Laurel Lamb, program director at Prairie West Recreation says she keeps herself moving forward during the pandemic by creatively thinking up ways to help people in the communities she serves. With that, Lamb is excited about the new and natural walking path that she has established for public use. “Covid can’t shut this down,” she says emphatically.
“We created a winter trail at the golf course. I got a grant in the spring. The way things happened, I wasn’t able to use it right then.”
Wellview Golf Course has given PWR permission to re-purpose part of the golf cart path for the off-season to become a walking trail. It’s a 1.5 km walk. “When I go out, I like to do it twice,” Says Lamb.
There’s signage up at the golf course welcoming walkers to the trail and Lamb staked the walking trail in October. We can expect snow one of these days and Lamb is prepared for that.
“When we get snow, people can snowshoe on it.” She has amassed a lending library of snow shoes that she purchased locally at Home hardware, and trekking poles. People can go out as a family, otherwise, social distance rules apply.
While you can walk around town or on roads she says, “I just love to see some trees, some nature. I like walking where I don’t have cars buzzing by me.” There are a couple of bridges on walk, it’s a scenic hike.
There’s no fee to walk at the golf course trail, but there are some rules:
Stay on the trail. If you bring your dog, the dog must stay on the trail too and you have to clean up after your pooch.
It’s not going to be a groomed trail. “We don’t know what it will be like with a big blizzard,” she says but with 15 sets of snowshoes, it might be even more fun, and certainly more exercise.
Although it’s free, Lamb needs to know each time you go. It’s important to document how the grant money is being used. Email her: [email protected] “Take a selfie and put it on social media and tag us,” says Lamb.
Community Foundations of Canada emergency support fund donated $2,000 to PWR this summer and a further $3,500 was recently donated by Virden Area Foundation. This helped PWR with this project and some other fun seasonal ideas. (More information in next week’s edition.)
