PARIS — It’s a revitalized Paris Revitalization Committee, as founding member Jeanie Stone put it, since there are numerous projects members are working on simultaneously.

At the Wednesday, Feb. 17 meeting, members of the ad hoc committee discussed a variety of projects and subjects, including their third community event at Moore Park. Chris Bass is taking the lead on the Spring Fling 2016 Eggstravganza, which is scheduled for the afternoon of Saturday, April 30. She’s toying with the idea of hosting an egg drop similar to the one she ran while teaching in Carmel, but no final decisions have been made yet.

“One of the reasons the Halloween event was so successful was we had high school volunteers,” said member Sarah Glynn.

She said she’d check with Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School’s Key Club to see if students would help out again. Bass said she would come to the next meeting prepared with the framework day’s activities and a budget.

Member Rick Little obtained an estimate to erect a smaller version of the high school’s snack shack at the park to assist with not only special events put on by the committee but other events, including summer concerts and summer meals program. Materials would cost roughly $1,100, he said. Stone suggested reaching out to Keiser Homes or KBS Homes to see if they would assist with the project. Students in the diversified occupations program at Oxford Hills Technical School could build the structure, according to Little.

He added if people wanted to donate to the April event, they could do so at Rainbow Federal Credit Union on Main Street under the Paris Renewal account and designate the funds for the Spring Fling Eggstravganza.

There’s two projects community members and town administration are working on to improve recreational opportunities in Paris. The latest is the $10,000 Maine Community Foundation grant for trail development John Andrews applied for.

“It’s a connecting of the trails from where it leaves off at the middle school along the [Little] Androscoggin and trying to tie in eventually with the 1 Paris Hill PUD site if we’re able to get that through,” Interim Town Manager Sawin Millett said. “I think he felt pretty optimistic about [the grant].”

He’s referring to the vacant Paris Utility District property that abuts the river. Millett recently met with PUC and Public Utilities Commission representatives about the town’s proposal to utilize the property as a recreational space and boat launch. He said he was assured the request would be expedited and in the meantime, Millett and Carol Rice are working on applying for a grant from the Maine Outdoor Heritage fund for the boat launch.

Rice said the town needs to schedule a site visit with the state soon to be able to move forward in the grant process, which is due in July. Rice said she waited to request a site visit because it was unknown if the PUC would grant the town’s proposed easement for access at the 7-acre site. The delay from the PUC caused the town and committee to miss applying for grant funds last year.

“I think we need to move on all these fronts simultaneously,” Glynn said.

Rice agreed to get together with Millett to schedule a site visit with George Powell, boating facilities development division supervisor with the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry. Little volunteered to attend since he said there’s some issues with the property’s garage as it sits in the flood plain and a waterline runs underneath the structure.

Bass also touched upon two other projects she’s spearheading. The first is the banner project – which was proposed by Sandy Swett, who penned the town’s strategic plan last year – to decorate Market Square.

“The banners themselves are minor. It’s the hanging of them that costs money,” Bass said, adding a price she found was $50 per bracket to attach one banner to a light pole.

It was suggested Bass reach out to Sandy’s husband, Terry Swett, and Richard Cormier, the graphic arts and printing instructor at the high school, for the project.

The second was an idea she came across on Pinterest, a farm-to-table dinner with the restaurants on Main Street. She would like to host it in September and said Carl Costanzi, program coordinator of 5210 Let’s Go! Oxford County, could help with that.

The Paris Revitalization Committee’s next meeting is scheduled for 5 p.m. Thursday, March 10, at Market Square Restaurant, 24 Market Square.

[email protected]