A little bit of rain couldn’t keep bikers, hikers, walkers and avid nature-goers away from the Prairie Spirit Trail open house Saturday at Riverside Park.
The open house, hosted by the Prairie Spirit Rail Trail State Park, was an opportunity to showcase the new Southwind Trail, a free extension of the Prairie Spirit Trail that goes from Iola to Humboldt, and to learn about the existing trail that runs from Iola all the way to Ottawa.
The Southwind Trail, spearheaded by Thrive Allen County and local volunteers, opened in the fall of 2012 but has already seen a good amount of users.
Thrive program director Damaris Kunkler said its early success is in part because “it better reflects where Iolans want to go.”
A variety of booths were set up at the open house to educate interested trail users on how to be smart while on and before getting on the trail.
The Allen County Hospital set up a booth with Neosho County Community College nursing students giving out free wellness tests.
The nursing students gathered blood pressure, height, weight and age to help calculate an accurate body mass index (BMI) reading.
DeeDee Martin and Christie Joyce with the SEK Multi County Health Department provided abundant literature about public health and adult immunizations.
Each year on average more than 50,000 U.S. adults die from vaccine-preventable diseases or their complications. Martin said the health department’s mission is to prevent, promote and protect public health.
Some of the services the health department offers are family planning, adult physicals, pregnancy tests, blood pressure and blood sugar checks and hearing and vision screenings.
For more information contact the health department at (620) 365-2191 or visit their website at www.sekmchd.org.
Rotary Club demonstrated how the Sawyer water filtration product worked and could benefit campers.
Rotary has sponsored a benefit program that provides clean drinking water to schools, businesses and local communities in Belize by sending Sawyer water filtration systems.
Sawyer technology can take cloudy, dirty river water and turn it into potable drinking water.
Rotarian Ed Abbott demonstrated the filtration system, turned local river water into water he and open house visitors drank. The water, once brown, was clear and odorless.
Avid campers could invest in the filter, which can hook up to a bucket or a tub, and instead of bringing and possibly running out of bottled water on their trip can filter river or lake water.
Southwind Trail volunteers were on hand to talk about the benefits the new trail will bring to the local communities.
To date, the volunteers have worked 1,200 man hours and have received $7,400 in kind donations.
Prairie Spirit Trail park manager Trent McCown was at the open house to give information regarding park permits.
Trail users need a permit to use the trail, which can be bought where hunting and fishing licenses are sold, such as Walmart, or online at www.ksoutdoors.com.
A daily trail permit is $3.50 per person and an annual permit costs $12.50 per person.
Additional fees, such as camping, can be found on the website.
This year the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism is offering the Kansas State Parks Passport, which can be bought as part of the vehicle registration process for $15. The passport would give unlimited vehicle access to state parks.
A daily vehicle charge is $5, $6 if bought online. Annual vehicle charge is $25.
“We are trying to lower prices to one, get people out there, and two, to help folks get their permits easier,” McCown said.
Permits do need to be renewed each year. Permits are not required on the Southwind Trail and where the trail is within city limits.
Rail trail event good venue for safety, health lessons
