“One day when we were doing some work on the trail,” explained John Rothhaar, Trail Care Coordinator, “I chatted with a couple of women who were rollerblading. They raved about how much they loved the trail, but also mentioned in passing how it was difficult to get from the River Road parking lot to the trail, since the connector path is not paved. They carried folding stools to have a place to sit when they changed into their skates, so they said a bench at that spot would be nice.”
John had these women and their need for a bench in mind when he approached Friends Treasurer, Bryce Dreeszen to see if this was something the Friends could purchase. Bryce mentioned that he saw that Traverse Bay Sunrise Rotary was offering $1,000 grants and so he applied, thinking the new bench would be a good use. Fortunately, Rotary approved our grant request and ended up providing us with $1,200 to cover the cost of the bench and materials!
Last week, John, Bryce (not pictured below), Jed Maker (Friends President), Bill Skaff (Board member), and volunteer Mark Walton installed the bench over two days. We think it looks great and folks are already using it. Check it out – again, it’s located on the trail closest to the River Road trailhead parking lot.
