Carroll tourism working toward Trail Town certification

With two major waterways, miles of scenic roads, a state park and other woodlands, valleys and creeks to explore and hike, Carrollton/Carroll County Tourism is working to transform the area that locals love into a state certified Trail Town.

According to Tourism Director Misty Wheeler, Trail Town is a tourism development program in partnership with Kentucky Adventure Tourism and the Kentucky Tourism, Arts & Heritage Cabinet.

“It’s a lengthy process to get certified,” Wheeler said. “Then the main idea behind it is to connect the different communities and natural resources and enhance community infrastructure and successfully market ourselves as a premiere outdoor recreation destination.”

The decision to pursue Trail Town came earlier this year. “I started it because I know the value of tourism for our community — the economic impact — and this is just one more way to attract visitors and tourists to our area ... it’s great for tourism and promoting our assets,” Wheeler said.

The process of transforming communities into Trail Towns has been in Kentucky for a number of years and is well known in the tourism industry. “It’s proven effective in attracting visitors of all ages, all backgrounds,” Wheeler said, “They’ll help boost our local economy.”

Adventure tourism is one of the fastest growing areas of tourism as more and more people look to get out of cities and off the beaten path to hike, bike, canoe and kayak areas that are still pristine.

Wheeler said becoming a Trail Town should have a positive impact on the natural resources and the social community of the town as residents also take advantage of Trail Town opportunities. It should provide positive health benefits and greater social impact within the community.

The project has already formed five working committees made up of volunteers tackling the various areas required for Carrollton to become a Trail Town.

The committees include a trail committee; a signage committee; a funding, public relations and education committee; a volunteer committee; and a merchant committee. “Each of the committees is charged with responsibilities,” Wheeler said, adding the trail committee, for example, examines the proposed trails, the condition they are in, and looks for connection points and where adding new trails could combine various trails together into a larger network.

Wheeler is thankful to have dedicated volunteers serving on the committees. The project is a big task and being able to share that work should expedite the process and result in a better product faster. “They are doing a wonderful job,” Wheeler said, “We just started and they’re doing a wonderful job — all five committees.”

One of the requirements for Carrollton to become a Trail Town is to promote and host events that involve outdoor recreation. Just recently the group hosted a Hike, Bike, and Paddle event on Aug. 26 to promote hiking and waterway activities. It was the first of what could be many events to promote outdoor activities including some with even more variety as time goes on.

Along with developing adventure tourism, there will also be more resources and services to benefit those who enjoy outdoor recreation and activities.

The local tourism office will dedicate more resources to promoting the rivers, boating and fishing. There is also the project to connect the hiking trails together with old and new trails forming an overall connected trail system and even connecting that system to other counties.

Currently, the tourism commission is searching for grants to help provide funding with the help of Matt Atkins and the Carroll County Community Development Corporation.

At the same time, gaining Trail Town certification is not an end to the process, trails have to be maintained and checked annually, grants have to be sought to promote the waterways and advertise the outdoor activities and event have to be scheduled to better engage those who enjoy the outdoors or to draw more people to the outdoors.

“Even after we’re certified as a Trail Town, you have to maintain that certification by having these events, we’re using the Trail Town certification kind of as a guide to direct us and what kind of outdoor events to have,” she said.

While the tourism office is leading the effort to become a Trail Town, others in the community can help. Those interested in the process — especially those who have expertise in various related areas — can volunteer to serve on any of the five committees, participate in upcoming outdoor events, share the news on social media and/or to friends and family and just be involved.

Wheeler hopes that everyone will embrace the project and work to making Trail Town a reality.

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