Trails Day success

On behalf of the Whitefish Bike and Pedestrian Committee, we would like to convey our sincere appreciation and gratitude to everyone for attending National Trails Day and the dedication of the Burlington Northern Loop section of the trail. It could not have happened without the help of many people who share our belief that our trail system is an important part of our community.

We would also like to take this opportunity to acknowledge all the hard work of the planning committee, which included Doug Adams, Valerie Bauch, Bruce Boody, Christine Hensleigh, Chris Holdhusen, Dan Keyes, Sue Moll and David Sobba.

Beverages were donated by Coffee Traders, McDonald's, Super 1 Foods and Safeway; festive balloons by DePratu Ford; and tent covers by the Whitefish Credit Union, Whitefish High School and the Farmers Market. All of these donations helped make the day a success.

This year, we decided to provide information on a variety of walking, hiking and biking related activities and are indebted to all those who provided that information, including Hammer Gel, Flathead County Health Department, Two Bear Marathon, Glacier Cyclery, A Trail Runs Through It, Whitefish Walkers, Big Mountain Bike Academy, The WAVE, Glacier Medical Associates and the Whitefish Parks Department.

A special thanks goes to Sue Moll and the PTA for organizing the bike decorating and parade for kids. Hopefully, this activity will be a National Trails Day tradition in Whitefish.

Fund-raising is a necessary part of providing our trails, as they are expensive to build and maintain. This year there were two fund-raising activities. Our raffle was generously supported with donations from Glacier Cyclery, David Hunt, Hammer Gel, Sportsman and Ski Haus, The WAVE, Army/Navy and Big Mountain.

This year, we introduced our membership program in Fish Trails, a non-profit fund-raising organization established to help fund and maintain our trail system. We would hope you would all consider joining Fish Trails and would direct you to our Web page www.fishtrails.info for more information on this program and for lots more information on our trails.

We would like to thank the Whitefish Parks and Recreation for contributing their time and labor on June 10 before the event, during the event, and after the event. Without their help setting up tables, chairs and tents, we would not have made it through the day smoothly. Thanks again to everyone who attended. It was a wonderful show of support for the Whitefish Trails.

Linda Hunt and Don Spivey

Whitefish Bike and Pedestrian Trails Committee