Plans finalized for Saturday?s fountain rededication event

BY BROOKS TAYLOR

Mt. Pleasant News

Former Mt. Pleasant mayor, Iowa governor and current U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack will deliver the keynote address Saturday, July 16, at the rededication of the Edd King Memorial Fountain in Central Park.

Mary Hassenfritz, King?s niece and organizer of the ceremony, said Vilsack?s wife, Christie, a native of Mt. Pleasant and former teacher in the Mt. Pleasant Community School District, will be accompanying her husband to the ceremony, which begins at 4 p.m.

Vilsack, then an attorney in Mt. Pleasant, led a fund drive for the fountain in 1987, one year after King was assassinated in office. One of King?s dreams was a new fountain in Central Park to replace a deteriorating fountain that had been in Central Park since the 1930s.

The late Viola King, wife of Edd, who died in 2014, left $100,000 to the city for the continued maintenance and repair of the fountain.

A rededication ceremony is being hosted because the fountain was transported back to its manufacturer in Alabama for extensive maintenance and repairs, which cost nearly $50,000.

Mike Vance, Henry County magistrate, will serve as master of ceremonies for the event, which will take place near the fountain in Central Park.

The public is invited to the event but asked to bring lawn chairs for seating. Reserved seating will be available for members of the 1986 Mt. Pleasant City Council and the immediate King family.

Following the rededication ceremony, all persons attending are invited to the SIP coffee shop, located on the east side of the square for a time of fellowship. Hassenfritz said the Vilsacks plan to stop in SIP for a short time after the ceremony.