Re*Imagine Medical Lake

Terri Cooper’s demeanor was an equal measure of near-exhaustion and exhilaration on Wednesday, June 12, at the Medical Lake Middle School soccer field, where volunteers were putting the final touches on the area that would host The Moving Wall the following day.

“It’s almost over,” Cooper said. “A year and a half of work.”

Cooper is chairwoman of the festivals and events committee of Re*Imagine Medical Lake, and director and driving force behind bringing The Moving Wall, a half-scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington D.C., to the city.

Over 20 Re*Imagine volunteers had been working feverishly for months ahead of the arrival of the Wall, brought in conjunction with Founders Day, Medical Lake’s decades-long annual event.

Bringing the two events together successfully marks a major milestone for Re*Imagine.

“This is the biggest thing we’ve ever done as an organization,” Cooper, a life-long Medical Lake resident, said.

Re*Imagine Medical Lake is an all-volunteer organization created in 2015 by three founding members Jan Bailey, Ben Cabildo and Gerri Johnson, Cooper’s sister, who wanted to capitalize on the possibilities of the city that Cooper called “unique to the West Plains.”

The organization quickly began to grow.

It registered as a 501(c)(3) non-profit in 2016, and has since grown to include an eight-member board and as many as 300 names on its mailing list.

“We see ourselves as a grass roots organization,” Cooper said. “We’re not membership driven. Although we welcome anyone to join, we don’t track that.”

The group’s focus, she said, is about finding a common need or “passion” in the community, and bringing people together through it.

Once organized, Re*Imagine eventually inherited responsibility for Founders Day, a role historically filled by civic groups in the past, according to Mayor and long-time councilwoman Shirley Maike.

The event had begun to “dwindle,” in scope, according to Cooper.

“It was a little disjointed,” she said.

Founder’s Day has since experienced resurgence. This year’s event included three-on-three basketball, a food court, vendor booth, a fireworks display over Waterfront Park, live music, a car show — the triathlon was back — and featured one of the larger parades in recent memory.

It was Founder’s Day that provided the opportunity for Re*Imagine to begin partnering with other people and organizations. Soon, they were pitching their vision to anyone who would listen — civic and fraternal organizations, the school district, local churches, city hall.

There was some initial skepticism regarding the group’s motives. Some still remains. But people began to slowly get on board.

Re*Imagine has since launched two additional festivals: the Halloween Festival and Winter Festival.

Through these festivals, the organization hopes that small boutique businesses might recognize Medical Lake’s attributes and consider hanging their own shingle in the cottage community.

Cooper cited the Lefevre Street Bakery Café as an example.

“That’s what we’re trying to do, attract more businesses like that,” Cooper said.

But it’s not just about attracting businesses, but a consideration of the larger picture.

It’s been challenging for Re*Imagine to define itself, according to Cooper. It’s not a chamber of commerce, or a business-oriented organization like the Cheney Merchants Association — business owners putting on events like Mayfest to promote local businesses. Nor is it a quasi-government agency. They have a different motive.

“We’re not trying to grow our business, we’re trying to improve everything about our city,” Cooper, a Cheney municipal court commissioner, said.

By everything, Re*Imagine means things such as the appearance of the downtown core, increased community involvement, the environment, especially as it relates to the health of city’s three lakes, and increased outdoor activities. And business, too.

“All of these things, like the festivals, support economic development, so businesses do well,” Cooper said.

But the biggest thing Re*Imagine has generated, according to Cooper, is trust within the community, knowing that people had tried things in the past — and failed, despite good intentions.

“Early on our goal was anything that we do, we want to make sure it’s something we can do,” Cooper said. “We’re not going to say yes unless we know for a fact we can pull it off.”

And unlike the Cheney Merchants Association, she said, Re*Imagine has broader goals.

“We’re a community, so we’re building community,” Cooper said. “There’s nothing in it for us — nobody’s getting paid. The motive is what can we do for the people of this community.”

She underscored this years dual Founder’s Day and Wall events as an example.

“I think that now we’ve proven ourselves,” Cooper said.

Lee Hughes can be reached at [email protected].