The TriState Trails Summit last week left everyone with a high level of stoke!
It was amazing to get so many in the room at Northern Kentucky University to discuss the benefits of trails. Mayor Aftab Pureval of Cincinnati and Judge-Executive Gary Moore of Boone County participated in panel discussions regarding paths, community connections, and active transportation*.
The big deal of the day was that the folks from Bentonville, Arkansas, notorious for being a cycling and outdoor recreation destination, came to share their successes with us! Kalene Griffith, President of Visit Bentonville & David Wright, Director of Bentonville Parks & Recreation, gave an inspiring keynote address regarding their use of trails as an economic driver and talent attraction strategy for their region. They claim creating a connection from their singletrack trails to their city center made their area thrive.
Their second claim is that before trails, the regional cities politically fought each other often. But once they collaborated on the Razorback Trail, they put their differences aside and now work lockstep as Northwest Arkansas, which has caused their region to go from sleepy to vibrant.
The most important messages from Kalene and David:
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You don't need Walmart to make this happen; they were only part of the puzzle. The real driver was grassroots support.
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The best Trailhead is your Driveway. Being able to bike or hike from the driveway is key.
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The singletrack trails get visitors to come. Once they are there, they end up buying a house. It happens every week in Bentonville.
Murmurs of a regional trip to Bentonville filled the room. Let's hope they come back!
The Summit finished with Board President Olivia Birkenhauer presenting CORA’s progression of the Braided Trails Network**- a concept for Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky for a connective, weaved trail network.
We are so thankful to NKU for hosting, Tri-State Trails for organizing, and David and Kalene for sharing their story at the Tri-State Trails Summit, as well as all the panelists from the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, OneNKY MeetNKY, Metro/SORTA,
*Active Transportation: It's what we call using human power to get to where you are going, whether it's work, school, the trails, shopping, or the brewery.
**Braided Trails: Trails that give the users multiple options, typically a paved trail with a gravel option and other dirt options on the sides, creating more opportunities for kids to have fun and even progressive features that help build skills and add a challenging dimension
*Progressive Trails: trails that offer different options to users of varying skill levels
