A Guest Post by Marie Gregoire, VP Nebraska Trails Foundation. Board of Directors, Cass County Tourism.
Closing September 2024 with a big bang for Trails.
There was so much excitement on Nebraska Trails this final week in September; The
Goldenride had another great weekend taking riders down the Homestead Trail to Beatrice,
some weekly rides, like the Nacho Ride to Eagle had their last ride of the year, and the LPSNRD
presented their recommendations for route options to complete the MoPac gap between
Wabash and South Bend.
Tuesday was a very big day! Trail advocates, influencers and lawmakers attended the Bike
Walk Nebraska Summit in Lincoln, collaborating on safety. Rails to Trails Conservancy
delivered updates on the progress of the Great American Rail Trail across Nebraska. RTC took
journalists and influencers on a tour of Nebraska Trails over 3 days, and RTC with Nebraska
Trails Foundation hosted a “Celebrate Nebraska Trails” event that raised money for a new
program called “Nebraska Trail Towns”.
Nebraska Trail Towns
What is the “Nebraska Trail Towns” program? Consider – as a reference for understanding –
business accelerator programs that foster new start-ups – often in the tech industry. Then apply
that same concept to rural towns along trails. Nebraska Trail Towns program works with
businesses and rural communities along trails to leverage their unique heritage, features, and
opportunities as economic development drivers and community builders.
“Trail Town” programs have been established across the U.S. to help communities embrace
trails, and bring tourism via boutique bnb’s, cafes, bike shop and rentals, shuttle service,
breweries, all enterprises that flourish near a trail. These programs help towns with training,
services, business incentives, grants, marketing, signage, creating public spaces with public art,
and with recreation events that bring the tourism to the towns.
David Kahley of The Progress Fund, the organization that drove the first Trail Towns program
along the Great Alleghany Passage (GAP), in a Trail Town presentation to Rails to Trails
Conservancy, reported that surveys show a day user on a trail spends $18 in the towns, a single
overnight visitor spent $124, and a visitor on a 4-6 day trip spent up to $750 per day! The latter
is referred to as “heads on beds” and is key to maximizing economic opportunities for Nebraska;
those long-distance tours across Nebraska Trails can happen if we collaborate and create
partnerships between Trail Towns across the State.
If you know someone in a rural town near a trail that would be a great leader for the “Trail
Towns” movement, in embracing and advocating for trails as a community asset, please refer
them to [email protected]. We have training from industry experts available.
If you would like to donate to the Nebraska Trail Towns Program, please go to
https://www.nebraskatrailsfoundation.org/trails-projects/nebraska-trail-towns.html
Nebraska Trails Foundation is a nonprofit 501(c) 3, as such your donations are tax deductible.
Don’t forget the MoPac East Connector comment form. You have until October 11! If you prefer the alignment CD hybrid shown in last week’s blog, mention that in comments under question 10.