GARNETT – Thrive Allen County unveiled plans Wednesday to construct a $15,000 brick-columned, metal arch to go along the Prairie Spirit Trail near the intersection of U.S. 54 and the trail near the west edge of Iola.
Thrive Executive Director David Toland made the announcement before a crowd of about 100 gathered here for the 16th anniversary celebration of the 51-mile-long rail trail.
“Iola Prairie Spirit Trail,” will be lettered across the top of the arch and between the columns, Toland said.
Because Thrive nearly doubled what it expected to raise for the project — the community health and wellness non-profit was aiming for the $8,000 range — Toland said designers had to go back to the drawing board for a more elaborate arch.
“We’ve got a good problem,” he said.
Before construction can begin, the archway must be approved by the Iola City Council. Thrive hopes to present the $15,000 in privately donated funds to Iola as a gift within the month.
Contribution sources won’t be disclosed, Toland said, until plans are finalized.
EXTENDING from Ottawa to Iola’s Riverside Park, the Prairie Spirit Trail has become a fabric of the southeast Kansas communities along the stretch of what used to be the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, said Trent McCown, park manager for the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism.
Maintaining and managing the trail since 1996, McCown said he’s seen the cities and towns along U.S. highways 169 and 59 that once resisted rail trail conservation development have changed attitudes.
“In the beginning there was a lot of unknown. People thought the worst because it was something new for Kansas and people weren’t sure what it would bring,” he said. “Now that it’s been open and established … they see the health benefits of the trail and the actual trail visitors have become ambassadors of the trail.”
The rail trail has become a major tourist attraction in southeast Kansas, McCown added.
Gas residents Jane and Lindsey Tweedy attended Wednesday’s trail bash and said the trail is their main source of recreation and without it, Allen County wouldn’t be as attractive of a place to live.
“We ride it everyday we can,” Lindsey Tweedy said. Typically the Tweedys bike to Colony and back to Iola but occasionally make the trek to Garnett.
“If the trail weren’t here, we’d have probably moved back south,” Jane Tweedy said. The Tweedys returned to Allen County after a multi-decade stint in Austin, Texas.
