New LDRC President Laura Reed (Geffory Ionescu)

Laura Reed is the new President of the LaBelle Downtown Revitalization Corporation: “I moved to LaBelle in 2009 from Georgia for my work, I work for Bayer Crop Science, an agricultural research station in Felda. I work with the cucumber breeding, we try to breed resistance to certain diseases into the cucumbers by doing conventional, non-gmo breeding in the field and the greenhouse,” Laura explains.

“In 2010 I started to get involved downtown in LaBelle with the Firehouse Community Theater. For the last six years I was on the board of the Firehouse Theater and have been coming to the LDRC meetings for a few years. In 2017 I got on the board of the LDRC and now I am the President. Right now I am reading through the downtown code to prepare myself for my new role. It will be a challenge, we have a lot of new projects going; the Friday on Fort Thompson and the new LDRC Saturday market every first and third Saturday of the month from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. I think it will continue to grow and I am excited to be a part of it! This coming Saturday is Wharf Walk from 5 p.m. – 9 p.m.,” Laura says.

“We would love to have more street art and murals incorporated into the LaBelle downtown area, so that is one of the things I am trying to pursue right now. We are also working on trying to get the Barron Park renovations going. All in all I am very excited to be the new president and help revitalize the LaBelle downtown area!”