March 29, 2024

Iron Track Challenge Banquet to raise funds for trail system

KSOI Radio and Osceola Chamber Main Street are hosting the fifth-annual Iron Track Challenge Banquet on Saturday, Oct. 15.

The event begins 5 p.m. at Clarke County Fairgrounds and will feature games, auctions and raffles.

Tickets for the event are $20 for adults or two for $30 if purchased at the same time and $5 for children and are available for purchase at the Osceola Chamber Main Street office or at the door on the day of the event. Adults are encouraged to bring their identification, as they get a bottomless cup for beer or soda at the event.

Some of the prizes available at the event include a four-hopper pass from Disney, Green Bay Packers autographed football, two reserved tickets to a St. Louis Cardinals game, Iowa State University women’s basketball tickets and numerous gift cards.

“About four years ago, we were looking for a fall event to do more of a recognition of the outdoors,” said Derek Lumsden, executive director of Osceola Chamber Main Street. “The first couple of years was geared toward hunting and fishing. Then, we decided money would be better spent if we could better figure out a way to channel it into a local project.”

After discussing options with the city of Osceola, the decision was made to put the money toward a community-trail system.

Trails

The recently completed trail at Q-Pond Park is the first phase of the community-trail system.

“The money we raise will go toward more community trails like the one that was recently done at Q-Pond Park,” Lumsden said. “We’re trying to do that so we have community amenities connected by trails.”

According to Osceola Park and Recreation Director Tim Riddle, 1 mile of 8-foot-wide pathway has been paved around Q-Pond Park along Clay Street heading toward the casino and then heading back to the dam.

Lumsden said exercise stations are being placed along the trail and benches may be added in the future.

“Our next phase we hope to do next year is to start where we left off at the dam and weave our way back around to the other end where we dropped off at Clarke Street,” Riddle said. “When that portion is complete, there should be approximately 2 miles of paved pathway there.”

Once that phase is complete, Riddle hopes to add several inner loops at Q-Pond Park in order to add more distance of trails for people to utilize.

Another goal is to connect with the Hembry Pathway that runs by the Osceola Family Aquatic Center.

“We’d like to connect with the school up Fillmore Street,” Riddle said. “It’d be nice to be able to tie various parks together and the Depot, so if somebody wanted to take a walk on the pathway to see everything they could, you’d catch most of the parks in the city.”

Riddle said a long-term goal is to have the Osceola trail system connect into the Raccoon River Trail system to the north.

The second half of the trail at Q-Pond Park will be poured this upcoming spring and summer.

Beyond that, Riddle said the project will be taken year by year, completing as much as possible with the funds raised.

“From a park and rec standpoint, we hate to hear about people on the couch,” Riddle said. “We like to see people out utilizing (the trails). I’d be remiss if I didn’t say this wouldn’t be possible without Osceola Chamber Main Street and Clarke County Development Corporation, and the city itself has really stepped up here in the past few years toward this. This has finally become a reality after having this drawn up on my desk for 20 years.”

Lumsden said many local and area businesses support the initiative.

“It shows a lot of community impact that people have donated and then to have that money put back into the community trails,” Lumsden said.