Weekly Waynesville Update for the Week of October 28, 2024

Ever wondered what a successful community event looks like? Join us as Mayor Sean Wilson shares his reflections on the vibrant celebration at Waynesville's 18th annual Pumpkin Fest. Discover how local churches, businesses, and nonprofits came together to transform Ruby Dew Park into a hub of festivity and unity. Mayor Wilson's heartfelt gratitude underscores the essence of community spirit and highlights notable achievements at the Merrimack Regional Planning Commission's annual banquet, where the Old Stage Coach and Waynesville High School's Dyshala Bean were honored for their exceptional contributions. These stories weave a narrative of dedication, recognition, and the thriving pulse of Waynesville.

As we look forward, Mayor Wilson reminds us of the critical role civic engagement plays in shaping our community's future. With the general election on November 5th fast approaching, he encourages everyone to participate and aims to see at least half of the county's residents casting their votes. He corrects some details about absentee voting hours and shares his own experience of early voting, inspiring listeners to take action. Plus, get ready for a safe and enjoyable Halloween with citywide trick-or-treating hours announced for October 31st. This episode is a call to action for civic participation and community celebration, wrapped in inspiring tales of leadership and involvement.

Transcript

Mayor Wilson: 0:00

Good morning. This is Sean Wilson, the mayor of Waynesville, with your weekly update for October 29th 2024. I want to thank everyone who came out to support the 18th annual Pumpkin Fest that was held in the Ruby Dew Park on Saturday from 10 to 2 pm. Without the local churches, the businesses and the nonprofit organizations, this would not be possible. It was certainly good to see our community come together and put on such a terrific event. Thank you to all those who participated and thank you for those that came out to partake of this event and all of the free benefits that were there. I'm really appreciative of all of the support that we received.

Mayor Wilson: 0:42

Last Friday I had the distinct pleasure to present, as part of the Merrimack Regional Planning Commission's annual banquet, two of our very own regional volunteer wards. Each year, I try to identify a student, an organization or individual adult to be recognized as part of this annual banquet. This is very important to me because volunteers are a very valuable asset to our community, especially ours. With that said, the old stage coach was recognized for their continued service, provided not only to the city of Waynesville, but the service that they provide to the thousands upon thousands of volunteers or visitors that visit our location here in Waynesville from not only locally but from around the world, and that's very, that's very important, that's very impactful to bring people here to our community to learn about our community and its history and, in keeping with the city's mission of preserving the past, they exceed that standard and it was an honor to be able to recognize them for their great achievements. I was also able to recognize a local Waynesville high school student who has excelled above the above the standards and was an outstanding volunteer. She received the Outstanding Volunteer Award for contributions made both in and out of school and also at her place of worship contributions made both in and out of school and also at her place of worship. She excels as a student and also she's also at Waynesville High School track member that also has received her varsity letter. In keeping with the city's mission and planning for the future, recognizing our youth and their accomplishments is another way to identify our future leaders and encourage them to continue the course. What an amazing community that we have. If you know either of these awardees, please, please congratulate them for their achievement and contributions. Again, that was Dyshala Bean of Waynesville, a great student and setting the standard for our community.

Mayor Wilson: 2:45

I also want to remind everyone about the general election that's going to take place on the 5th of November is right around the corner. I want to make a correction that I that the daily hours for the no excuse absentee voting is actually from 8 am to 430 pm, not 5 pm as I put out previously. That was my mistake, but it is to 4 30 pm. Also, on November 2nd, the courthouse will be open from 8 am to 12 noon. I encourage you to go early and vote. You never know what's going to happen on Tuesday. We know what happened this last election on April 2nd that storm that happened. So you just never know. Just go out and if you have the time to vote early, vote early. If you have already established that you're going to go on Tuesday, go on Tuesday, but make sure you make it there. I actually went in and voted early and I'm going to tell you it's over 2,500 people that have already voted. The process is easy you come in, they tell you to go downstairs and they have a nice setup down there and we've got volunteers doing what they do best in that serve in the community. So I also want to um to communicate this. We have over 54,000 people in that are residents within the county, probably more than that. So I want to encourage you we need to have at least half people. Half of our citizens should vote in this election. Right now we have 2,500 people that have already voted, or more. Let's see if we can get half of it. Let's just see if we can get 25,000 people to come in to vote in this election. That'll be a great, a great accomplishment for our community and it also will set the standard for other communities to emulate that surround us.

Mayor Wilson: 4:30

On October 31st, the citywide trick or treat hours will be from 6 pm to 9 pm, that's 6 pm to 9 pm on October 31st. We're asking everyone to please spread the word and to be safe in our communities and please, if you're driving vehicles, please drive slow. Make sure you have some type of flashlight or chem light, something like that, as you're walking down the streets, because it is limited visibility. And we ask that you respect those who are not participating. If their street light or their porch light is not on, please just bypass that house, go to the other ones, and our citizens with their lights on are the ones that are welcoming you for those festivities. So, enjoy that evening, be safe and also enjoy yourself.

Mayor Wilson: 5:17

I also want to remind everyone that the Veterans Day parade will be in Waynesville this year and I'm going to continue November 11th at 11. We will have the parade, so make sure you plan accordingly. As far as traffic. That is going to be on a Monday, so make sure you plan accordingly. So we will have our parade. That will. That will leave somewhere around 1130, 1145, and it will travel east towards the park. Come out, enjoy yourself. It'll start in the middle school parking lot. The ceremony will start at 11 am.

Mayor Wilson: 5:51

The parade should start somewhere after that, about 1130, somewhere around that time, after the speakers. And again, it is traveling east, going towards downtown. Come out, enjoy yourself, get your spots early and be prepared to have a little fun, and let's recognize our veterans and their families for all the contributions that they have made for the previous years, past, present and future. I'd also like to share that on November 15th the Waynesville and St Robert Regional Airport will have its groundbreaking ceremony and it's for its new terminal expansion program. So we're so excited about this for this much needed upgrade and very welcome. It took a great team effort to make this happen, so we're very excited to share that we will have our groundbreaking ceremony that will start to do the work on our expansion project for our new terminal down on Fort Leonard Wood. So this is something that is open to the public and that concludes this week's update, and I look forward to seeing you around the town.