Local Tenino stonecutter Keith Phillips plays the bag pipes as he rides down Sussex Avenue on the back of a flat-bed trailer while parading the two capstones he fashioned out of local sandstone on Monday afternoon in downtown Tenino. The two capstones were to be placed on small pillars outside the Old Tenino Bank later in the afternoon.
Local Tenino stonecutter Keith Phillips plays the bag pipes as he rides down Sussex Avenue on the back of a flat-bed trailer while parading the two capstones he fashioned out of local sandstone on Monday afternoon in downtown Tenino. The two capstones were to be placed on small pillars outside the Old Tenino Bank later in the afternoon.
Local stonecutter Keith Phillips talks about the process of placing the two capstones that he carved on top of the pillars outside of the Old Tenino Bank on Monday afternoon in downtown Tenino.
Local Tenino stonecutter Keith Phillips plays the bag pipes as he rides down Sussex Avenue on the back of a flat-bed trailer while parading the two capstones he fashioned out of local sandstone on Monday afternoon in downtown Tenino.
The two capstones carved out of local sandstone by Tenino stonecutter Keith Phillips sit on a flat-bed trailer outside of the Old Tenino Bank on Monday afternoon.
With bagpipes in hand, Keith Phillips, a local stone carver, hops off the back of a flat-bed trailer that was carrying two capstones that he carved out of local sandstone.
Residents of Tenino were met by a spontaneous parade on Monday afternoon when stonecarver Keith Phillips debuted two capstones that were later placed on Olympia Street.
As the small progression made its way through town, Phillips, dressed in Celtic gear, proudly played his bagpipes in the pouring rain. The parade made its way down Sussex Avenue, the main street in Tenino, and looped around, arriving in front of the Old Tenino Bank.
“Thank you all for coming here,” Phillips said. “This has been a joyous occasion for these two caps. These are a splendid addition to Oly(mpia) Street and the city of Tenino.”
A handful of citizens lined the street enjoying hot chocolate and cookies as the trailer holding the two capstones stopped in front of the final resting place.
Only two of the four capstones have been completed, and the large pieces of carved sandstone were placed on two bollards located on the sidewalk.
Phillips said it would be about another two and a half months before the last two capstones are completed. The process of making each capstone is time-consuming, and Phillips said it took him about four days to take the stones out of the rough, shaping them to their current triangular form. It took another two weeks to carve each of the stones, which then had to be cleaned and treated.
The capstones tell some of the history of Tenino, and Phillips said each image carved into the stone was carefully selected by a committee of four.
“We chose various images throughout history and there are a couple of them specific to Tenino,” he said.
Wayne Fournier, a city council member and also a member of the committee, said each person who looks at the stone may find a different story behind the engravings. The project, which was funded by a small cities grant program from the Port of Olympia, aims to revitalize the downtown area of Tenino in hopes of driving economic development.
“The whole vision is to create links between the county trail system, which is right there, and our business district,” Fournier said. “We want people that ride bicycles down the trail to look to the right and ride their bikes into town.”
The bollards put in place are equipped with power outlets. A source of water is also close by, making the spot a perfect place for future street fairs and farmers markets, he said.
“We are trying to enliven this whole area and we are seeing results of it already,” Fournier said.
The project sits right outside of the Old Tenino Bank, a historic building that is currently undergoing restorations. The building, which sat in disrepair after the block it sits on burned down in 1896, was purchased in the fall of 2011 by Steve and Sharon Thorniley. The building will later house an Edward Jones branch, breathing life back into the structure that will act as a financial institution.
“We are all trying to revitalize Tenino, and I think you guys are a prime example of people doing that,” Fournier said to the owners.
Although the restoration of the bank has nothing to do with the new capstones directly, the council member said both projects have brought synergy to the area with the common purpose of re-energizing the town.
Once the last two of the capstones are placed, there will be 16 panels in total to view, bringing a story to life.
“There is a story when you look at them all together,” Fournier said.
The last capstone will hold a time capsule, capturing the feel of Tenino in the year of 2015 for further generations to enjoy at a later time.
“It feels good to get this going,” Phillips said of the placement.
