Leadership Cape projects range from fun to functional

Cape Girardeau is always open to improvement, even while it is committed to preserving its history. This is one of the town's best qualities. Leadership Cape is a part of the plan to enhance Cape and expand what it has to offer.

The Leadership Cape class of 2016 presented its ideas on how to benefit the Cape area at May's First Friday Coffee at the Isle Casino Cape Girardeau Event Center. "The projects are intended to give participants experience working in groups with people of all types of backgrounds and personalities," the Southeast Missourian reported.

This year's projects were wide-ranging, offering ideas that people of various interests would find appealing. They included a mini-golf arena with each hole introducing a Cape attraction; a recreation center not for kids, but a place where adults can get their play on; fiber-optic internet that will make the area more competitive in the job market; a farm-to-table fundraiser, which will be used to help the EBT matching program at the Cape Riverfront Market and the Cape Marketeers Clubs while shining a spotlight on local agriculture; and a zip-line park, which will offer adventurous outdoor activities.

We appreciate the Leadership Cape program, as it reveals the vision and creativity people possess, particularly as they relate to how they would better our community if given the opportunity. And who knows? "Though the proposals are fictional," said Kim Voelker, membership development specialist at the Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce, "past Leadership Cape projects have been picked up by other entities and carried through to fruition." Perhaps one or more of these proposals, which started out as a dream, may one day become a Cape Girardeau reality.