It’s land ho! for the Santa Maria
You might not be able to revisit those Santa Maria elementary school field trip memories. The replica of Columbus’ ship was cut-up and now sits in 10 pieces inside a city storage lot near the Southerly Wastewater Treatment Plant near Lockbourne. It was removed earlier because it was in the way of the ($35.5 million) Scioto Greenways Project. And in order for the ship to put docked back into the water, it’s going to take around $1 million in repairs. The ship will stay on land, in pieces, at least through the summer (when the river project is expected to be done).
The nonprofit group Columbus Santa Maria Inc.’s board members are trying to develop a fundraising plan and city officials said they’ll consider using tax dollars to help reinstate the ship only if the group raises enough private money. The Santa Maris replica was first installed in Dec. 1991 (23 years ago) and its $2 million cost was funded through private donations, with its care later given to the city. About 300,000 visitors once toured the ship each year, but that number was dwindled to about 17,000 visitors.
Perhaps if we all start chanting “The Niña, the Pinta, The Santa Maria”, some good winds will come and bolster the sails of the ship. And then we can all take a half-fay to go on an “educational” field trip*.
*And by educational I mean pretending to be swashbuckling pirates
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