TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KLIX) – The water fountains in downtown are now just a memory.

“They’ve been here since I was 10 years old,” said Julie Deter, who stood on the corner of Main Avenue East and Hansen Street East to watch the demolition of the fountains this afternoon. “It’s sad to see them go.”

She had a small camera with her to capture the event.

The fountains were removed Monday to allow heavy-equipment trucks to access the area as crews begin transforming the old Banner Furniture building into a modern City Hall.

The City of Twin Falls and Twin Falls Area Chamber of Commerce hosted a wall-breaking ceremony on April 12 at the building, officially kicking off the repurposing project. Before the building is overhauled, crews will work to clean up asbestos; but the removal of the fountains is a visual sign to downtown business owners that the City Hall project is underway.

“I know some people who say they didn’t like the fountains, but to me they were an icon for us downtown,” said Deters, whose family’s jewelry shop, Benno’s, sits next to the future City Hall and kiddy-corner from where the fountains had stood since the early 1970s.

Even so, she’s excited to see the improvements of downtown.

“It will be a good thing,” she said, noting that she hopes when the city's project is complete in the summer of 2017 more shoppers will be enticed to the downtown stores. “It will just take some time.”

Keith Brown, whose family’s furniture store, Claude Brown’s, sits next to the fountain site, also watched part of the demolition on Monday. He heard rumblings outside his building when the demolition began and went outside to see them come down.

“You missed it. They came down real quick,” he said.

Brown echoed sentiments similar to Deters, saying: “If anything is going to help downtown be rejuvenated, I’m all for it.”

One of the things he’s most excited about is having a splash park in place of the fountains and, on occasion, a farmer’s market that will draw further attention downtown.

“They need to do something down here,” he said. “Whatever has been done down here hasn’t worked. It’s not going anywhere.”

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