Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.
Such was the feeling during Tuesday night’s Cadiz City Council meeting, when City Administrative Officer Jack Lingenfelter confirmed that — following recent evaluation from engineers and architects — the oft-used Renaissance Stage there on Main Street has been condemned and closed for good, deemed an unfit and unsafe structure.
Plans for demolition are already underway, and in the wake have come some new ideas.
The Cadiz-Trigg County Leadership Class of 2025-26 has a desire to spend the next few months collaborating with local and regional partners, in order to develop an amphitheatre — or similar structure — in its place.
Class member and Trigg County Schools administrator Lacey Schrock said she, and many others, understand that space’s value, which over the years has become more than just downtown parking. It is a gravity well for the annual Trigg County Country Ham Festival, and a central hub of commerce for Cadiz.
The plan would be to complete this effort in phases, while taking advice and suggestion from stakeholders and local businesses, and class member Jamie Gapp — also a recent appointee for the Trigg County Schools Board of Education — said preliminary meetings with Trigg County Parks & Recreation officials have gone well.
Gapp noted it would, again, be a longer project, and with this class graduating in May, the group would have to stay connected and help raise funds and bring it to fruition.
This class actually unearthed some old, drafted documents conscripted by the Leadership Class of 2020, which didn’t get to make many moves on their plans due to the global pandemic.
Since the class operates under the Trigg County Chamber of Commerce umbrella, they don’t specifically need an approval or resolution from Cadiz City Council.
Mayor Todd King and city council members, however, green-lit the effort.
For years, the Renaissance Stage has served as a place for holiday family photos, local and regional band performances, church services and more.
