MT. VERNON — Cedarhurst Center for the Arts hosted a reception Thursday night for donors and friends to celebrate the success of the Kimball’s Habitat fundraiser. The event utilized the Mitchell House back patio for the autumn reception with drinks and appetizers served for donors and their guests.

The Kimball’s Habitat fundraiser kicked off in 2018 to provide much needed maintenance and preservation for works in the Goldman-Kuenz Sculpture Park, and the surrounding walking trails and wooded areas of the 90-acre Cedarhurst campus. The group named the fundraising campaign after the museum’s iconic horse sculpture, Kimball, with the primary goals of the project revitalizing the outdoor sculpture park with conservation efforts, lighting enhancements, and new visitor services. Dana Withers, President & C.E.O. of Withers Broadcasting Companies and Dana Communications Corporation began work in 2018 with members of the Cedarhurst Center for the Arts staff to pledge a matching campaign contribution of $25,000. During the reception, concept boards were unveiled for trail lights and markers, the already active QR Code online trail map, street lamp banners promoting the different programs and activities Cedarhurst has to offer, as well dedicating some new names for trails, including “Withers Way.”

Withers was presented a framed print of Kimball, in honor of her work seeking out donations, and for the match campaign. Withers said on the need for the preservation efforts, “It’s important to continue to preserve this important park for future generations to use. This park is the New York Central Park to Southern Illinois. I have a lot of positive memories here and I’d like others to be able to say the same.”

Many projects have already been well underway including controlled burns, necessary tree removal, control of invasive plant species and the selection of a chrome restoration artist for the work on the sculptures of Kimball, Gorilla, and Bull. Work on additional lighting features throughout the campus to help ensure safety of visitors is also underway.

Within the on-going fundraising campaign message are the goals of,  “preserving the longevity of Cedarhurst’s outdoor sculpture collection and ensuring that all visitors feel welcome and enjoy their museum experience, conservation efforts to revitalize the museum’s outdoor sculpture collection, treatment of wooded areas to help balance the park’s ecosystem, new lighting features to address safety concerns and improve aesthetics, new amenities and educational opportunities will encourage visitors to stay longer and return often.” Additional donation opportunities for Kimball’s Habitat are available at Cedarhurst.org or at the museum.