Citizens of Rochester Consider Becoming A Trail Town

Mon, 03/23/2015 - 10:34pm — Diane Dyer

Tuesday, March 17, a group of interested citizens came to the Rochester Community Building for a presentation by Seth Wheat, Adventure Tourism Assistant of the Adventure Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet.
Mr. Wheat provided quite a bit of information about the Tourism Cabinet. Afterwards he took questions from the audience. After thanking everyone for attending, Wheat shared their program. Their job is to promote and develop outdoor recreation in Kentucky.

Seth Wheat
Two main reasons they developed this trail town program is economic and physical health. In 1990, no obesity rate in the state was higher than 20%. 20 years later, it’s lower than 20%. Americans spend $646 billion on outdoor recreation in 2012. One of every two Americans spent money on outdoor recreation today.
In Kentucky in 2012, KY accounted for 8.4 billion, ½ the national average of outdoor spending. A trail town is where people will come to begin their adventure. One existing trail town is Gatlinburg, TN. Also trail towns are Moab, Utah (excellent off-road mountain biking), and Damascus, Virginia. Damascus, Virginia was built around the timber industry in the mid-20th century. If you can stay upright on a bicycle, they say you can ride their trail. The current population there is 1500. 20 years ago a lady noticed lots of bikes coming around. Now you can rent bikes there. They host an event in May called Trail Days where they get several thousand tourists. One in two Americans participate in some form of outdoor recreation.
“The first thing you have to do as a community is decide if this is something you want to do”, Mr. Wheat said. He also stated that you want a top-to-bottom approach to this where everyone knows what is going on”. “The process itself is a long process…two or two and a half years”. Resources as well as the town itself must be reviewed. Is the town easy to navigate? Friendly? You really have to look at any perspective trail town through fresh eyes, as if you were the tourist.
Mr. Wheat distributed a map of the existing Kentucky trail towns and an organizational chart for trail town task forces. Those will aid in the formation of a trail town. He said that they want to make this (Trail Town) the most authentic Kentucky experience.
Rochester, Woodbury, and Morgantown are all exploring the feasible of becoming a Trail Town.