Photo credit: Katie Sutor | October 2019 USDA REDI Kick-Off Event at the Humphrey Nature Center in Letchworth State Park.
On Friday, February 19, LGV kicked off a new Trail Town Destination Development project, which will establish a network of 10 hospitality hubs (“Trail Towns”) along the Genesee Valley Greenway and Genesee River corridor. Over the next 12 months, this project will be implemented in the towns of Wheatland, Avon, York, Perry, Mount Morris, Geneseo, Nunda, Hume, Caneadea, and Cuba, in an effort to boost outdoor tourism and help the region’s post COVID-19 recovery.
With nearly 1 million visitors coming to Letchworth State Park annually and investments by New York State and private foundations accelerating the growth of long-distance trail systems in Western New York, this project is especially timely. The goals include equipping communities to better position their proximity to the region’s natural assets to visitors, an objective with increased relevance during the COVID-19 pandemic as people seek safe outdoor activities.
Trail Town Programs are a proven approach to revitalizing rural communities by growing outdoor tourism and small businesses. One of the first and best documented examples of a Trail Town program was the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP), which helped support communities along its 150 mile corridor achieve an annual economic impact of $50 million since launching in 2007. Since then, Trail Towns have been adapted and replicated nationwide.
Leading pioneers of the Trail Town movement spoke to the over 100 virtual event participants, explaining how the programs have transformed rural communities across the U.S. The panel featured David A. Kahley, President and CEO of the Progress Fund, which established the first Trail Town program in the U.S. along the 150 mile Great Allegheny Passage (GAP); Seth Wheat, the Director of Tourism Development for the Kentucky Department of Tourism, which was the first statewide Trail Town program ever implemented; Dylan Carey, Project Director for Parks & Trail New York (PTNY), the leading advocacy organization for trail preservation and promotion in New York State; and Russell Hirschler, Executive Director of the Upper Valley Trails Alliance (UVTA) in Vermont, a multi-stakeholder collaboration that developed and manages TrailFinder.info, an innovative digital mapping tool that helps promote sustainable outdoor tourism in the region.
During the project, participating communities will receive destination capacity building support, including: development of consistent trail town branding and marketing guidelines for signage, wayfinding and more; as well as a Genesee Valley-wide digital trail mapping and management tool that better connects town assets with trail users. Trail Towns will bring enhancements like kiosks, signage, trailhead improvements, and public art that improve trail-to-town connectivity; and the development of strategies and tools to support new venture creation and municipal activities that advance outdoor recreation tourism.
Expected longer-term benefits include increased overnight stays and spending, which generate important bed and sales tax for counties as well as increased property values and investment, and improved rural infrastructure while protecting trail and natural assets.
Funding for this initiative comes from the Northern Border Regional Commission (NBRC) and USDA Rural Business Development Grant Program. This funding and the Trail Town project are a direct outcome of the 18-month USDA Rural Economic Innovation Development (REDI) planning initiative LGV embarked on with 70 partners from across the five-county Genesee Valley Region in 2019-2020. This same group of partners, which includes organizations like the Friends of the Genesee Valley Greenway, the Genesee River Wilds, the Finger Lakes Trail Conference, among others, will be an integral part of implementing the Trail Town initiative in 2021 and beyond.
Learn more about the Genesee Valley Trail Town Initiative here.
