EMBARRASS — The Embarrass Region Community Association board discussed the ongoing plans to renovate the Timber Hall building at their meeting on Oct. 9, but plans for exactly what the project will entail are still ongoing.
Some rotted logs in Timber Hall’s east and west walls are the most immediate concern. Other issues include updating heating, plumbing, and electrical systems, as well as new flooring and roofing. The board also hopes to meet accessibility requirements, which would require work on doorways and bathrooms. The board is also hoping to increase the kitchen size and turn it into a commercial kitchen by expanding the building’s exterior. The grounds also need work including leveling the land and electrical updates to the areas used by food trucks.
The association was awarded $1.5 million through the 2023 state bonding bill and has been working to acquire additional funding. So far, the board has received several grants including $137,000 from CBDG for accessibility improvements, $96,500 from Blandin Foundation, $18,000 from IRRRB for building predesign, $10,000 from Essentia Health, and $1,834 from Natural Harvest for water conservation. Many other applications have been submitted and are awaiting response.
Timber Hall was built by community volunteers and completed in 1991. At the time of its completion, it was the largest free-standing log building of its kind in the country. Volunteers put in thousands of hours to build the hall the traditional way, hand-felling red pines donated by Embarrass Township, peeling the bark with drawknives, and hand-scribing and fitting the logs together. More than 100 volunteers used wheelbarrows to pour 156 yards of concrete for the floor.
While the hall was built with this amazing amount of volunteer labor, presently, the board that manages the hall is struggling to find volunteers to keep Timber Hall updated and ready to meet the needs of the community in the future, including the continuation of the Embarrass Region Fair.
The cost of the entire project is estimated to be between $2-$4 million. The board is still waiting on a final cost estimate from their architect, DSGW. The board will soon narrow down which portions of the project are most urgent and work with the architect to come up with a final cost and plan.