New summer events at Wadena parks were a hot topic at the February council meeting despite winter weather outside.
Corey Tabbert of the Wadena Lions asked the council for permission to hold a Lions-sponsored mountain bike race on Saturday, Aug. 28 at Black's Grove Park. There has never been a mountain bike race in Wadena to his knowledge, he said.
"We're looking to draw people from around the area to Wadena," Tabbert said. "This would be a really neat event."
The organizers hope to have a lot of different age groups involved, he said. They plan to start the day with a kids race at 9:30 a.m. A noncompetitive fun race would take place at 10 a.m. with the competitive race starting at 11:30 a.m. The whole event should be done by early afternoon, Tabbert said.
The kids race will be pretty much a flat course and as safe as possible, Tabbert told the council. The noncompetitive race will be for anyone who wants to get on a bike and ride. It will probably be about four or five miles, he said. The competitive race will utilize a six-mile loop of mountain biking trails through the park, which are separate from the wider walking trails.
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"We've got pretty much all the trails already there," Tabbert said.
There is a series of mountain biking races across Minnesota, he said, but this would be one of the few that isn't a part of that circuit. That means they probably won't draw as many people as those events.
Public Works Director Ron Bucholz asked Tabbert how many people they are anticipating.
Tabbert would be happy if 50 people come, he said, about the first-time event. There should be enough room for parking along the gravel road.
Councilman Toby Pierce said he thinks the event is a super thing for Wadena and for the city's parks.
Black's Grove is a beautiful park, and a lot of people don't even know it's there, Tabbert said. "When I moved here three years ago I would have laughed if you would have said I could mountain bike in Wadena," he said.
The city is trying to make more people aware of the parks, Pierce said.
The council approved the mountain bike race and immediately got to hear about another new event planned this summer in the parks.
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Mim Maas and Cheryl Prindle of the Greater Wadena Arts League asked the council for permission to use Burlington Northern Park to hold an arts festival on Sat. June 19 during the all-school reunion. Music, book signings with regional authors, storytelling, drama, culinary arts, kids activities and fine arts booths are some of the activities planned.
"We're just focusing on any type of arts," Maas said.
Although this year's arts festival will be held in conjunction with the reunion, the Greater Wadena Arts League hopes to make it an annual event, she said. They want to bring back a June Jubilee-type weekend in June.
"This year we're trying to start out kind of simple because we really don't know what to expect," she said.
Prindle informed the council about a banner contest the League wants to hold for the festival. She asked for permission to hang artists' banners on the city's light posts. Artists will submit samples on paper and the League will select entries to be turned into banners.
The board approved using the park for the event and the city's light posts for the banner contest.
"I think this sounds like a great idea," Councilman Don Niles said. "I'm really excited about having a new arts organization in town."
Pierce also provided the council with a brief update on his idea to change the city's slogan from "Where the Prairie Meets the Woodlands" to something related to parks.
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"It's moving turtle-wise, [but] it's moving," he said.
He visited a parks board meeting and they were interested in participating to a certain degree, Pierce said.
Pierce showed the council a printout of some signs the planning and zoning department are planning to put in the parks, which tell visitors what is available in each location. The city needs to sell what it has, he said.
"There are lots of things that are advantages in our parks, including Black's Grove," he said. "We had people here tonight wanting to use the parks to bring people to our community."
