January 5, 2026 • 15 mins
Imagine rolling from your neighborhood straight onto fresh singletrack without loading a car. That’s the promise at Johnson Park, where we’re building a new regional trailhead on the Grand River Greenway with six to eight miles of purpose-built mountain bike trails, a four-season restroom, expanded parking, and welcoming gathering spaces. We’re joined by Kent County Parks and the West Michigan Mountain Bike Association to unpack how smart design, committed partners, and an energized community are turning dirt into access, connection, and measurable economic lift.
We dig into the design choices that make these trails work for everyone: an inner green loop with wider tread for adaptive riders, beginners, and families, plus optional progressive lines for riders who want to build skills. With Spectrum Trail Design leading construction, the system balances flow, challenge, and sustainability so new riders feel safe and experts stay engaged. Best of all, the layout connects directly to the Greenway, letting riders pedal from Grand Rapids, Walker, or Granville, ride the park, and head home—no car required.
Trails also mean business. We look at national case studies and local forecasts that show visiting riders spend hundreds per trip on food, lodging, and gear. By placing high-quality, inclusive singletrack next to urban amenities, Johnson Park is poised to become a destination that supports small businesses and strengthens the talent story for employers. We outline the funding stack—per-foot build costs, a DNR grant for amenities, and an active campaign with the Kent County Parks Foundation to extend from six to eight miles—along with a summer 2026 target to bring the full experience online. Want to track progress, volunteer, or donate? We share exactly where to go for updates and trail days so you can be part of the build.
If this kind of connected, inclusive outdoor access matters to you, follow along, share the episode with a friend who rides, and leave a quick review so more neighbors discover the project. Your support helps us grow the miles—and the community that will ride them.
If you have comments about this podcast, or ideas for future episodes, please email us at PODCAST@WALKER.CITY
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:07):
Welcome to Maiden Walker, a podcast that connects
you to the people, the stories,and the ideas shaping our
community.
From local innovators toeveryday change makers, we're
diving deep into what makesWalker a great place to live,
work, and grow.
Here's your host, NicoleDiDonato.
SPEAKER_01 (00:26):
Well, you may have noticed many of our Kent County
parks getting major upgradesover the last year and a half.
And in Walker, work is alreadyunderway on building miles of
new trails at Johnson Parkthat'll appeal to all ages and
abilities.
And here to talk about thoseupgrades, we have Dan Freyer,
who is president of the WestMichigan Mountain Bike
Association, and Ben Swayze, whois the director of Kent County
(00:49):
Parks.
Gentlemen, thank you so much forbeing here today.
Thanks for having us.
Appreciate it.
Yeah.
So starting really high levelhere, uh talking about the parks
plan and all the improvementsthat are going on.
How was Johnson Park chosen forthese upgrades?
SPEAKER_02 (01:03):
Yeah, so in order to talk about that, I probably have
to take a step back a littlebit.
So one of the big initiativesgoing on, not only in Kent
County, but in Ottawa Countyright now is the Grand River
Greenway.
Essentially, when it's built,it'll be 80 plus miles.
It'll stretch all the way fromGrand Haven uh to the eastern
county border in Lowell andactually beyond.
So it'll actually go all the wayto Owasso as well.
(01:24):
So 171 miles of trail.
Um so when looking at how tostrategically make improvements
to our system, we're looking atparks along that.
And Johnson Park's perfectlysituated.
So it's right at our westernborder.
The greenway will come out ofOttawa County and go to that
park.
So we're really treating it asthe western trailhead for the
park.
(01:44):
Um, you saw some improvements in2023, 2024.
The parking lot got expanded.
Um, and now we're really excitedabout the mountain bike trail
system.
Um, in addition to that, we'realso uh upgrading the restroom,
creating a four-season restroom,um, replacing the playground,
making some gathering places aswell.
So really excited about that.
(02:06):
The other thing is the Greenwayis not only a point-to-point
destination, but the experiencealong the way.
Um, we in our system have two umpretty popular mountain bike
systems, one at Luton Park andone at Wallfield Park.
Uh, but those are the parkswhere you have to put your bike
on the back of your car, drivethere, get off, ride.
Johnson Park will be our firstsystem where you'll be able to
(02:28):
bike out of the core urban area,get to the park, ride it,
experience it, ride back homeall without ever having to set
foot in a car.
SPEAKER_01 (02:35):
Yeah, that is so exciting.
And Dan, you're actuallybuilding those trails right now
at Johnson Park.
What are some of the uh theexperiences and the features
that folks are going to be ableto uh to experience once they
get on those trails?
SPEAKER_03 (02:49):
So we are thrilled to be partnering with Kent
County Parks on this project.
Um, they are working withSpectrum Trail Design, which is
arguably one of the best trailbuilders in the nation.
They've supported us at ourtrail system at the Dragon, uh
DTE in Chelsea, Merrill Trail,Brown County in Indiana.
(03:09):
And when working with someonewith their level of experience
and expertise paired with ahighly engaged partner with the
parks and a park system that haseverything from perfect dirt to
varied topography to location topark amenities, this is a really
exciting project.
SPEAKER_01 (03:29):
Yes, and um, it is gonna have adaptive trails.
So no matter your ability,you'll be able to ride on these
and talk about the topography ofJohnson Park in general.
SPEAKER_03 (03:38):
So when we look at um opportunities for mountain
bike trails, we really wantsomething that's going to create
an experience for everybody.
And um in West Michigan, thereare trail users all the way from
beginners which want some gentlerolling terrain, not a lot of
obstacles or tight turns, up tosome pretty advanced riders.
(04:02):
And when we look at the designof the trail at Johnson Park, we
have an inner green loop that isgoing to have some of the
gentler terrain, wider trailtread, and something that's
gonna appeal to adaptive riders,families, beginners, youth
riders.
And then we're going to haveelements of the trail system
that are gonna have moreadvanced progressive features
(04:24):
next to just traditional dirttrails.
So for riders that want to testand progress, progress their
skills, um, they're gonna beable to do that at Johnson Park.
SPEAKER_01 (04:35):
How exciting to see this come to life, I bet.
And you know, talk about theimpact it has just on the
region, too.
You've got uh, you know, a fewcities that uh butt up to that
Johnson Park, what that meansfor businesses that are looking
to like relocate or familiesthat want to move to the area.
Why is that so important withthese trade with these parks?
SPEAKER_02 (04:54):
Yeah, you know, it's been interesting.
So one of the lead organizationsfor the Greenway in general has
been Downtown Grand Rapids,Inc., um, and they're very
involved in not only the workthat's going on in downtown
Grand Rapids, but projects thatare going on in Lowell, projects
that are going on in Walker.
Um, and they really understandthe economic impact that this
type of investment can have onthose communities.
(05:16):
Um, there was some of us thatare involved in the project that
got a chance to uh meet withGary Vernon, um, who is the
godfather of the mountain biketrail system in Betonville,
Arkansas, um, and just hearabout the economic impact that
has gone on there.
Um, mountain bikers come, theyspend money, they uh uh they
drink beer sometimes, uh, theyeat food, uh, they get hotel
(05:37):
rooms.
Um, so the economic impact uhcan adds up really fast.
So a lot of our partners in theGreenway project and the
mountain bike trail projectsthat might not necessarily ride
mountain bikes under canunderstand the impact that it'll
have on their communities.
SPEAKER_01 (05:51):
Yeah, definitely.
You have downtown uh Grantvillethat is so close nearby as well.
So it just makes it so uhaccessible for people.
SPEAKER_03 (05:59):
When you look at national case studies, visits
that are coming two hours ormore.
There's individuals that arespending anywhere from$400 to
$1,200 per visit.
And when we think about creatinga regionally significant trail
system at Johnson Park, six toeight miles, all of the
progressive features, the varieduser experience, and something
(06:20):
for all ability levels, we'rereally truly focused on not just
filling the parking lot atJohnson Park for the for the
Grand Rapids, Walker, Granvillearea.
We're also looking to drawvisitors from hours away that
want to make the trip to ride,let their friends know and come.
And that's what's going to makethe bigger, broader impact to
(06:41):
some of those local spots.
unknown (06:42):
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (06:43):
Because you've mentioned that a couple of the
other trails too.
You've probably hopped in avehicle and traveled just for
mountain biking.
And, you know, talk about justthat subculture of folks who
love to be out in nature on thetrails, whether they're walking,
running, or riding too.
SPEAKER_03 (06:58):
I'm a little bit biased that mountain bike trails
are one of the lower cost parkamenities that very quickly,
easily, efficiently give accessto some of those, to that
outdoor recreation.
And it it is something truly foreveryone.
The other piece about mountainbike trails as the nonprofit
(07:18):
group that maintains them iswe're also building community,
looking at all of the eventsfrom the Yankee Springs time
trial to all of ouryouth-focused programs
throughout Grand Rapids and thevolunteer work itself.
When we put on acommunity-focused trail day and
draw anywhere from 15 to 75volunteers to work on and
(07:39):
maintain, and we've already hada couple out at Johnson Park,
those folks are part of a biggercommunity, not just of riders,
but of people that really value,care for, love these spaces.
Um, and Johnson Park is gonnaoffer that and more.
SPEAKER_01 (07:57):
Yes, yeah.
It's so much great space tobegin with, and then adding all
of these is just going to beeven, you know, putting it over
the top as well.
So what kind of goes intobuilding trails like this?
SPEAKER_03 (08:08):
When we start first with a spa that for feasibility
of a trail, right?
Is it something that we're gonnacreate, something that's gonna
draw trail users that is goingto be sustainable, something
that can be maintained and beused?
And then going and engaging withland managers to see if there's
an opportunity.
(08:28):
With land manager approval topursue, we start to explore
potential funding options forthe project, and then a pretty
comprehensive concept planningprocess where for this project
we partnered with theInternational Mountain Bike
Association to develop theconcept plan, and they looked at
everything from soil type totopography to community
(08:51):
connections.
That is a plan that we're thenable to use for both fundraising
effort, community engagement,and then is it just works and
snowballs from there to workingwith a partner, you know, to get
professional contractors to bid,or in some cases have something
that's done with withvolunteers.
(09:12):
So um a complicated process.
Johnson Park, we've been engagedwith Kent County since 2002.
Some of our more popular trailsystems at Merrill, the Dragon,
Luton Park, those were more thana decade of community engagement
to make that happen.
And so when we think about thosetrails, and in total, we have 17
(09:34):
in the Grand Rapids area, over ahundred miles of trail, all of
those trail systems required apretty high level of community
engagement, fundraising, andvolunteer effort to make them
happen.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (09:46):
And from a community engagement and a standpoint,
what um, you know, when this waskind of being talked about and
discussed and even brought tothe public, what was that type
of um uh response from people?
SPEAKER_02 (09:56):
Yeah, so we uh every five years we put together a
master plan for the the parksdepartment.
And if you look at itconsistently over the past
couple decades, um things likeuh natural hiking, mountain
biking experiences are reallywhat they're looking for in the
Kent County system.
So, you know, we do all of thesurveys and the charrettes and
(10:16):
the mapping and going out toevents, and um there's just
there's a longstanding um systemthat shows that these are the
type of improvements that ourresidents want here.
SPEAKER_01 (10:27):
Oh, yeah, very much.
And when it does come to theseuh trail building and the the uh
fundraising and such, what aresome of the volunteer
opportunities that are maybestill available for people uh
before these trails open?
SPEAKER_03 (10:38):
So we will be working towards um working
alongside the builder and KentCounty Parks and getting smaller
groups out there to work onfinish work, clearing debris.
We have a handful of volunteersthat are leading the way with
some chainsaw work to keep theequipment operators moving.
Um, we already have just shy offour miles of trail roughed in
(11:02):
um working towards the projectof six and then pending
fundraising campaign, hopefullyto extend the trail to eight.
Um we will have several trailmaintenance days that we'll be
posting on our socials to getpeople out.
And there's already excitement.
Like if I posted one today, Icould get volunteers out there
in the middle of winter to puttools on the spot.
SPEAKER_01 (11:24):
That's how excited they are.
SPEAKER_02 (11:25):
On top of that, we have a volunteer services
program as well.
So um our volunteers don't dothe trail building, but uh when
you um create openings in in thesystem like this, you there's a
lot of chance for invasivespecies to to move around.
And so we have a pretty robustvolunteer services program that
go out and do all of the otherthings uh besides build the
(11:47):
trail itself.
SPEAKER_01 (11:48):
Yes, wow.
And then as far as cost-wisetoo, because this is a you know
a lot of heavy lifting.
What are we looking at there andany other fundraising
opportunities people can takeadvantage of?
SPEAKER_03 (11:57):
So professional construction of mountain bike
trail is significant, um,anywhere from twelve plus
dollars per linear foot.
So the six mile trail system,um, original quotes around
$500,000.
So um still, I think one of themore popular and lower cost park
amenities compared to pickleballcourts and splash pads and dog
(12:19):
parts, et cetera.
But it's something that a lot ofa lot of trail users take for
granted and don't really seejust how significant of an
expense this is.
We do have fundraising campaignthat's active because we six
miles is good to go.
But um when we got the builderon site, we was able to find an
(12:40):
opportunity to add an additionaltwo miles based on the
topography and space at JohnsonPark.
So we do have a campaign goingas of this morning.
We are a quarter of the way.
So we're working to raise anadditional$100,000, and um, that
is in partnership with KentCounty Parks Foundation.
Um, you can find on our socialslinks to to give to make that
(13:03):
jump from six to eight miles isgonna be something that's pretty
significant for trail users.
SPEAKER_01 (13:08):
All right.
And what is the timeline we arelooking at as well?
SPEAKER_03 (13:12):
So for with about less than four miles of trail
roughed in, we still have an eyeon the target of a finished date
of summer 2026.
Um and we're adding a little bitof a cushion, um, feeling
confident that we're gonna beable to make this fundraising
campaign happen and have it beeight miles.
SPEAKER_02 (13:30):
Yeah, and at the same time, um, we're working on
the other amenities as well.
So uh we finally just puttogether the final funding
piece, which was a$400,000 grantfrom the Department of Natural
Resources that the County Boardof Commissioners will be
accepting on Thursday.
Uh so that will help us with therestroom project as well as the
replacement of the playgroundand the different gathering
(13:50):
spaces around the trailhead aswell.
So our hope is that they'll allcoalesce around the same uh
opening, but I have a feelingwe're gonna have a hard time
keeping the mountain bikers offthe trail while we're finishing
up some of the other stuff.
SPEAKER_01 (14:03):
Understandable.
And um, for folks who want tofollow along in the progress,
what is the best way to do so?
SPEAKER_03 (14:09):
Wmpa.org um and drop down at trails.
That's where we're updating forJohnson Park with the
fundraising campaign, projectupdates, and volunteer
opportunities.
SPEAKER_01 (14:20):
All right, perfect.
And for just the regular park umimprovement projects going on in
Kent County.
SPEAKER_02 (14:25):
Yep.
So uh our website is KentCountyParks.gov.
Um we update that regularly, andyou can follow us on our all of
our socials as well.
Awesome.
SPEAKER_01 (14:33):
Ben and Dan, thank you so much and giving us a
little bit of insight on thisexciting project.
We appreciate you both.
SPEAKER_02 (14:39):
Thank you.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_01 (14:40):
And thank you for tuning in as well.
SPEAKER_00 (14:42):
Thank you for joining us for this episode of
the Maiden Walker Podcast.
If you have comments orquestions about this podcast, or
if you have suggestions forfuture episodes, we'd love to
hear from you.
Please drop us an email atpodcast at walker.city.
Maiden Walker is the officialpodcast of the city of Walker,
Michigan.
(15:02):
You can find Maiden Walkerwherever you get your podcasts.
Welcome to Maiden Walker, a podcast that connects
you to the people, the stories,and the ideas shaping our
community.
From local innovators toeveryday change makers, we're
diving deep into what makesWalker a great place to live,
work, and grow.
Here's your host, NicoleDiDonato.
SPEAKER_01 (00:26):
Well, you may have noticed many of our Kent County
parks getting major upgradesover the last year and a half.
And in Walker, work is alreadyunderway on building miles of
new trails at Johnson Parkthat'll appeal to all ages and
abilities.
And here to talk about thoseupgrades, we have Dan Freyer,
who is president of the WestMichigan Mountain Bike
Association, and Ben Swayze, whois the director of Kent County
(00:49):
Parks.
Gentlemen, thank you so much forbeing here today.
Thanks for having us.
Appreciate it.
Yeah.
So starting really high levelhere, uh talking about the parks
plan and all the improvementsthat are going on.
How was Johnson Park chosen forthese upgrades?
SPEAKER_02 (01:03):
Yeah, so in order to talk about that, I probably have
to take a step back a littlebit.
So one of the big initiativesgoing on, not only in Kent
County, but in Ottawa Countyright now is the Grand River
Greenway.
Essentially, when it's built,it'll be 80 plus miles.
It'll stretch all the way fromGrand Haven uh to the eastern
county border in Lowell andactually beyond.
So it'll actually go all the wayto Owasso as well.
(01:24):
So 171 miles of trail.
Um so when looking at how tostrategically make improvements
to our system, we're looking atparks along that.
And Johnson Park's perfectlysituated.
So it's right at our westernborder.
The greenway will come out ofOttawa County and go to that
park.
So we're really treating it asthe western trailhead for the
park.
(01:44):
Um, you saw some improvements in2023, 2024.
The parking lot got expanded.
Um, and now we're really excitedabout the mountain bike trail
system.
Um, in addition to that, we'realso uh upgrading the restroom,
creating a four-season restroom,um, replacing the playground,
making some gathering places aswell.
So really excited about that.
(02:06):
The other thing is the Greenwayis not only a point-to-point
destination, but the experiencealong the way.
Um, we in our system have two umpretty popular mountain bike
systems, one at Luton Park andone at Wallfield Park.
Uh, but those are the parkswhere you have to put your bike
on the back of your car, drivethere, get off, ride.
Johnson Park will be our firstsystem where you'll be able to
(02:28):
bike out of the core urban area,get to the park, ride it,
experience it, ride back homeall without ever having to set
foot in a car.
SPEAKER_01 (02:35):
Yeah, that is so exciting.
And Dan, you're actuallybuilding those trails right now
at Johnson Park.
What are some of the uh theexperiences and the features
that folks are going to be ableto uh to experience once they
get on those trails?
SPEAKER_03 (02:49):
So we are thrilled to be partnering with Kent
County Parks on this project.
Um, they are working withSpectrum Trail Design, which is
arguably one of the best trailbuilders in the nation.
They've supported us at ourtrail system at the Dragon, uh
DTE in Chelsea, Merrill Trail,Brown County in Indiana.
(03:09):
And when working with someonewith their level of experience
and expertise paired with ahighly engaged partner with the
parks and a park system that haseverything from perfect dirt to
varied topography to location topark amenities, this is a really
exciting project.
SPEAKER_01 (03:29):
Yes, and um, it is gonna have adaptive trails.
So no matter your ability,you'll be able to ride on these
and talk about the topography ofJohnson Park in general.
SPEAKER_03 (03:38):
So when we look at um opportunities for mountain
bike trails, we really wantsomething that's going to create
an experience for everybody.
And um in West Michigan, thereare trail users all the way from
beginners which want some gentlerolling terrain, not a lot of
obstacles or tight turns, up tosome pretty advanced riders.
(04:02):
And when we look at the designof the trail at Johnson Park, we
have an inner green loop that isgoing to have some of the
gentler terrain, wider trailtread, and something that's
gonna appeal to adaptive riders,families, beginners, youth
riders.
And then we're going to haveelements of the trail system
that are gonna have moreadvanced progressive features
(04:24):
next to just traditional dirttrails.
So for riders that want to testand progress, progress their
skills, um, they're gonna beable to do that at Johnson Park.
SPEAKER_01 (04:35):
How exciting to see this come to life, I bet.
And you know, talk about theimpact it has just on the
region, too.
You've got uh, you know, a fewcities that uh butt up to that
Johnson Park, what that meansfor businesses that are looking
to like relocate or familiesthat want to move to the area.
Why is that so important withthese trade with these parks?
SPEAKER_02 (04:54):
Yeah, you know, it's been interesting.
So one of the lead organizationsfor the Greenway in general has
been Downtown Grand Rapids,Inc., um, and they're very
involved in not only the workthat's going on in downtown
Grand Rapids, but projects thatare going on in Lowell, projects
that are going on in Walker.
Um, and they really understandthe economic impact that this
type of investment can have onthose communities.
(05:16):
Um, there was some of us thatare involved in the project that
got a chance to uh meet withGary Vernon, um, who is the
godfather of the mountain biketrail system in Betonville,
Arkansas, um, and just hearabout the economic impact that
has gone on there.
Um, mountain bikers come, theyspend money, they uh uh they
drink beer sometimes, uh, theyeat food, uh, they get hotel
(05:37):
rooms.
Um, so the economic impact uhcan adds up really fast.
So a lot of our partners in theGreenway project and the
mountain bike trail projectsthat might not necessarily ride
mountain bikes under canunderstand the impact that it'll
have on their communities.
SPEAKER_01 (05:51):
Yeah, definitely.
You have downtown uh Grantvillethat is so close nearby as well.
So it just makes it so uhaccessible for people.
SPEAKER_03 (05:59):
When you look at national case studies, visits
that are coming two hours ormore.
There's individuals that arespending anywhere from$400 to
$1,200 per visit.
And when we think about creatinga regionally significant trail
system at Johnson Park, six toeight miles, all of the
progressive features, the varieduser experience, and something
(06:20):
for all ability levels, we'rereally truly focused on not just
filling the parking lot atJohnson Park for the for the
Grand Rapids, Walker, Granvillearea.
We're also looking to drawvisitors from hours away that
want to make the trip to ride,let their friends know and come.
And that's what's going to makethe bigger, broader impact to
(06:41):
some of those local spots.
unknown (06:42):
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (06:43):
Because you've mentioned that a couple of the
other trails too.
You've probably hopped in avehicle and traveled just for
mountain biking.
And, you know, talk about justthat subculture of folks who
love to be out in nature on thetrails, whether they're walking,
running, or riding too.
SPEAKER_03 (06:58):
I'm a little bit biased that mountain bike trails
are one of the lower cost parkamenities that very quickly,
easily, efficiently give accessto some of those, to that
outdoor recreation.
And it it is something truly foreveryone.
The other piece about mountainbike trails as the nonprofit
(07:18):
group that maintains them iswe're also building community,
looking at all of the eventsfrom the Yankee Springs time
trial to all of ouryouth-focused programs
throughout Grand Rapids and thevolunteer work itself.
When we put on acommunity-focused trail day and
draw anywhere from 15 to 75volunteers to work on and
(07:39):
maintain, and we've already hada couple out at Johnson Park,
those folks are part of a biggercommunity, not just of riders,
but of people that really value,care for, love these spaces.
Um, and Johnson Park is gonnaoffer that and more.
SPEAKER_01 (07:57):
Yes, yeah.
It's so much great space tobegin with, and then adding all
of these is just going to beeven, you know, putting it over
the top as well.
So what kind of goes intobuilding trails like this?
SPEAKER_03 (08:08):
When we start first with a spa that for feasibility
of a trail, right?
Is it something that we're gonnacreate, something that's gonna
draw trail users that is goingto be sustainable, something
that can be maintained and beused?
And then going and engaging withland managers to see if there's
an opportunity.
(08:28):
With land manager approval topursue, we start to explore
potential funding options forthe project, and then a pretty
comprehensive concept planningprocess where for this project
we partnered with theInternational Mountain Bike
Association to develop theconcept plan, and they looked at
everything from soil type totopography to community
(08:51):
connections.
That is a plan that we're thenable to use for both fundraising
effort, community engagement,and then is it just works and
snowballs from there to workingwith a partner, you know, to get
professional contractors to bid,or in some cases have something
that's done with withvolunteers.
(09:12):
So um a complicated process.
Johnson Park, we've been engagedwith Kent County since 2002.
Some of our more popular trailsystems at Merrill, the Dragon,
Luton Park, those were more thana decade of community engagement
to make that happen.
And so when we think about thosetrails, and in total, we have 17
(09:34):
in the Grand Rapids area, over ahundred miles of trail, all of
those trail systems required apretty high level of community
engagement, fundraising, andvolunteer effort to make them
happen.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (09:46):
And from a community engagement and a standpoint,
what um, you know, when this waskind of being talked about and
discussed and even brought tothe public, what was that type
of um uh response from people?
SPEAKER_02 (09:56):
Yeah, so we uh every five years we put together a
master plan for the the parksdepartment.
And if you look at itconsistently over the past
couple decades, um things likeuh natural hiking, mountain
biking experiences are reallywhat they're looking for in the
Kent County system.
So, you know, we do all of thesurveys and the charrettes and
(10:16):
the mapping and going out toevents, and um there's just
there's a longstanding um systemthat shows that these are the
type of improvements that ourresidents want here.
SPEAKER_01 (10:27):
Oh, yeah, very much.
And when it does come to theseuh trail building and the the uh
fundraising and such, what aresome of the volunteer
opportunities that are maybestill available for people uh
before these trails open?
SPEAKER_03 (10:38):
So we will be working towards um working
alongside the builder and KentCounty Parks and getting smaller
groups out there to work onfinish work, clearing debris.
We have a handful of volunteersthat are leading the way with
some chainsaw work to keep theequipment operators moving.
Um, we already have just shy offour miles of trail roughed in
(11:02):
um working towards the projectof six and then pending
fundraising campaign, hopefullyto extend the trail to eight.
Um we will have several trailmaintenance days that we'll be
posting on our socials to getpeople out.
And there's already excitement.
Like if I posted one today, Icould get volunteers out there
in the middle of winter to puttools on the spot.
SPEAKER_01 (11:24):
That's how excited they are.
SPEAKER_02 (11:25):
On top of that, we have a volunteer services
program as well.
So um our volunteers don't dothe trail building, but uh when
you um create openings in in thesystem like this, you there's a
lot of chance for invasivespecies to to move around.
And so we have a pretty robustvolunteer services program that
go out and do all of the otherthings uh besides build the
(11:47):
trail itself.
SPEAKER_01 (11:48):
Yes, wow.
And then as far as cost-wisetoo, because this is a you know
a lot of heavy lifting.
What are we looking at there andany other fundraising
opportunities people can takeadvantage of?
SPEAKER_03 (11:57):
So professional construction of mountain bike
trail is significant, um,anywhere from twelve plus
dollars per linear foot.
So the six mile trail system,um, original quotes around
$500,000.
So um still, I think one of themore popular and lower cost park
amenities compared to pickleballcourts and splash pads and dog
(12:19):
parts, et cetera.
But it's something that a lot ofa lot of trail users take for
granted and don't really seejust how significant of an
expense this is.
We do have fundraising campaignthat's active because we six
miles is good to go.
But um when we got the builderon site, we was able to find an
(12:40):
opportunity to add an additionaltwo miles based on the
topography and space at JohnsonPark.
So we do have a campaign goingas of this morning.
We are a quarter of the way.
So we're working to raise anadditional$100,000, and um, that
is in partnership with KentCounty Parks Foundation.
Um, you can find on our socialslinks to to give to make that
(13:03):
jump from six to eight miles isgonna be something that's pretty
significant for trail users.
SPEAKER_01 (13:08):
All right.
And what is the timeline we arelooking at as well?
SPEAKER_03 (13:12):
So for with about less than four miles of trail
roughed in, we still have an eyeon the target of a finished date
of summer 2026.
Um and we're adding a little bitof a cushion, um, feeling
confident that we're gonna beable to make this fundraising
campaign happen and have it beeight miles.
SPEAKER_02 (13:30):
Yeah, and at the same time, um, we're working on
the other amenities as well.
So uh we finally just puttogether the final funding
piece, which was a$400,000 grantfrom the Department of Natural
Resources that the County Boardof Commissioners will be
accepting on Thursday.
Uh so that will help us with therestroom project as well as the
replacement of the playgroundand the different gathering
(13:50):
spaces around the trailhead aswell.
So our hope is that they'll allcoalesce around the same uh
opening, but I have a feelingwe're gonna have a hard time
keeping the mountain bikers offthe trail while we're finishing
up some of the other stuff.
SPEAKER_01 (14:03):
Understandable.
And um, for folks who want tofollow along in the progress,
what is the best way to do so?
SPEAKER_03 (14:09):
Wmpa.org um and drop down at trails.
That's where we're updating forJohnson Park with the
fundraising campaign, projectupdates, and volunteer
opportunities.
SPEAKER_01 (14:20):
All right, perfect.
And for just the regular park umimprovement projects going on in
Kent County.
SPEAKER_02 (14:25):
Yep.
So uh our website is KentCountyParks.gov.
Um we update that regularly, andyou can follow us on our all of
our socials as well.
Awesome.
SPEAKER_01 (14:33):
Ben and Dan, thank you so much and giving us a
little bit of insight on thisexciting project.
We appreciate you both.
SPEAKER_02 (14:39):
Thank you.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_01 (14:40):
And thank you for tuning in as well.
SPEAKER_00 (14:42):
Thank you for joining us for this episode of
the Maiden Walker Podcast.
If you have comments orquestions about this podcast, or
if you have suggestions forfuture episodes, we'd love to
hear from you.
Please drop us an email atpodcast at walker.city.
Maiden Walker is the officialpodcast of the city of Walker,
Michigan.
(15:02):
You can find Maiden Walkerwherever you get your podcasts.
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