The evening of Dec. 13 was bitter cold. But that did not discourage people from attending Asheville’s Greenway Warmer. More than 120 people showed up to celebrate Asheville’s Greenway program achievements of 2017 and hear about 2018 greenway initiatives.
You can see a 360 degree view of the meeting in Google Streets here.
Carol Evans of the Legacy Parks Foundation of Knoxville, Tenn., gave a presentation called “Asheville Unpaved.”
Vice-mayor Gwen Wisler opened the event by acknowledging the many nonprofit organizations, businesses and other groups that supported greenways efforts this year. Asheville Greenway Coordinator Lucy Crown gave a brief presentation about the state of greenways in the City.
Mary Weber, Chair of the Greenway Committee, was honored for her leadership for the past four years. “Mary has led the committee with steady decisions and actions,” said Crown. “Although she is stepping down as chair she is remaining on the committee for another year. Who does that? Mary is remarkable and it has been an honor to work with her.”
During Carol Evans’ presentation, she shared an inspiring story of the Legacy Parks Foundation’s successes in natural surface trails. The Legacy Parks Foundation is a nonprofit organization that works to assure that its community enjoys recreational opportunities, natural beauty and open spaces, and that those assets exist for generations to come. Since July 2007, the foundation has raised more than $8 million for parks, trails and open space. Nearly 500 acres of parkland in Knox County were acquired through the foundation and more than 1,000 acres of open space has been preserved in East Tennessee.
The City will continue to explore the possibility of natural surface trails as part of its greenway program. More conversations will occur during the Greenway Master Plan Update in the coming year.
The Greenway Warmer was sponsored by the City of Asheville, Asheville on Bikes, Equinox Environmental and Connect Buncombe.
If you are interested in having your email address added to the greenway information distribution list, please email your contact info to Lucy Crown at lcrown@ashevillenc.gov.