RAIN DELAYS COMPLETION OF THE PRINCESS ROOF BUT OTHER WORK GOES ON

The new roof of the Princess is about another week from being completed. The recent rains have set the schedule back a few days, but the work done by Davis’ Brothers Roofing thus far is topnotch! The Princess should be “in the dry” in short order.

However, planning and discussions with other vendors continues, rain or shine. This week Frank Sparkman, Bill Milburn, and Bill Landry met with the proposed marquee manufacturer. Once the façade and marquee are completed, everyone driving by will able to see some tangible progress, and be reminded of the ongoing restoration work hidden inside the Princess.

While others meet to plan the future reconstruction outside, workmen inside were hard at stripping out “the old” to prepare the way for “the new”. In the attached photo, a workman works atop a ladder while Doug Mills, known for his “Heartland Series” work, films his efforts. Sparkman’s crews are used to being the center of attention wherever they are at work on bringing the past back to life! They know they are doing special work on a place very special to the local people. Once finished, we’ll owe them a great debt of gratitude.

Of course, I was hard at work shooting “stills” of Doug shooting digital video! Hey, someone has to do it…and, I’m so proud it’s me!

I walked up on Phil Gibbons, Sparkman’s “construction manager - field representative”, as he was pouring over the restoration blueprints by the light of his flashlight. However, the flashlight was resting in his lap by the time I snapped the photo!

Also on hand Wednesday, Bill Landry and Bill Radice discussed the Channel 15 studio. Radice recently moved to Oakdale, picking Oakdale by doing Google searches for “great places in which to retire”. Bill Radice is a retired sound engineer from New York, who is going to be an invaluable resource for speculating equipment for the TV studio.

Things are coming to gather folks and I think we’ll all be proud of the final result of the restoration efforts in Harriman. We have good people on board, but we need your continued support and ideas.

If you didn’t receive the recent “test” distribution email from us, please send your email address to us. Frank Sparkman, Chris Mason, and others will be sending out updates to keep you informed of progress, and of upcoming events and celebrations!

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