- Details
- Created: 04 May 2022
- Hits: 1957
Jule Hubbard, Journal Patriot [NORTHWILKESBORO, NC April 19, 2022] - Developing a “river district” with a beach area and specialized parks, establishing a “regional STEM center” and greatly improved signage for trails and other amenities are among recommendations in preliminary results of an outdoor economy effort.
Staff of Boone-based Destination by Design shared conceptual images representing these and other proposals in an April 13 meeting at the Stone Center, held to draw feedback for use in preparing a final document.
“The work we’ve done so far is high level. We’re trying to throw out some ideas to the community and show where things could go,” said Eric Woolrich, principal with Destination by Design. A similar presentation was made for local elected officials about two weeks earlier.
Health Foundation Executive Director Heather Murphy said the company was hired for $180,000 to help develop a plan for expanding the outdoor economy in Wilkes, including identifying funding sources. A local outdoor economy working group is assisting.
Murphy said the effort is funded by the Health Foundation ($70,000) Wilkes Health Department ($50,000), Wilkes Economic Development Corp. ($5,000), Wilkesboro Tourism Development Authority ($5,000) and the governments of Wilkes County ($25,000), Wilkesboro ($10,000) and North Wilkesboro ($10,000). These entities and the Yadkin River Greenway Council signed a memorandum of agreement for the initiative in 2020.
She said the effort began with a group of elected officials and others from Wilkes attending an outdoor economy conference in Asheville over two years ago.
Most of the information presented April 13 and a couple of weeks earlier for local elected officials is in an 81-page document, prepared by Destination by Design. It includes recommendations and details on how they were developed.
Woolrich said emerging themes or goals resulted from three or four months of extensive research and all of the recommendations connect to them. These include promoting connectivity, elevating the quality of existing outdoor amenities, creating awareness through branding and signage, encouraging interaction between visitors and residents.
He said 513 people responded to an online survey as part of this research and 200-250 is considered a good response. Woolrich said this could indicate hunger for change and improvement in the community and good timing for the outdoor economy effort.
The River District proposal calls for establishing a beach area on the Reddies River. Woolrich said this would be done by restoring a portion of the Reddies to its original route between the D Street bridge and where it empties into the Yadkin River, thus creating a bend in the river.
In the early 1900s, the Reddies was rerouted into a straight channel dug from the Reddies River dam to the Yadkin.
The river district would include a viewing area with the beach; creation of not-too-challenging rapids with rocks placed in the river; an “urban soccer park;” outdoor boulder gym with man-made climbing structures; pump track for bikes (with a series of hills) skate park; “bike garden” for younger cyclists.
A regional STEM center with science- and technology-related activities and multi-family and single-family housing is proposed nearby.
“It’s not too often that housing is part of an outdoors action plan” but the need for this came up too much in interviews and other feedback) to ignore, said Woolrich.
The plan focuses on wayfinding/signage, state- and nationally-designated trails, state and federal lands and the Wilkesboros. It calls for continuing with implementation of a unified wayfinding signage program initiated by the Yadkin Valley Heritage Corridor and using it for trails, recreation areas and more.
It calls for “developing the most accessible, safe and compelling paddle trail” in the state on the Yadkin River.
This includes improving six existing Yadkin River access sites in Wilkes, including making four capable of accommodate commercial outfitters, and developing one new site.
Murphy said it includes a park at an access site off N.C. 268 in Roaring River. An archaeological study on the site in preparation is nearly complete.
The plan includes using the 300-acre Wilkesboro watershed property on the Brushy Mountains, owned by Wilkesboro, as a “family-friendly wilderness experience” area with “glamping” (camping with extra accommodations), zip line, summer camp, retreats and more through a public-private partnership. It would have mountain biking and hiking trails. This property is on headwaters of Little Cub Creek, with a small lake that once was the town’s water supply.
Similarly, it calls for using portions of the Town of North Wilkesboro’s Industrial Park property on River Road/Liberty Grove Road for outdoor recreation.
He said key goals while working with the county’s outdoor economy group were to identify and evaluate the condition of the county’s assets, engage as many people as possible through interviews, identify gaps in assets, identify other efforts in the community that might dovetail with the outdoor economy effort and create a visually compelling document.
Woolrich said the last steps are to develop strategies, determine who will do what and identify funding sources, including involvement of private investors.
Joshua Thurman, art director of Destination by Design, said he and others with the company set out to learn everything they could about Wilkes to develop branding for use as a face of the county to present to the rest of the world. Wilkes residents serving on a branding committee were involved in this process.
“We tried to capture the attention of outdoor enthusiasts… people looking for new trails and wild places to explore. The good thing is that Wilkes County has got a lot of that to offer,” said Thurman.
He said development of visuals began once “the Great State of Wilkes” was chosen as the brand. He said the primary logo “captures wild essence, some of the open space that Wilkes County has to offer.”
It features a big “W” for Wilkes with a tree line representing trees found in this area and a red-tailed hawk. Thurman showed slides demonstrating how it could be used in different forms and on various products and overlaid with photos.
Over 150 people attended the April 13 meeting.
