Syracuse-Wawasee Trail committee members, from left, Kay Young, Tom Edington and LuAnn Wojtczak check out the new postcards for the Tour des Lakes bike ride, which were printed by The Papers Inc. InkFreeNews photo by Sarah Wright.

By Sarah Wright
InkFreeNews

SYRACUSE — Donors have risen to the challenge to bring the Syracuse-Wawasee Trail within striking distance of matching the Wawasee Property Owners Association’s $10,000 match grant, which would mean a total of $20,000 toward the USI feasibility study for future trails.

During the trail committee meeting Monday, April 19, Syracuse-Wawasee Trail Executive Director Erlene Yentes shared several donors had reached out to her since the WPOA match was announced April 7. Even Coffee Depot and its owner Kimie Mcllwain are getting onboard by hosting a donation jar to help raise funds for the WPOA feasibility study match.

“I was very excited my board (WPOA) had not one single ‘no’ vote on this suggestion,” Kay Young, who is also the trail committee’s president, said. “I think everybody was really excited to do it because we haven’t been able to do anything for the trails this past year because of COVID.”

Work is underway to add information about the WPOA match to the trail website.

The feasibility study is underway, with USI employees having already started preliminary work.

Work is also underway on gaining sponsors for Tour des Lakes, which will be Saturday, July 17.

Postcards, created by The Papers Inc., have been mailed to bike shops in Indiana, southern counties in Michigan and western counties in Ohio to draw more bicyclists to participate in Tour des Lakes.

System-wide trail cleanups are underway. The Boy Scouts and Warrior Leadership students have completed their trail sections, and local service clubs are making plans to clean up theirs, too. The trail committee will be completing its own trail cleanup April 22 and 24.

In other trail committee news:

• Research will be put into naming opportunities along Conklin Bay Trail, particularly the lookouts. The goal would be to use raised funds for future maintenance.

• Laker Bike Club, the youth riding program for children ages 9-12, will be partnering with Lakeland Youth Center. LYC will be able to handle the background checks for adult volunteers and manage the group’s funds.

• Future trail events include participation in the Wawasee Area Conservancy Foundation’s Earth Day Festival May 1; Touch a Truck and Bike Rodeo from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. May 1 at the Syracuse Community Center; and the car show from noon to 4 p.m. June 12 at Oakwood Resort.

Work is underway to promote Tour des Lakes, which will be occurring July 17. Postcards, created by The Papers Inc., have been distributed to bike shops in Indiana, Ohio and Michigan; they feature the new bike ride lengths and a QR code to register. Photo provided.