La Valle celebrates 30th Anniversary of the 400 Trail
Poised along the 400 Trail along with the communities of Elroy, Union Center, Wonewoc, and Reedsburg, La Valle located in Sauk county Wisconsin welcomed bicycle riders with open arms.
Those that not familiar with the 400 State Trail, the trail is a biking/walking trail that stretches 22 miles from Reedsburg to Elroy Wisconsin. The trail itself uses part of the old Chicago-Northwestern Railroad track bed. The trail, that officially opened in June of 1993, was named the “400 Trail” after the passenger train that traveled between Chicago and Minneapolis, a distance of 400 miles.
Participants in this year’s June 10th celebration sponsored by the Reedsburg Chamber of Commerce and the Friends of the 400 Trail, began their trek at the trailhead in Reedsburg and ended in Elroy. “It's one of the earlier rail trails in Wisconsin,” said Rob Fullmer, one of the Reedsburg voting directors of the friends organization. “The Elroy-Sparta trail was the first ever rail trail and we followed suit. This was developed 30 years ago to connect to the Elroy-Sparta trail, continuing it on to Reedsburg. We as a group are in charge of advertising, raising funds, coordinating with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, and make sure the trail looks awesome.”
Lisa Askren, also a voting director of the friends from La Valle, was encouraged by the enthusiasm that her community embraced the 30th year celebration with. “La Valle has a Community Action Team here, and when we presented to them that there's going to be this 30th anniversary, the Community Action Team took it in ran with it. They organized the basket raffles, they got the Legion to open, and they got the Friends of the Library to do the bike driven smoothie machine. I can't say enough positive things about this group. This group of people, they really rallied together. It's a good way of putting La Valle back on the map.”
One of the stops along the scenic trail route, La Valle, situated next to the Baraboo River, seized the opportunity to expose riders/walkers alike to their humble and proud community. Like many communities along the Baraboo River, La Valle has been affected by flooding in the past. “There was a flood in 2008 and then there was another flood in 2018. And I don't think we were really 100% recovered from the 2008 flood. Then the 2018 flood happened,” said Heidi Geils, Vice-President and Treasurer of La Valle Area Community Action (LACA). “When the 2018 flood came, it was worse.” With wide spread damage to homes along the river, many people accepted Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) buyouts of their properties. “So those peoples lands were returned to the village and FEMA said the land needs to stay as green space. So, we're trying to keep the village moving along. The fact is, this is really our downtown and everything that's an open lot is green space and going to stay green space because it can't be built on. It's hard to draw business or any kind of new businesses here. So, we kind of jumped on 400 Trail celebration just as a hey, it would get people into town and let them see that we're still here, we're surviving.”
No strangers to celebrating their community, La Valle will be holding their 50th annual celebration in August. “Years and years ago, there was a La Valle Business Men's Club that kind of started it all. They would run a lot of baseball tournaments. Years ago, on Friday night, families used to come and watch dad’s play baseball, which they don't do anymore. So, its kind of spinned off of that,” Geils said.
LACA secretary, Megan Horkan added, “We also fundraise for the community. Our main fundraiser right now is for the rebuilding of the large pavilion in town at the park. We are about halfway to our $90,000 goal. So, proceeds from this celebration and other fundraisers that we do are going towards that.” Geils and Horkan pointed out, that at times they will hold fundraisers just as a way to get people out into the community. “For something that interests, I would say a lot of local people, we held a plant swap, and that turned out pretty good. We had a good turnout for that. People could come bring house plant seeds, garden plants, any variety really. It was just, you know, bring some stuff, take some stuff. We were asked to do one in the fall also, so I think we're considering that,” Horkan said smiling.
Among the many bikers that stopped in La Valle, was Dave Provancher from the Milwaukee area. “We come here at least once a year to ride the 400. It's one of our favorite trails. It has a lot of shade on it, some good wildlife, and it's always in excellent shape. We like the fact that there's a community about every five to seven miles and you can stop and take a break. It’s a beautiful area in general. And then, when you're done on the bike, there's a lot of fun things to do in the surrounding communities.
Keeping things fun for both adults and children alike, Gundersen Health had games set up, and with a little ingenuity and some peddling, La Valle Friends of the Library offered celebration goers the opportunity to mix up a tasty smoothie by means of a bicycle powered blender. Erin Van Grinsven a member of the La Valle Friends of the Library said, that a library is an important part of any community. She felt it was important to have the library help with the celebration, not to just show support for the 400 Trail and the community, but to keep people aware of the fun and importance of reading.
