Republican women undertake downtown beautification project

A beautification project on the square undertaken by the Neshoba County Republican Women’s group is blooming.

The GOP women are very big on community service and unity and believe that service projects are a great way to give back to the community and they have hit the ground running with big ideas.

“We very quickly wanted to do something in this political climate that was unifying, encouraging, and showing community pride, especially with all the changes going on with anticipation of new businesses and tourism,” said President Rachel Kiepe. 

“We wanted to show that we love our town and our neighbors, and we wanted this to be very positive, upfront, and eye-catching.”

They have been busy fundraising and on May 6 hosted a Kentucky Derby dress-up party at the Fairview RV Resort and invited local and state politicians who helped fund the event and helped raise money for the downtown beautification project.

After raising about $8,000 the women were able to plant 16 baskets of flowers around the flagpoles on the square and gave family members of lost loved ones a chance to plae tribute plaques underneath. 

“I felt like it came to my heart to do this because I taught high school for a lot of years. I saw a lot of kids that we lost to accidents and some we lost to cancer, so we decided to make it a memorial in remembrance of the little ones we lost,” Kiepe said.

The flowers have been blooming, and the help of Alderman-at-Large, James “Carson” Waltman, hasn’t gone unnoticed with his daily watering. He and the club continue upkeep to make sure the plants are watered daily.

Yates pitched in to donate 20 flags to replace the old ones and Lisa Thompson designed new banners reflective of all things Philadelphia that the ladies added around town.

Recent Neshoba Central graduate Ty Martin, chairman of the Neshoba County Teenage Republicans, has also helped out by hanging up the new flags for the women. 

The Neshoba County Republican Women group was organized last year and one of their first events included having state Attorney General Lynn Fitch as a guest speaker.

They are a subgroup of the Mississippi Federation of Republican Women. The local club consists of 32 women with seven male associates. 

The club’s purpose is to educate women about the political process and help them understand how to be involved and how to take action with conservative projects and issues.

They plan to continue decorating the square as the seasons change and holidays approach, so downtown will maintain a fresh look for years to come.  

“We are hoping this will inspire everybody on the square to do even more and we hope to have more women join the club,” Kiepe said. “We are a really active club and have a great group of women.”

To find out more about the Neshoba County Republican Women’s organization, contact Kiepe at (601) 504-9465.