Although the Park Inn is open, I have yet to step inside. I am eager to experience what I expect to be a rush of adrenalin when I first cross the threshold and step back into history; to see the accumulative effort of so many people who headed up this project. In the beginning it seemed almost like folly to me as the committees were being formed and their plans were being published in the local paper…daunting would be a term that better described what was in my mind.
The outer exteriors are stunning, it is almost like you are stepping back in time when you are anywhere near this holy grail that we’ve been blessed to have re-discovered in our city. A treasure that had lain dormant, sitting on the corner for half a century whose very heart was resuscitated by what appeared to be a team of crack surgeons who preformed radical surgery on this near terminal treasure. But as we all know they were not surgeons but rather a team of locals whose backgrounds are as varied as the list of materials it took to reconstruct the hotel. I am not going to attempt to name them all, we all know who they are, but it turns out they are more, much more than the sum total of their parts. It turns out these people are also experts at renovation and research. In truth they are as important to this city as the hotel itself.
The real impact of just what this project will provide to Mason City and surrounding area will not be felt for a full year or two, that is how long it will take to thoroughly make its presence known. In term of dollars, this precious jewel will repay this city like a never-ending annuity until the end of time.
Coupled with the new street scape and the recent Library renovation, that along with the Music Man Square, this city will look much like a Hollywood movie set.
Peter J. Children|