Trouble growing grass on courthouse lawn
By Vinde Wells - Editor
A so far unsuccessful lawn restoration means a change of layout for Ogle County’s biggest festival.
County officials have banned Autumn on Parade’s Farmers Market Craft Fair booths from some portions of the Ogle County Courthouse lawn this year because of problems getting the grass to grow after a renovation project.
County board chairman Ed Rice said Tuesday that AOP will be allowed to place booths only in the areas near the sidewalks around the courthouse square where healthy grass is growing.
Booths will not be allowed closer to the courthouse where grass has failed to grow this summer despite landscaping attempts.
The 40th annual AOP festival will be held Oct. 2 and 3. The two-day event draws an estimated 45,000 people to the community annually.
In June, at the request of AOP President Debbie Dickson, the Sheriff & Coroner & Building & Grounds Committee, which oversees county property, gave the festival permission to place booths on the lawn in the areas where the grass is healthy.
Sheriff Greg Beitel said last week, however, that Rice was reluctant to allow the lawn to be used at all while the grass gets established.
After discussions between Dickson and Beitel, a compromise was reached.
Dickson said she is relieved the Farmers Market can go on almost as usual.
“I glad that they changed their minds and recognized the importance of this festival to the community,” Dickson said.
She said the area the festival will occupy is the similar to last years, when the booths were moved to the edges because of the fenced construction area.
The lawn on the north side of the courthouse was disturbed last summer while geothermal wells were drilled as part of the courthouse renovation project. That project was completed in May.
New sidewalks on the east side of the building caused removal of the lawn there.
G & O Landscaping, Rockford, began working on reseeding the lawn late this spring but met with little success.
Volunteer corn, quack grass, and velvet weed has flourished so far instead of grass.
Rice said the unusual summer weather was part of the problem.
“They seeded it and we watered and then we got all that rain,” he said. “It really got over-watered.”
Grass seed and topsoil washed down the sloped east lawn and into the street after the rains and watering with sprinklers.
Beitel said Aug. 19 that he and other county officials are dissatisfied with how the lawn was put in.
“We feel that some kind of protective covering should have been put down to prevent run-off,” he said. “I’m disappointed — the building looks really nice and the lawn looks half-baked. None of us think we have the lawn we should have.”
County administrator Meggon McKinley said Tuesday that a protective covering to hold the seed in place was not part of the lawn specifications.
Beitel said G & O Landscaping is a subcontractor hired by project contractor Ringland Johnson Construction, Cherry Valley.
He said he and Rice have been meeting with officials from both RJC and G & O Landscaping to work out the problem.
A crew from the firm was on the site Tuesday reseeding and working the grass seed into the soil.
“They’re working with us to get us a lawn. We’ll have grass yet this fall,” Rice said.
Ogle County Treasurer John Coffman said so far the county has paid RJC $3,580 of the $5,800 budgeted for landscaping.
Rice said he does not anticipate that the reseeding will cost the county an additional amount.
