City fountain to return on Tuesday

BY BROOKS TAYLOR

Mt. Pleasant News

Mt. Pleasant?s Central Park will return to normalcy on Tuesday, March 15.

That?s when the Edd King Memorial Fountain is being returned, according to city officials and Mary Hassenfritz, niece of King.

The fountain wintered at Robinson Iron Corp., manufacturers of the fountain, in Alexander City, Ala., for repair and renovation. Employees from Robinson removed the fountain on Oct. 21, 2015, and loaded it on a company flatbed truck for its trip south.

Maintenance and repair money came from the $100,000 bequest left by King?s wife, Viola, who died in 2014. The City of Mt. Pleasant paid Robinson $49,500 for its makeover.

Hassenfritz said officials at Robinson stated the fountain should arrive at about 8 a.m., Tuesday. After the fountain is placed in its location, it will have to be hooked up to electricity and water, which will be done locally.

She added a rededication ceremony is being planned for sometime in April. ?I don?t know the date yet because it depends on when Tom Vilsack can be here,? she said. Vilsack will be the keynote speaker for the rededication ceremony.

Vilsack, a former Mt. Pleasant mayor and two-term Iowa governor, is now the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. Shortly after King, who also served as mayor, was assassinated in 1986, Vilsack hosted a two-day Edd King Radiothon to raise money for a new park fountain. The event raised over $85,000.

A new fountain to replace a 50-year-old dilapidated fountain in the park was one of King?s dreams, Hassenfritz said, and Vilsack and many others made that dream come true.