The city of Hillsboro is continuing to resurface and repurpose the lot it acquired late last year in the 200 block of West Main St. in Hillsboro, with plans to use the space for the setting of this year’s Festival of The Bells in early July. But safety and service director Brianne Abbott said that the area could also serve a myriad of other purposes in the future that have yet to be determined.

Passers and drivers-by may have noticed that city workers have made extensive changes to the property’s landscaping since the city’s autumn 2021 acquisition, and the announcement by the Festival of The Bells Committee earlier this year that the normally annual event, which had been on a protracted, multiple year hiatus because of the pandemic, would return and be staged at this location gave new form and purpose to the site preparations that were taking place.

“The city has been working to provide general clean up, as the location will host the Festival of The Bells in early July,” Abbott said.

Abbott said that the location, which encompasses several lots previously in used by the Union Stockyards and Highland Enterprise Lumber, does not have an official name, though she explained that “we often refer to the location as the ‘West Main Green Space.’”

Abbott alluded to future plans for the area beyond the upcoming Festival of The Bells.

“We have plans for a community green space and amphitheater,” Abbott said. “We are still in the planning and funding stages.”

Abbott said the city is excited to bring the space to life and to enhance the city and its residents with its use for future events.

Juliane Cartaino is a stringer for The Times-Gazette.