In a new, collaborative endeavor, visitors to Spruce Pine Riverside Park can now follow a story trail to brighten up their walk around the park.
The current trail shares the story from the book “Wonderfall” by Michael Hall, which follows a tree through the changing of the seasons from fall to winter.
Katie Willett, the Williams YMCA Mitchell County Community Liaison, said the idea for the story trail came from the Let’s Move in Libraries Initiative’s StoryWalk program and offers a great opportunity for locals to move while reading a story along the way.
“The really cool thing about this is, yes, we are reading a book which is very critical for cognitive and literacy development, but it promotes movement,” she said. “That is so critical for gross motor skills development, but also greater social and emotional development and a healthy lifestyle, so you’re really addressing the whole being and promoting great development there.”
Willett also noted the story trail offers people an opportunity to learn and move in a safe manner during the ongoing pandemic.
“We’re also at a very critical time right now where being outside in a safe spaced distance is important,” she said. “It offers a safe outlet to learn and be active.”
The project organizers thought Riverside Park was the optimal location for the story trail, because it is already paved, which provides better accessibility and accommodates social distancing.
While the ultimate goal is for the story trail to be an ongoing program, Willett explained this first story is temporary to work out the logistics.
“This is our pilot project, so it will help us better understand location, accessibility and how well this all holds up and how we might need to tweak it in the future to make it even better,” she said. “The goal is really for this to be an ongoing program and coordinating book towards events, town festivals and seasons.”
Willett said the next phases of the project include looking for funding to create more permanent, sturdier structures for the next stories and eventually implementing an audio element, in both English and Spanish, to improve accessibility.
In addition to the story itself, Penland School of Craft artist Day Dotson created a mascot for the story, Piney the Squirrel.
“Piney looks amazing,” Willett said. “Day really went all out, painted the front and back, and it’s just a further engagement opportunity for the community to get involved with this project.”
The story trail project is a collaboration between AMY Regional Library, Blue Ridge Partnership for Children, Penland School of Craft, Williams YMCA of Avery County and the Town of Spruce Pine.
“It’s just been a wonderful group endeavor,” she said. “I think it’s a beautiful thing. Each of these partners offer a bridge to our community and therefore it encourages the story trails project to really be a reflection of our community in and of itself.”
The trail, which went up on Tuesday, Nov. 17, will stay up as long as the wind lets it, Willett said with a laugh.
If interested in further information or sponsoring the project, Willett said anyone can contact her at the Williams YMCA at 275 Oak Avenue in Spruce Pine or call 520-1379.