COOPER, Iowa, Jan. 18, 2007 — A one-day seminar focusing on how to develop businesses and tourism enhancements along recreational trails is being sponsored here on Saturday, February 17, by the Raccoon River Valley Trail Association, with help from the Central Iowa Tourism Region organization.

Speakers will talk about how development along the most successful recreational trails seems to grow as much around dining, the arts, shopping, antiques and nightlife as it does around bicycling and other trail usage.

Among those presenting will be Eric Bunge, who in 1989 founded the professional Commonweal Theatre along the Root River Trail in Lanesboro, Minn. (pop. 788). That theatre company has presented more than 2,000 live productions, attracting audiences totaling more than 10,000 people per year, and this summer moves into a new 3.5-million dollar theater building. Bunge will be joined at the seminar by David Harrenstein, owner/operator of the Lanesboro Web Management Group. He is an Internet webmaster managing sites as varied as those for the town of Lanesboro, the Root River State Trail, RAGBRAI and the Raccoon River Valley Trail. Harrenstein also owns Overland Touring Co., which offers escorted tours on major bike rides around the U.S., and is now serving as executive director of the National Bicycle Tour Directors Association.

Other presenters will be Kim Burger, of the Cedar Falls’ Tourism and Visitors Bureau and an active promoter of the Cedar Valley Trails system; Paul Wendl, owner of the popular P.J.’s Drive-In, the restaurant along the Raccoon River Valley Trail in Panora; Zack Jones, an artist who came back from a successful career in Arizona to open his own art studio and gallery in his hometown of Malvern along the Wabash Nature Trail in southwest Iowa, and Mike Wallace, the Dallas County Conservation director who has been involved in the Raccoon River Valley Trail’s development from its beginning in the mid 1980s.

Also involved will be professionals from Iowa economic development agencies, explaining what resources are available.

The event will begin with coffee and rolls at 9 a.m. in the Cooper Community Building, with informational sessions starting at 10 a.m.

“We’re looking at this as an opportunity to share the possibilities of what can happen along our trails that will make them more appealing to users,” said Carla Offenburger, president of the RRVT Association. “The Root River State Trail in Minnesota has been the driving force in making tourism a 25-million dollar per year industry in Fillmore County up there, and we’re trying to do some of the same things along the RRVT here in west central Iowa. If you’ve had an idea for a business or tourism development along any trail, this seminar is where you’ll be able to find information and support on how to make it happen.”

The seminar is open to the public, but special invitations are being sent to leaders in the nine communities and three counties on the 56-mile RRVT, as well as the five communities that will be added to the trail when a 33-mile north loop is completed in the next two years. Cooper (pop. 30) is located on the trail, 55 miles west and north of Des Moines, or eight miles south of Jefferson.

Pre-registration is required. The fee of 20 dollars includes a workshop packet, lunch, coffee, rolls and snacks. Checks to the RRVT Association can be sent to P.O. Box 1, Cooper, Iowa 50059. Additional information is available at www.raccoonrivervalleytrail.org or from Carla and Chuck Offenburger at (515) 386-5488.

Article Published: 01-18-2007