In November, the city of Whitewater was awarded the opportunity to become a Whitewater Ice Age Trail Community.  

To celebrate and to officially mark this accomplishment, The Whitewater Tourism Council will be holding a ribbon cutting event May 6 at 3 p.m. at Cravath Lakefront Park.

At the event a new larger kiosk will also be put up at Cravath Lakefront Park, which will display both Ice Age Trail information as well as general city information. There will also be kids crafts and a guided trail walk.

“The trails have always been there, so what we did was applied to become an Ice Age Trail Community. What that means is that we will be recognized at the state level of the Ice Age Trail Alliance,” Whitewater Tourism Council Director, Marie Koch said. “We will be recognized as a community that embraces the trail and will be able to advertise our businesses to build them up.”

The Ice Age Trail Alliance is a nonprofit, volunteer organization whose mission is to create, support and protect the many segments of the Ice Age Trail.

“This is important for Whitewater because the main tourist attraction is the outdoors, there’s biking, hiking, fishing, and ice skating on the pond during the winter. And the important thing about this is that it will let people know that we are here with the trails in our backyard and we are supporting them, and it’s recognized statewide,” Marie Koch said.

Marie Koch is hopeful that this will help Whitewater businesses as a whole.

“It’s going to help bring in people who like to hike into our community and have them eat at our restaurants, shop at our sporting goods stores, and maybe stay in our hotels,” Marie Koch said.

But she also hopes that it will encourage more Whitewater residents to become involved too.

As part of being awarded the Trail Community title the Whitewater Ice Age Trail Community   is expected to also hold various events to promote the trail throughout the year.

The first event will be a free kids event held at Irvin L. Young Library April 7 from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. which will involve a skit, games, and a ‘hike’ around the library.

For more information on the New Kiosk Ribbon Cutting at Cravath Lakefront Park on May 6 or upcoming Ice Age Trail Community Events, visit discoverwhitewater.org or contact Marie Koch at [email protected]