Residents and visitors in the Levelland downtown area will be seeing an increased bumber of mosaic handrails being installed in the efforts to increase safety standards and also bring a great look to the area.
With Levelland Main Street beginning the handrail projects with their first batch, it was a total of 16 handrails and 32 mosaics as each handrail has two.
Main Street Director Tania Moody explained that the group had partnered with Hockley County before as the planters located around the square was also thanks to them.
Working with Hockley County Judge Sharla Baldridge, Moody explained that Baldridge was once again interested in working alongside Main Street to bring handrails to surround the Hockley County Courthouse to offer aid to those who need help walking the steps.
“Judge Baldridge called me and said she had been talking to the commissioners and they were wondering if there was any way they could get some handrails around the courthouse,” said Moody. “With an aging population and everyone who needs help getting up the stairs, it’s the main concern, but of course they also wanted to contribute to the beautification of downtown and they wanted to be part of the mosaic downtown.”
Partnering together, the courthouse was able to cover the cost of eight handrails with two on each side of the building for a total of 16 mosaics.
“After seeing the beautiful mosaic handrails being installed downtown, I knew the courthouse could use something like this for the citizens to navigate the steps easier,” explained Baldridge. “I also thought these would be a beautiful addition and I wanted to bring in something to represent each community within Hockley County.”
Design wise, Baldridge contacted all the surrounding school districts and South Plains College to obtain permission to use their logos.
Pleased with the overall response from the schools, Baldridge took the images to the commissioners for their approval and to see what they would also like to include.
“I believe what we accomplished is bringing together a feeling of what living in Hockley County represents,” explained Baldridge. “It was a great collaboration with Main Street and Tania. Her board and volunteers do an amazing job representing our downtown are and have been a great partner on different projects.”
Installation of the handrails has been completed with several additional handrails placed in various areas of downtown. Community members can expect to see all the new mosaics in place for all the handrails by the end of the month.
For any citizens who enjoy seeing the handrails throughout downtown, Moody explained that there are future plans for further handrail installations, but they will be spread out from year-toyear.
Additionally, covering the costs of the handrails and mosaics has been done through local partnerships, Moody has encouraged anyone who would like to sponsor and pay for one to reach out to her or anyone within Main Street.
For those willing to sponsor and pay, the indvidual or business will be included in the planning and design phase for the mosaic.