GEORGETOWN TWP., MI (WHTC-AM/FM) – “Step by step, rung by rung … higher and higher.”
That lyric in a Huey Lewis and the News song from the 1980’s – “Jacob’s Ladder” – seemed appropriate for a ribbon cutting ceremony on Friday (Jun. 11, 2021) at a park north of Jenison.
Officials of the Ottawa County Parks and Recreation Commission, the county itself, Georgetown Township, the Grand River Greenway Campaign Committee and the Ottawa County Parks Foundation gathered at the Bend Area Open Space to formally unveil a completed two-mile section of the Idema Explorers Trail.
County Administrator Al Vanderberg cited cooperation between various municipal and civic entities as the biggest factor in converting the site near the Jenison Airport into parkland. “West Michigan, and especially Ottawa County, is known for having exceptional collaboration,” he said during a formal program ahead of the ribbon cutting. “The Bend Area and Idema Explorers Trail accomplishments that we are celebrating are great examples of the partnership between Ottawa County Parks, Georgetown Township, area landowners and businesses, and philanthropists.”
The opening at the Bend Area Open Space now gives the Idema Explorers Trail about 14 miles completed towards the planned 36.5-mile multi-purpose pathway along the south side of the Grand River.
Parks Foundation President Bobbi Jones Sabine said that efforts to raise funds for completion of the entire Grand River Greenway corridor from Grand Haven to Grand Rapids is currently about $400,000 shy of the over $6 million goal. “We’ve got another five or six years to go before we actually see it built out,” admitted Parks & Recreation Director Jason Shamblin, “and then we have more work to do on completing the development of the different parks.”
A short photo gallery is here; the audio remarks from Vanderberg and Shamblin are here.
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