The Traverse City Track Club has awarded two grants to fund over $8,000 in improvements to Grand Traverse County parks, including the Civic Center and the Natural Education Reserve.

Grand Traverse County Parks and Recreation received one grant for $3,500 to pay for “transitional pavers” installed at the base of the recently completed Northwest Corner Connector Path Project at the county’s Civic Center Park in Traverse City. According to Parks and Recreation Director Kristine Erickson, the funds helped make possible an “accessible connection for all” between the walking-jogging track at the Civic Center and the sidewalk along Front Street. She says the new path “makes it much easier and safer” to enter and exit the northwest corner of the park, and to visit the businesses at the corner of Front and Garfield. “Not only does the path provide a new point of access to the Civic Center,” Erickson says, “it further connects the 'TART-in-Town' system of trails and walkways.”

The Grand Traverse Conservation District, which manages the 505-acre Natural Education Reserve on behalf of the Parks and Recreation Commission, received $4,850 for three timber footbridge spans over Boardman River tributaries which run through the park. The footbridges will help formalize a safe and sustainable trail along the east side of the river through the recently exposed bottomlands, following th removal of the Sabin Dam in 2018.

"We are very grateful to the Traverse City Track Club for the generous support,” say Grand Traverse Conservation District Executive Director Koffi Kpachavi. “Spending time in the outdoors these days has become more than a luxury. To many, it is crucial part of maintaining balance in today's world. This grant not only allows us to further the work of making the trails and parks available, safe, and usable for our community, but will also enable visitors to view restoration efforts up close.”

Including these most recent grants, the Traverse City Track Club Community Grants and Scholarships program has awarded over $2 million total since being formally launched in 2007. Profits from the Bayshore events each Memorial Weekend support the program.