Longview volunteers are on the home stretch to completing a one-kilometre trail along the ridge of the Highwood River. As many as 20 men and women are working to complete an eight-foot-wide, $165,000 Little New York Trail that runs from the village’s outdoor rink west along Highway 541 and south along the fence line west of Longview. The pathway is expected to be complete before fall. The cost of the project is covered by donations and grants after the trail was identified as a priority in the Longview Arts, Recreation and Community (ARC) Society’s Active Community Strategy that was developed in 2013 through the Alberta Recreation and Parks Association. “We applied for the first seed money in September 2012,” said Michele Geistlinger, society chairperson. “This is six years I’ve been working on this project. It’s going to be done this year for sure.” Two evenings a week, volunteers are using four cement mixers to pour a resin containing gravel and glow stones that can be seen as far as 10 feet away in the dark, said Geistlinger. “We started up a week ago with 19 volunteers pouring 130 feet in a week,” she said last week. “These people so want to see the trail done.” The groundbreaking took place in 2016 with a chain link fence installed along the pathway and the removal of sod. Last year, grid work was completed and crushed gravel was added and leveled. About 200 feet of the resin was added. Over the winter, two small cracks appeared in the resin, one following a fault line running through the village, which Geistlinger said was filled in with epoxy and the other small crack resealed itself. In the event of larger cracks, Geistlinger said a cement saw can be used to cut out a section of resin so more can be added. Despite the hard work of volunteers to complete the trail, Geistlinger said they’ve faced vandalism after four large boulders were placed on the fresh resin poured two weeks ago and a bucket of rocks had been kicked on top of the resin last year. “The people who have worked so hard were furious,” she said. “They’re planning on putting trail cams up.” Geistlinger said she’s not allowing the culprits to dampen her spirits. “What I care about is these people that I promised a trail to,” she said. Volunteers were called after Geistlinger’s husband, Tony, injured his foot earlier this summer. “I put a plea on Facebook for help and the next thing I knew the firefighters and (Coun.) Len Kirk came,” she said. “We also had former mayors Ivor McCorquindale and Carole MacLeod and (mayor) Kathie Wight’s husband come out. That’s who is out there working are the people who are really committed to this town and love this town. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate everything that they’re doing. These people are going to be able to take their grandkids out there and say, ‘I helped build that trail.’ That’s pretty awesome.” Construction was delayed when it was determined volunteers are no longer insured by the Village. Coun. Kirk said the Village had invested in volunteer insurance during his previous time on council, but it was discovered last spring that the insurance is no longer in place. “If we get hurt there is going to be no compensation,” he said. “We signed waivers and are looking into getting insurance for volunteers in September or October.” Kirk, who was elected to Longview Village council last fall, got volunteers together after learning the Geistlingers needed help. “It’s awesome how everybody is coming together to try to help get this path done,” he said. “It’s going to be an added attraction for the village. People can get out and walk and have a place that’s quite safe.”
