Lithia Landing Project Comes to Life- Excelsior Citizen

*Mark Walter’s rendering of “Lithia Landing” presented at DEP’s, Toast this Town event (photo Courtney Cole).*

Jeremiah Renne grew up in downtown Excelsior Springs and often walked along Broadway with his family. For as long as he can remember the lot near 237 Broadway has been vacant. “I remember walking by and it was just chunks of concrete and leaves,” said Renne. Now, Renne who is a Seargent with the Excelsior Springs Police Department has his own family and still frequents the downtown shops and restaurants. He said he had just come out of Willow Spring Mercantile and looked over and saw the little lot. “ I remember thinking, this is ugly, it’s a shame, there should be something here,” said Renne. He knew the cost of a new building was probably out of reach, but his imagination started working.

“I just thought, what if you could build a deck that was level from the sidewalk, almost like a boardwalk… and have tables and chairs… and umbrellas and lights. I thought that’s probably the least expensive way to do something,” said Renne. He couldn’t stop thinking about the idea so he stopped by the Hall of Waters to visit with City Manager, Molly McGovern. “I walked in there with my little chicken scratch I’d drawn… and I guess I explained it well enough that she got inspired about it and then she asked if she could keep my little drawing,” Renne laughed. Renne said he made a better drawing of his idea using his daughter’s crayons and art supplies and when he took it back to give to McGovern she said she’d already shared the idea with several people who thought it was great. About 6 months later, Renne was in a police staff meeting when Chief Dull told him he’d heard that DEP (Downtown Excelsior Partnership) was taking on the project.

*Lyndsey Baxter looks on as Jeremiah Renne tells about how he developed the idea for “Lithia Landing” (photo Courtney Cole).*

DEP director, Lyndsey Baxter reached out to Renne to get more details about his vision and asked if Jeremiah could have his wife (high school art teacher Sherie Renne) create an illustration. Jeremiah knew Sherri was busy with school starting, so he took his father-in-law, Mark Walter (an accomplished artist) to lunch at Willow Spring Mercantile where they sat and discussed the idea while Mark did some sketches. The project was officially announced at DEP’s “Toast this Town” annual dinner where Mark’s rendering of the vision of “Lithia Landing,” was unveiled.

The project, named after the nearby Lithia well site, should provide a nice spot for visitors to sit and relax if they’ve walked from the Elms, if they’re waiting for a trolley, or if they take want to get a takeout order from one of the local restaurants. Jeremiah said he’s looking forward to the day when he can get his order from Ray’s Lunch and take it out to Lithia Landing and enjoy his meal. “I want to be there on the first day it opens, sitting out there eating my burger and enjoying the view. It’s going to be great,” he said.

In a day and age when so many people have a distrust of government and people in leadership positions, it’s nice to see positive change come about from such a simple idea. Renne said he loves that a project like this can come to life so easily in our community. “I love that about our town. The fact that I can just have an idea and go in there and kind of talk about it and to see it come to fruition it’s amazing,” he said “It’s cool that things like that still happen in a town like ours.”