By Dylan Marsh
EAGLE TIMES STAFF
NEWPORT — The town of Newport Schoolboard voted unanimously to begin construction on their new snack shack.
The Mark Shepard Memorial Tower, which sat adjacent to the town’s Maryn Field, has become dilapidated over many years of use, and has recently been torn down. The new tower will be built roughly in the same space as the previous tower but set back a few feet to accommodate spectators seated on the bleachers. All signage on the previous tower will be replicated into aluminum signs and placed on the new tower.
“Those of you who have been to the football field have seen the Snack Shack. Many of you have volunteered and have actually been in the Snack Shack. So, you know it’s getting pretty rough, and it’s in desperate need of being retired. So, we are going to tear it down,” Newport High School Principal Shannon Martin said in her presentation to the school board on July 14, 2022.
Facility staff within the Newport School District have already gone to work tearing down the structure and the new one will be built with materials donated by LaValley’s building supply.
According to Martin,the new design will feature a lower level for volunteers with open windows much like the former tower, however, the top will feature a free-standing platform along with a slanted roof. The new design for the tower also features a set of stairs leading to the upper section of the structure, a welcome safety measure as the previous structure featured only a ladder.
“We are going to have the roof be slanted so that people aren’t standing on it. My understanding is that if people aren’t standing up there the roof will last a lot longer,” Martin said at the meeting.
The construction and design, Martin said, has only been made possible with the help of the coaches in the Newport School District. They will not only be donating their labor, but their expertise to help build the new tower as well.
The school district will be responsible for pouring the new slab on which the new shack will be built. Estimated costs for the slab are roughly between $5,000 and $7,000, the cost of which was figured into the newest budget and won’t increase cost to taxpayers. Schoolboard member Burt Spaulding asked if, “having someone donate the concrete might help,” to which Superintendent Donna Magoon said that the people involved with the construction of the new memorial tower were looking into it but felt as though providing the financial information was important.
Lisa Ferrigno, a Newport resident and consistent volunteer at the snack shack, suggested to the planning committee for the tower that the floor be raised. Ferrigno suggested that with raising the floor it will give volunteers the opportunity to watch the games as well as sell concessions. The idea being that if they have the opportunity to both, the number of new volunteers will rise considerably.
At the close of the proposal Martin also mentioned that the sound system being utilized in the tower for not only commentating on sports events, but for graduation ceremonies as well is outdated. Anyone who owns a more modern sound system that would be interested in donating it to the school district is asked to contact either the SAU office or the High School.
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