Committee has already hit the ground running.
“The way we are going to achieve this, is we are hoping to partner with the Chickasaw Nation, with grants that we are working on, we are going to seek sponsorships from businesses or individuals that want to help, and we also just received a nice sum from the Tourism Board to get us started,” said Bearden.
With a tentative activity schedule, Bearden laid out a list of activities starting in April and the first weekend of every month thereafter to be held in downtown Kingston. Any organization, business or individual is welcome to attend these events and set up an informational booth she stated.
Activities would include a BBQ & Bean cook off for April 1, a Fun Run in May, a Boat Show in June, and a kid’s bike parade with golf carts and flags through town inJuly.Augustwouldbeback to school things for Kingston Schools, a car show and concert in September, a food festival in October, would be something with the arts and crafting in November and in December, they want to focus on lighting the town with incentives for businesses and homeowners to participate.
Bearden thanked the council and asked for their supportwhenViceMayorLillie Parrish added her support for the organization.
“I think it’s amazing, you and everyone working on this,” Parrish said. “I’ve been to a few of the meetings, there’s been a lot of ideas and brainstorming and a lot of people willing to donate. I think we would be silly not to do everything we can to support this.”
The Town Council voted unanimously to approve the PlacemakingCommitteeand the tentative activity schedule starting with the BBQ and Bean cook off April 1.
Other approved items on the agenda were the Hara Metals donation of a new City Park sign that will depict Lake Texoma and the town of Kingston, declaring February17ActsofKindness Day in Kingston, and the approval to apply for 2023 Community Improvement Grants. The Town Council holds its monthly session on the second Tuesday of every month at 5:30 at City Hall. ThePlacemakingCommittee holds a meeting the second Wednesday of every month at noon.