Opelousas Rotary Wheel Advertises Club

BOBBY ARDOIN

Editor/Consulting Writer

The Opelousas Noon Rotary Club anticipates to be publicized more prominently, following the completion of a large, International Rotary Club symbol that will soon be displayed at local social gatherings and parades.

Club members announced the conclusion of the sponsored project in January.

The objective of the hands-on club effort, said 2024 club president Mike Ortego, is to better advertise the presence of the club, by bringing the wheel and displaying it at events in festival-rich Southwest Louisiana, such as Mardi Gras parades and the well-attended annual Love Fest event at North City Park.

Last year Ortego pitched the idea of constructing the nearly three-foot wooden Rotary Club wheel and fastening it on a small, mobile utility trailer, which can be be easily connected to a receiver hitch at the back of a pickup truck.

“I got the idea from the Gonzales Rotary Club, which built a similar model. I liked what Gonzales did and took that idea to a committee. The club members embraced it, so it was a matter of getting started,” said Ortego, who has been a club member since 2014.

The next step needed to begin the creative process, was finding an experienced wood-working specialist to design the wheel and then paint and complete the finished product.

That search didn’t take long, as long-time club member Sonny Stephen, Jr., possessed more than the necessary expertise. Stephen said he eagerly volunteered for the project.

Stephen, who has owned an Opelousas vehicle audio shop and home surveillance business for nearly 50 years, also has extensive experience with wood, so there was no need to look outside the club for construction.

“Sonny and some of his workers took on the project and after about a month, it was completed, It was clearly a professional job performed by a master of his craft,” Ortego said.

Stephen said however that despite his experience, there was a notable degree of difficulty in completing the wheel.

“It took several weeks for us to do it, but the final product is made for the elements. The wood is an inch thick, manmade for the elements and special-ordered,” Stephen pointed out.

“To keep everything authentic, I brought a picture of the wheel from the Rotary Foundation and took it to a local store, where the paint was matched with the traditional blue and yellow Rotary colors,” said Stephen.

Stephen also created the template for the pie-shaped areas as wheel as the spokes on the traditional Rotary Club wheel. After the design was made, Stephen carefully measured all the designs and spatially aligned them .

“It was a matter of drawing the template and then cutting it out. Then you needed to measure the size of each letter and make sure the measurements were the same and exact for size and distance. Overall it wasn’t easy to do,” Stephen said.

The diminutive, metal utility trailer sits on 12-inch tire rims ready to roll and is parked at the South Campus of the Opelousas General Hospital System complex south of Opelousas, where the Noon Rotary Club meets each Tuesday.