The Wetumpka Crater Commission might have a new home downtown.
The City of Wetumpka has partnered with Elmore County, the Elmore County Economic Development Authority and the commission to create a visitor center in the space left by The Kelly move.
“It will give us another downtown venue for tourism,” Wetumpka Mayor Jerry Willis said. “For 22 years we have been working on this crater to have some sort of interpretive center to tell the story.”
The Wetumpka City Council had the first reading of a lease for the center at its first June meeting and is set to authorize Willis to sign documents for renting the Company Street building next week.
“This is leasing that building for the crater museum,” Willis said. “It is going to be a great addition for us.”
Initially the City of Wetumpka, county and ECEDA will partner to help with the overhead of the center according to Willis.
The crater was discovered by Auburn University geology professor Dr. David King in the 1990s. King has done extensive research and measuring of the crater formed during the late Cretaceous period. Crater commission vice president Marilee Tankersley said the commission previously had space in the second floor of the Wetumpka Administration Building but the potential of new space is very much welcomed.
“It has been a pleasure to hear some of the ideas on this,” Tankersley said. “We will just have to worry about programming to start with.”
Tankersley said she and others at the commission have already done an inventory of items the commission has available for display in a crater visitor center.
“We have a lot of stuff,” Tankersley said. “Dr. King has donated some of his teaching materials going back to when he and his students did the initial research on the crater.”
Tankersley said the commission’s inventory also includes detailed measurements of the crater.
“They are good enough to create an amazing model of it,” Tankersley said. “It would be amazing to create one for the new center as everyone would be able to see it in great detail on a small scale but they are expensive.”
Tankersley said artist Karen Carr has donated illustrations she created from the Cretaceous period to the commission for display in a visitor center or museum.
“Her work is in the Chicago Field Museum,” Tankersley said. “It is simply amazing.”
Willis and Tankersley said staff with The Kelly will help the crater commission install displays about the crater in the Company Street location.
“They have expertise in that sort of thing,” Willis said.
Tankersley and the commission feel things are finally coming together to be able to highlight the crater on a year around basis with a true visitor’s center.
“With our inventory we have a good start,” Tankersley said. “With help from Dr. King, Karen Carr, city and county officials, I think it will be great. It has been a real community effort to get this going.”
