The whole idea is to keep it looking good.
“First impressions mean a lot when you come into a city. We enjoy having the city look good,” explained Kevin Bohl, First Western Bank.
Bohl and fellow volunteers from First Western Bank have taken over the task of mowing the grass and pulling weeds around the Magic City signs located at five highway entrances to the city. The bank employees have stepped in to keep up the work started by a coffee club comprised of retired Minoters who have been maintaining the sites for the last dozen years.
“Most of us are over 80 years of age and it was time to find some younger people,” said Rod Romine, Minot, a member of the coffee club. “I knew the background of First Western Bank and their involvement in volunteerism. They volunteered to take over this chore.”
First Western assumed the mowing and maintenance earlier this summer. Last Friday they were working at the Magic City sign located on U.S. Highway 2 East.
“We just took this project with open arms,” said Bohl. “It’s been an enjoyable project for our bank and the community. We’re just happy to help out wherever we can.”
The signs were initially built as part of a highway beautification project but, said Romine, “no one took the responsibility of maintaining them.”
That’s when the coffee club members stepped in and volunteered to do the work. Now they have passed their lawnmowers to employee volunteers at First Western Bank.