Yellowstone Trail AssociationThe Thorp Courier (Thorp, WI) |
John & Alice Ridge of the Yellowstone Trail Association work to educate the area of how the Trail can be used to market small towns. Yellowstone Trail Featured at Owen-Withee Business Persons DinnerHow Trail can be used to market area is the focusIn February, the Owen-Withee Area Chamber of Commerce (OWACC) and the Owen-Withee Area Development Corporation (OWADC) held their Annual Businesspersons Dinner, which this year featured guest speakers John and Alice Ridge of the Yellowstone Trail Association. The Ridges are retired University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire professors who became advocates of this nearly-forgotten “trail” and its comeback nearly 80 years after it faded into the background. The Yellowstone Trail was arguably the first transcontinental automobile highway through the upper United States, and one of the earliest transcontinental automobile routes in the world providing safer and more comfortable travel. This Trail snakes through Wisconsin, and in this region passes through Abbotsford to Cadott and beyond. In short, the Yellowstone Trail Association acted similar to how AAA acts today. The Association was largely made up of businessmen/Chamber of Commerce members in little towns who wanted to boost their town’s economy by being on well-used roads. And, this was the theme of the Ridge’s presentation: how the Trail can be used to help promote small towns once again. Some ideas the Ridges had regarding the Trail’s uses to promote area tourism, businesses, and general interest include the items below. Add to school curriculum:
Undertake promotion of sings, markers, and displays:
The Highway 29 Community partnership, which has become an advocate for the Yellowstone Trail in this area, has planned Trail Days for April 18 (cleanup of the Trail markers), a seven-community thrift sale along the Yellowstone Trail (“Sale-ing along the Yellowstone Trail from C to C”) on May 16 & 17, and a classic/antique car run (“Sociability run”) for June 14 & 15. Help support the efforts of the Highway 29 Community Partnership and Yellowstone Trail Association to promote the area using the Yellowstone Trail. To learn more about the Yellowstone Trail or the Highway 29 Community Partnership, see www.yellowstonetrail.org or www.partner29.org. |
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